Miscellaneous Gear

MSR Pack Towels – (1 each) – These have been essential as the huge majority of places we’ve stayed do not have towels.

Silk/cotton sleep sacks – (1 each for when renting sleeping bags during treks) – We’ve also gotten a lot of use out of these in ways we haven’t expected.  They are great for cold bus rides because they pack down small but can be used as a light blanket.  We’ve used them for picnics, and as things to lay on at beaches.

Headlamps – (1 each) – for camping, but also for reading on night buses, or for finding things in the dark in a dorm room.

Keychain laser pointer/light combo.  Super cheap and tiny, but handy for when we don’t want to dig out the headlamps for a trip to the bathroom at night.

Eagle Creek money belt.  This is an actual belt that has a secret zipper.  Ashley also has an old-fashioned money belt that she’ll probably never wear, but it also works as a little wallet.

Packsafe.  Who knows if we’ll use this much outside of locking stuff when we leave it for extended trek, but we got it on Ebay for cheap so it’s no big loss if we give it away at some point.  I thought it would be bigger, but it gets very compact.

2 combination locks for luggage or lockers

Spare Passport photos /copies of passports and yellow card

Backpack rain covers (1 each).  We bought super cheap ones from Target, we’ll see how long they last.

Small notebooks (1 each)

Sip ‘n’ Go Collapsible water pouches (2) These are fine in a city for walking around, but they don’t hold much water, and they are wearing out already.  Most of the time we get a huge water bottle somewhere (like 1.5 liters) and then just re-use that for a while in places where you can drink tap water.

Wristwatch with alarm (1 each)

Sunglasses (1 each)

A few pens, one of which is wrapped in duct tape.

Inflatable neck pillow (one each) – essential on long, uncomfortable bus rides

Small clips – they are made to attach to a hanger so you can hang pants, and we use them mainly as laundry clips, but also as chip clips, or to hold papers together.