Gear

Outdoor shops are to me what toy stores are to little kids. So although I'm hardly the most outdoorsy person in the world and few of my activities actually warrant any sofisticated gear, a trip down to the Outdoor store is always a very exciting prospect for me, if not for my wallet. But with the decision of taking time off to travel in a couple of months time, spending money on "the right gear" has now been officially warranted *big satisfied grin*. And as I really ought to pace and plan the expenses carefully, I started yesterday with what I consider to be the most important decision of all: the mule-bag!

Nearly everyone I know that's ventured on extended travels before me, has told me that the worst aspects of backpacks are: "too much, too heavy" and "damn fiddly trying to reach your stuff from the top of the pack, day after day after day". So after careful consideration I decided upon a 55 liter Pack, with a built-in option to extend it a further 15L should one decide to adopt any stray goodies along the way. That way I will be forced to keep my stuff as minimalistic as possible. Stranger Know Thyself ;-)

Apart from the nifty Torso Fit System and the tons of extra little gadgets, what I am most chuffed about is that I managed to track down a backpack which, not only had top-down access and sleeping-bag compartment-access, but ALSO has an All-Access zip in the front of the main body. So no fiddlyness from the top if you don't want to! And all for the price of a normal backpack. How clever is that?! *looks at it lovingly*