What to Pack

Two months is a long time. Sixty-one days. Can you even think of everything that you might need during that long a period? And when you do know what you use, how much of it can you take with you? How much should you?

It’s a daunting proposition, really, and I’m tackling it by going minimal for somethings and maximal for others. Clothes are in the minimal section. Take as little as you can get away with and do laundry along the way. But what of the daily needs: toothpaste, contact lens solution, pain relievers, cough medicines, and on and on.

I know most of the stuff I “need” are available in Europe, but I’ve never been to Asia, much less set foot in a Tokyo drug store. I’m sure they have contact lens solution there, but will they have my contact lens solution? What about Advil? Neosporin? No idea. So I decided to take what I know I will use, and hope for the best when I need something I didn’t take.

Here’s a few of the things I’m taking:

• Advil (200 count)
• Neosporin
• Crest (new tube)
• ReNu contact lens solution (large bottle)
• Simply Sleep (100 count)
• Pepcid AC (70 count)
• Mitchum deodorant (new)
• Listerine (small)
• Qtips
• Band-Aids
• Gillette Custom Plus (10 pack)

These things should last me through all or most of the trip. What doesn’t will last until Europe, and I should be able to find it there.

I’m also taking rechargeable batteries (Enloops are my preferred brand), chargers for all the electronics, a spare hard drive, memory cards for the cameras, and on and on. About the only thing I’ve forgotten is a good book and a couple of magazines.

The World Trip

Note: This was written on October 19, 2008, but I changed the published date to before my trip. I had not realized I didn’t post this information as a blog entry.

I’m about to set off on my first around the world trip. It’s a combination of work and pleasure and will involve all these countries:

• Tokyo
• Hong Kong
• Beijing
• Dubai
• Beirut
• Frankfurt
• Berlin
• Brussels
• London
• Reykjavik

Along the way, I’ll be taking some photographs, the bulk of which will be posted on my Flickr account. Here’s my introductory post to Perambulare.

The trip will last from July 18 to September 18, 2008.

Introducing Perambulare

Hello, and welcome to Perambulare.

“Perambulare” is a Latin word meaning, roughly, to walk all over. It is the origin of the English word perambulate, which the New Oxford American Dictionary defines as “walk or travel through or around (a place or area), esp. for pleasure and in a leisurely way.” I think that’s fitting for a blog. I think that’s especially fitting for my blog.

I’ve had other blogs before, and even a pictorial travel site that predated all the picture sharing, blogging spectaculars that have come along since.

It’s been roughly two years since I’ve blogged regularly for myself (there has been this little side venture), but it’s time to start writing about me and my wanderings about. The main impetus for blogging again has been an upcoming trip I plan to take around the world.

The trip starts on July 18 and I plan on coming back home on September 18. It’s a mixture of work and vacation, and all together a trip of a lifetime. Plans are still fluid, but the goal is to work hard and play hard. Ten cities in eight countries will be visited. There will be planes and trains, possibly boats, too. There will be an Olympics thrown in for good measure.

And pictures. Did I mention I’ll be taking pictures? Lots and lots of pictures? Yes, for certain, there will be pictures. I’m not going to flood this site with them all, but I will post a few of my favorites and link you back to the whole lot which will be posted on Flickr.

For now, though, as I ramp up the site and the travel plans, I’d like to welcome you here and hope you’ll enjoy following my “walks about” this cool planet.