Early in my trip I met a cyclist travelling from Scotland to Turkey only with a small 25l backpack; he looked at all my stuff a bit disdainfully and though that my bike looked like a ‘truck’! Well, yes, it is possible to travel light, and yes, I do have a lot of stuff. However, I don’t mind the weight too much since I don’t have to carry it on my shoulders and I’m definitely grateful to have with me a few things that make travelling easier and more comfortable. For example, the following items are absolute ‘must haves’ for me (non-exhaustive list).
Bicycle and bike bags
Well, a super-essential and at the top position of course, my dear Bici! My faithful companion who has never let me down! After 10000km it started to show a few minor weaknesses though (problems with the stand and with the disk brakes.) But overall I have a very robust and reliable bike which is a pleasure to ride. I think that it was absolutly worth spending a lot of money on it. It is possible to do such a big bicycle tour with a cheaper bike – and many people do it – but I’m sure that it’s linked with more trouble and less smooth riding! So at least for anybody who is not good at bike mechanics – like me – I recommend investing in a good touring bike. And your bike should be equipped with (4) super robust bicycle bags. Most people, including me, use bags from the brand Ortlieb; it’s supposed to be the best (though personally I’m not that happy: I already had to replace a buckle of one bag and sew them in various places.)
Reference: Tout Terrain Silk Road bike and Ortlieb bags
Smartphone & GPS and the ‘Maps me’ application
A good smartphone equipped with a GPS is an essential tool on such a tour, in particular because of all the useful applications that can be downloaded. The most useful app on my phone is ‘Maps Me’. It’s a free app that offers very detailed maps of basically the whole world (almost as good as Google Maps), including (some) hotels, restaurants, sights, etc. The best is that these maps can be downloaded country by country so that they can be used offline. This is an absolutely essential navigation tool for us and it would be much, much harder to find our way without it. (For some countries we also had paper maps, but they were never precise enough). This app will continue to be extremely useful to me once I’m back.
Reference: Samsung Galaxy 4 and MAPS ME
Kindle
By now, I’m totally in love with my Kindle – the the best electronic device ever for travelers! I have all the ‘Lonely Planets’ – from Austria to Japan – as PDFs on it, as well as numerous books and magazines. And I can buy a new book or guide in a click. This allows me to safe an incredible amount of ‘book weight’! Moreover, it’s super convenient to read – also while eating or in the dark –, the battery lasts for long, and a dictionary is included (very handy in particular when you read a book in a foreign language: if you don’t know a word, you can click on it and the definition shows up.)
Reference: Kindle Paperwhite
Laptop
I am so glad I have taken a laptop with me in addition to my smartphone, despite the additional weight. And I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Raphaël for monopolizing it so much! I use it to write (my blog, emails…), to edit and store my photos, to edit videos (… well, I COULD edit videos if I took the time to do it!) and to surf the internet more comfortable. Since the beginning of the trip it’s working generally fine (and god knows it gets shaken around daily!)
Reference: Acer – Aspire V
Phrase books & language apps
I started the trip equipped with plenty of small phrase booklets covering the languages of all the countries I would pass. In Istanbul, Raphaël brought all the remaining ones (including ‘Hindi’, which we actually didn’t use!) I agree that the weight that all these print booklets (they don’t exist as PDF) represents is questionable, especially since nowadays there are also good free language applications for the phone. However, I still find these booklets very useful (and I gradually get rid of them after usage.) They are well done (with sections for ‘greetings’, ‘accommodation’, ‘transport’, etc) and they are the best way for quickly finding a translation. My ‘Mandarin’ booklet for example was a life safer! And even in countries where such a phrase booklet is not really necessary, it still allows for some chitchat with locals – a great way to make a connection.
Reference: Lonely Planet phrase books
Coffee ‘machine’
I remember standing in ‘Transa’ in Basel with Raphaël, looking at this device and wondering for a long time whether this small basic piece of metal was really worth 80 CHF… THANK GOD, we eventually decided to buy it! This is definitely our most precious cooking utensil, coffee addicts that we are! We have travelled through many countries where no coffee at all was available; and when it was, it was expensive and/or not good. But even in such countries it was usually possible to buy coffee powder (in big supermarkets.) So we make sure that we’re always carrying some powder and nearly every morning – wherever we are and whatever breakfast we are going to eat – we are first of all enjoying a delicious cup of homemade freshly brewed coffee!
Reference: Cafe Press Titanium
Yoga mat
Maybe the one thing that could be considered most useless… by people who don’t practice yoga! Those who do know 1) that’s it’s wonderful to do some yoga exercises to relax at the end of a long hard day; 2) that it’s much easier to do these exercises on a proper mat (in order not to slip, and not to have to use a dirty floor.) Only a few days before I left home, my yoga teacher in Basel told me about these fantastic new mats that can be folded like a sheet; I decided to buy one and to take it on the trip. I haven’t regretted it since – not even when I had to cycle 1500m uphill with my heavy load – because I’ve basically used this mat every day!
Reference: Eko superlight travel mat
Merino (=’smart wool’) clothes
I have 4 t-shirts on my trip… and this is one too many! I basically always carry 2 clean t-shirts, which is ridiculous, but I refuse to wash a shirt before it’s really necessary… and since I have 3 t-shirts made out of merino wool, this takes a long time, even though I’m sweating a lot on my bike! I started using merino t-shirts for mountaineering, then for jogging, then for travelling… now I’m even clubbing in my Icebreaker gear! On this trip I also use Merino socks, long sleeve shirt and underpants.
I’ve written the above paragraph at the beginning of the trip…. Now after 14 months of travelling, I need to add the following: ALL MY MERINO SHIRTS ARE DEAD BY NOW! Merino wool is very sensitive, and if you wear it all the time (UV radiations don’t help!) you’re soon going to end up with holes. Anyway, I’m still a big fan of Merino! Unfortunately it seems to be very hard to find outside the western countries and I had to replace my t-shirts with ones made out of cheaper fabrics… which – to be honest – are actually doing a pretty good job too.
Reference: Icebreaker ‘light’ t-shirts (favorite brand/ favorite type)
Inflatable travel pillow
I’m very sensitive about pillows and I can’t stand sleeping on pillows which are too big (which I think is the case in most other places than my home.) For many years when I was camping or stayed in a hotel-with-big-pillows, I simply slept on my curled up jacket. I had to get 40 to realize that investing in a small inflatable pillow may not be too much of a luxury while travelling! On this trip, I use my pillow every night – when not under my head, under my belly to protect my lower bag. I literally cried, out of desperation, that one time in Thailand when I thought I had lost it! (Thankfully I got it back.)
Reference: Kuppio pillow by Kaikkialla
Swim goggles and cap
My favorite sport above all is swimming and I definitely miss not being able to practice it regularly while I travel. So, of course, whenever there is a (rare) opportunity to get into a pool, a lake, or the sea, I take it! However, never without my goggles (to protect my eyes and see under water) nor my cap (to protect my head from the cold and not to be bothered by my hair.) Actually, I’m even carrying TWO pairs of goggles (one with tinted glasses for outside, one for indoor)… but I have to admit that this is a bit nerdy!
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‘Pick-nick cloth’
It’s actually a hammam towel bought in Ankara, but for us it’s a table/pick-nick cloth! Whenever we make a break to eat something, I get it out! We put all the food on it and it is just a little bit cleaner than eating directly on the floor! And, so much ‘chicker’! It’s also handy to sit on, to wipe ones greasy fingers, to dry the washing-up…
Farmers on my Road 