To test our new camping gear we headed to Tierra Del Fuego national park, west of Ushuaia.The weather was foreboding, but we went for it anyway.We set up our camp and hiked along a windy lake to the Argentine/Chilean border.
We think our tent looks like an alien, do you?
Here is Amber next to the chilly lake:
The southern forests were beautiful and reminded us of parts of New Zealand:
Here is the marker noting where the border is - we have spent so much time together we decided we needed a little distance so we stood in two different countries for a bit...
We have added a new link to the upper navigation on our blog pointing to the photos we've taken so far on the trip. Although I typically use KodakGallery to share photos (and have since 2004!) for the purposes of blogging, etc, I've decided that Flickr is the way to go for the trip. So the links are to our sets on Flickr organized by country and then by area within that country. Many of the photos will be featured on our blog posts of course but the photo page will feature the the comprehensive photos if anyone is interested in seeing them!
I had a minor obsession with gear for this trip. Two things in life I love: kitchen gadgets and camping equipment. I got to feed this obsession with carefully planning out what to take on this trip. Since we are carrying everything we need for 9 months on our back, we had to be discriminating and pick high quality gear at a decent price. I started shopping months ago. But not Tom.
For clothing, Tom went the more pedestrian route (read: cheaper) and for the most part brought clothes he already had.
The hardest decision for us was not where to go, how to budget the trip, or what to pack. We had the most difficult time deciding what luggage to take! We had a lot of parameters to consider: cost, size, mobility, type of loading, wheels or no wheels, carry-on or check luggage, number of straps, security, and Amber's critical criteria: color.
The luggage decision was an important one because it basically holds our life everyday we are traveling. I realized after watching the Amazing Race on TV and from my past experience overnight backpacking that no matter the luggage, weight is the key issue. But what is the perfect piece of luggage for long-term travel? Most travel-bloggers seem to agree that a backpack is the way to go and thus we began the great backpack search.
Here are some that we considered and some notes about them:
