How To Pack Everything You Own in a 28L Bag


Posted By Tynan

People keep asking for it and I keep meaning to do it, but then we always seem to be in a rush before leaving a country and we don’t have time to video me packing my bag.

Japan was a little different, so we finally got it done. Unfortunately Todd’s real video camera is broken now and this was taken on his point and shoot, which cuts off at about 10 minutes.

That means that you’ll miss the glory of me repacking that one last thing in there. Actually, after packing I realized that I had forgotten my sandals so I repacked the whole thing anyway.

We have some new gear coming in next week… it will be interesting to see if everything still fits.

Here’s the video:


Stumble it!

19 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. Nice stuff y’all. You’ve got a bit more in your pack than I do…and thus there seems to be quite a bit of stuffing.

    I skipped the rain jacket and thus am able to keep pretty much all the clothes in the bottom compartment and leave some room for “quick packing” stuff as I move through planes/trains/etc (food, tickets, magazines, etc).

    Think I made a mistake not taking the rain-jacket? I’m thinking of getting one to put over my fleece.

    Check out my post on most of this stuff at http://thedigitalbackpacker.com/hawaii/whats-in-my-pack

  2. Oscar

    What kind of MP3 player is that?

  3. Alright. I give up. Where the hell did you get those kickass ziploc bags? I searched online endlessly and have failed.

    Are they only available in one location? If that location is LA, no problem, I’ll be there in a couple months.

  4. Yea, I’d love to get some of those. It looks like you can compress all the air out of the clothes? I’ve never seen them.

    By the way, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! for that video :D I know I’ve annoyed you a lot with it and I APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH!

    You really have a heck of stuff in there. Am I getting that Kettle-Stack right: it’s a handle for transforming dumbbells into Kettlebells? Should be interesting, dumbbells are found in every gym, I guess. You still have to find a gym, though. And one that allows for 2-months-entry. Most I know will only take you for at least 6 months.

    You should really do podcasts/videocasts more often. Just seeing things “live” for a few minutes (even if it’s just a “hello from our new appartment”) make the thing that much more lively. That’s something writing just can’t give you, though writing has it’s own advantages of course.

    Love to hear from you guys,
    washburne

  5. Vince

    I’ll bet this has been asked before but please bear with me. If you leave a locked backpack in a public place how has it not been destroyed by anti- terrorist squads afraid of a bomb?

  6. admin

    Vince: We’re not in the US anymore

    Tynan

  7. admin

    DB: Awesome gear. A friend of mine has that sansa and loves it. I would DEFINITELY get rain pants and a rain jacket. We’ve used ours everywhere. The bags are called Aloksaks. Cheap and VERY highly recommended. They can be used as pillows too. BTW - we might be in Germany when you are.

    Oscar: It’s a Creative ZEN 16gb. Wish I had the 32gb, but it wasn’t out when I bought it.

    Washburne: You’re welcome… It was a really good suggestion. We’ll do more video. I’ll do a whole thing on the kettlestack soon.

    Tynan

  8. Vince

    “Vince: We’re not in the US anymore” does that mean that people aren’t as afraid/paranoid/fear mongering? I work as a fireman and our bomb squad is often sent out to destroy “napsacks” left unattended. Never mind. It sounds liike you guys are having a great time and I’m convinced that the best life is a life filled with as much adventure as you can manage. Looking in at your experience it seems that life without the stuff would be great…just not for me.

    P. S. I’m fifty and I gave your book to my twenty two year old son as a gift. Thanks.

  9. Vince: That’s awesome *lol*
    Getting pickup advice from my father.. wish that would happen some time ;) He used to be a womanizer and never told me how to do it. So i’m a pussy now. Well.

    @crazy travelling people coming to germany some time: visit me :) hamburg for life. i’ll buy you a vegan beer or something (digital backpacker can have a real one)

  10. @washburne I will totally take you up on that offer. I’ll be in Germany within 3 months. I’ll come over to Hamburg and we can all unite! How’s it sound?

  11. admin

    Vince: Thanks! Yeah, I mean that people in the places we’ve been have been far less paranoid. I still wouldn’t do it at the airport, but public parks and such have been no problem.

    Washburne: I think we may make it out there. We plan to get train passes from August on and go everywhere.

    Tynan

  12. @tynan - I ordered a good variety of the Alocsacs…thanks for telling me about them. I’ve used regular ziplocs in the past but it only takes ten minutes for the compression to go away and the air to leak in again.

    Would you guys be open to doing a meetup in Europe? I’ll meet you guys wherever you’d like and we can do a joint podcast or something…? If you want to talk about details, email me at i@christiandavidholmes.com and we’ll talk about it.

    You guys rock.

  13. Elliot

    So THAT’S how you do it.
    Though I’m not sure if it beats my ultra-mini packing while down in Yakushima. ;-)
    Hope you’ve met some cool boasty slaves and toasty maids over in Taiwan. Totally jealous right now.

  14. Alex W

    Dear Tynan,
    Have been reading your stuff for a while, and this is the first time I’ve seen you talk for an extended period of time. It’s really nice to see and hear the man behind all the great writings. Provides the reader with a more complete experience of “Tynan.”

    You are an inspiration

    sincerely

    Alex W

  15. Alright you guys. I gave in and shelled out for a Lenovo like yours (the same one) and it should be here by Thursday. I am a Linux guy and once I saw it as a recommended linux machine in a magazine I realized the signs were too plentiful to ignore.

    I’ll letcha know what I think.

  16. washburne

    @DB: NO! It’s the dark side! The Thinkpad will consume all your data and corrupt your bits!

    Just kidding: I had one. They’re exactly as advertised. Sturdy, unbreakable almost ( I saw a guy poor water into his keyboard and it worked ). Reliable. Yes, you can run Ubuntu on it ( I did for 2 years ). No, it’s not easy. Good luck finding drivers for the touch screen, the graphics card, and decent power management. Since I left Linux a little over a year ago to transcend into the realm of the MAC, I’m not sure how they’ve progressed.

    Be sure to ask for the stupid restore-DVDs or CDs that DON’T come with the laptop. Without them, you won’t be able to restore Windows. No, the stupid partition on the main drive will not work once you’ve had GRUB on the system with your Ubuntu.

    I could never go back to Windows or Linux. They’re just 5 years behind in OS development. Usability, Technology, Design, Mac OS X is just better.

    There is exactly ONE reason not to get a Mac:

    You are a professional gamer. If not, GET A MAC!

    By the way: they’re not expensive. I bought mine for 800€ 1 1/4 year ago. Now it’s selling for 650-700€. That’s maybe 150€ loss in over a YEAR. No other electronics do that.

  17. @washbourne - You’re preaching to the choir man. I did Cocoa development for a long time and love the software development systems for OSX. I have had Powerbooks, Macbook Pros, a couple iMacs and a handfull of MAC Minis…and I used to love the Macs. In all honesty, though, the hardware is going downhill and the quality is suffering. I saw this happening as a Mac guy a year ago and decided to get out before the DRM craziness got worse.

    Nah Im open-source through and through…thank you for the advice though just the same!

  18. washburne

    Dude, you’re going to have to teach me your magic Cocoa powers!

  19. Daniel

    Can’t believe you guys had to detour from Taiwan. I’m currently here for a few more days before I head out to Korea.

Reply to “How To Pack Everything You Own in a 28L Bag”

Life Nomadic?

Tynan and Todd sold everything they owned, filled two small backpacks with the best gear and technology available, and set out to explore the world and find adventures.

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Panama City, Panama
Feb 4
Las Tablas, Panama
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Isla Robinson, Panama
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Los Angeles, United States
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Tokyo, Japan
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Naruto, Japan
Apr 23
Aomori, Japan
Apr 24
Sapporo, Japan
Apr 29
Miyajima, Japan
May 1
Kagoshima, Japan
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Yakushima, Japan
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Taipei, Taiwan
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Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan
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Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
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Bangkok, Thailand
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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Saigon, Vietnam
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Hanoi, Vietnam
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Macau
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