Tag Archives: #gettingready

The Last Odds And Ends

Leave a reply

boo boo

Boo is helping me pack the last odds and ends. So tempting to pack her too while we’re at it… But it’ll mean an additional 4 kg, so I guess I better not 😉 I’ll miss her to bits but, gladly, my dad is taking great care of her.

All The Stuff

Leave a reply

1 gear

2 more days! Still packing… This is all the stuff I’m planning to take. Need to ditch a couple more things though. I’m still about 4kg too heavy. Altogether, I’m at 14kg but should have no more than 10… What to leave behind? (I have to take my iPad mini and a solar power bank so I can write while on the road).

Be Prepared

Leave a reply

IMG_1115

Packing!! Only 3 more days until the start of this adventure ☀️
I am properly nervous and excited. Making sure I don’t overpack, but also being sensible regarding safety. Pepperspray, just in case. A well-stocked 1st aid kit, an emergency blanket and whistle, and a Spot Gen3 satellite tracker with which I can broadcast my location from anywhere, plus send off an SOS signal to rescue services if I need to. More tomorrow, gotta run, pack a bit more!

Aromat

Leave a reply

aromat

What do you crave when you are far away from home? For me (don’t laugh) it’s Aromat. It’s a Swiss-ism. A quite unhealthy, artificial salt thingy. Most Swiss can’t live without it. Neither can I. And I’m not even Swiss. I’ve only lived there, off and on, for 17 years. Wherever else I went during the last 30 years, an Aromat was always with me. Making hard-boiled eggs and not having Aromat to go with it is a major emergency. Very sad.
So, even though I need to keep my backpack weight as low as possible, this Aromat shaker WILL have to come with me 😂☀️

Little Challenges

Leave a reply

IMG_1103

Only 6 more days until I’ll be on my way! I’m getting quite excited and a bit frazzled. As always, the closer the date comes the more it seems like time is racing way too fast, and there is still quite a bit to prepare and test.
One of the toughest things in organizing this trip has been to find a solution for carrying my meds. Being transgender, I need to give myself an intramuscular injection every 20 days. Testosterone doesn’t grow on trees unfortunately, and it can’t just be bought over the counter either. On top of that, it should be kept in the fridge so it stays stable. Yet, I’ll be hiking in mid-summer in France and Spain, with temperatures most likely spiking up to 30 and 40 degrees Celsius…
Almost all travel refrigeration systems I looked at were useless to a hiker since they involved little ice boxes which were way too heavy and large.
Then, friends of mine (thank you Maggi and Abel!) alerted me to pouches for travelers which are being sold in Australia. There are crystals sewn into the sides of these pouches and when you put them in cold water for a couple minutes, the crystals turn into a cooling gel, which stays cool through evaporation and keeps meds safe at 8-10 degrees Celsius for up to 50 hours… by which time I’ll need to find a cold creek again to re-dunk the small pouches and re-activate them.
I wasn’t able to order these fantastic little (and also light-weight!) travel essentials in Australia, but ended up finding out that, nowadays, they are being produced in every country. As you see, the pouches have arrived and are ready to go. Nothing’s gonna stop me now 😉