I'm usually the sort of person who goes on holiday without even knowing where I might be staying on my first night (before I got married, at least). However, for my 5,000-kilometre winter walk from Mongolia to Hong Kong, in addition to getting physically fit, there have been all sorts of other bits of planning. To be honest, I sometimes think the actual expedition is going to be easy compared with these protracted negotiations and preparations.
First, there has been the acquiring of gear. In the past, I have often been on long cycling expeditions, where it is actually easy to load huge weights into your panniers, and apart from being slowed down a bit, there is not that much extra physical strain. However, this time we are walking, so my expedition partner and I will need to carry everything on our backs, which will be incredibly wearisome.
An experienced adventure journalist and Everest summiteer recently advised me that when it comes to packing we should 'halve what is in [our] backpacks ... and then halve it again' and then we would have the right amount of things.
This is excellent advice, but hard to follow, as even when we only have the essentials, we still have so much. What would you take with you if you had to carry everything on your back for six months?
Our list basically consists of essential clothes and camping gear. It will be winter, with temperatures around minus 20 degrees Celsius, so we need a decent tent, sleeping bag and stove, as well as lots of warm Berghaus clothes.
We are also taking some gadgets with us to stay in touch with and document our journey - cameras, phones and a lightweight laptop. We'll need a first aid kit (especially for those blisters), music to listen to by day, and a Kindle for reading at night. These may not seem essential, but keeping our morale up is as crucial as keeping our bodies going.
Furthermore, for much of the journey, we will also be carrying inflatable kayaks, which we will use to paddle down rivers (the Yellow and the Pearl).
