We have all heard the old adage, you are what you eat. Can we extend that to how we travel ? Or more specifically, what does our packing style and philosophies say about us ? Recently, a bunch of Lifespikers ditched the sunny shores of Australia (temporarily) and headed to Japan for a vacation. This was a good opportunity to find about each of us by our how we packed and what we brought with us. It was a relatively challenging packing exercise to balance the need to pack appropriate clothing for the much colder climate as well as to allow us to bring our along equipment to indulge in our hobbies while in Japan. How do we manage all of this while keeping to the somewhat strict baggage allowance of the airlines ?

Below you will find four sections to this article revealing the innermost packing personalities of the four intrepid Lifespikers who embarked on the Japan excursion written in their own words.

The Techie Traveller (Chris)

I'll start this expose with my own packing philosophy and how I packed for the trip. Two things drive my packing strategy : be prepared and gadgets. I am naturally quite risk averse and I do not like to leave things to chance. One dilemma that often confronts me is to what extent I should prepare for *all* contingencies and to what extent should I hope for the best ? Not being overly experienced with extreme cold weather, I really had no idea how cold it was likely to be in Hokkaido in late January. What does -10C really mean ? How much cold can I take ? I would hate to show up under-prepared and thus faced two weeks of uncomfortable / miserable cold. This is a holiday after all, I wanted to be able to enjoy the cold climate in comfort. But winter clothing is extremely bulky and I do not want to be bringing along clothing or accessories that I don't use.

So here's what I decided in terms of my cold clothing strategy. I figured that it was important to keep the extremities warm / covered, to keep the upper body warm and the lower body will just have to take it. :)  For the extremities, I packed a ski mask that covered the whole head except for the eyes, a pair of "Windstopper" gloves (which turned out to be absolutely not fit for the purpose of stopping wind) and a neck warmer. For upper body protection, I brought one thermal under-shirt and a dual-layer ski jacket (thicker outer water proof layer and an thinner inner layer). For the lower body, I was placing all the trust on my regular cargo-pants and one pair of ski pants.

This cold clothing inventory served me extremely well. The best return on investment was the ski mask as keeping the head warm as an exponential effect on warming the rest of the body. The Windstopper gloves were effective only for keeping the cold away from the hands but when the wind picked up, it was pretty much useless. But certainly better than nothing. The lower body held up surprisingly well. There were only a couple of occasions where I wished I had brought lower thermals as well.

All in all, the amount of winter clothing that I brought along was just nice and I used every one of them.

Now to dilemma number two.  How do I indulge in my tech obsession on this trip ? Most people would agree that I have an unhealthy attachment to my tech gadgets. And I agree with them. :)  But I still have to accomodate my tech obsession otherwise I'll have withdrawal issues during the trip.  Let me break my gadgetry down into the following categories - photography related, entertainment related and ancillary but crucial items.

A large part of my interest in the Japan trip was to indulge in my photography hobby so I knew I was going fully loaded with my photography gear. There was no other option. So with me came my Canon 30D DSLR with my four lenses - 50mm, 10-22mm, 17-85mm and a Tamron 18-250mm. All the lenses went into a Think Tank Urban Design 30 camera bag which I carried on. The DSLR went into my camera / laptop backpack, a Lowepro CompuDaypack.  Of course, a plethora of memory cards, spare batteries and cleaning equipment went along. I also had to bring my tripod along for night photography so into my suitcase went the Velbon carbon fibre tripod. Luckily, the carbon fibre make up does result in a lighter tripod though it did take up a fair amount of space inside my suitcase.  I need somewhere to dump my photos as my memory cards won't last me for a two week trip. So the Macbook Pro came along with me together with a 100Gb  Seagate portable hard drive. My philosophy is that the photos from a trip are close to priceless and I do not want to put my faith in a hard drive. The Seagate drive was used to backup my laptop such that I always had two complete copies of all my photos. As there are other similarly teched up Lifespikers on this trip, I also brought along my Airport Express portable wireless router to allow us to share an Internet connection wirelessly in the hotel.

Oh boy .. that was a lot of stuff.  And now to the gadgets to keep me entertained on those long flights. My gadget of choice here, which is thankfully extremely portable, is my 16Gb Apple iPod touch. You cannot really fit too many shows on to a 16Gb iPod which is another reason why I brought along the Seagate portable drive. I loaded that up with additional media which I transferred on to my iPod once I've finished watching whatever that's on the iPod. One of the best ways to enjoy a cinematic movie experience on the iPod is with a good pair of headphones. My Bose QuietComfort 2 headphone is well suited to this task, especially in the very noisy airplane cabin.

Lastly the ancillary gizmos that are not sexy but quite essential.  My favourite such item is a multiple socket power board. With all the gadgets come a large demand on power sockets to charge them up. And you will never find sufficient power sockets in a hotel room nor are the sockets always conveniently located.  My favourite power socket board is one I picked from Shanghai a few years back. The great thing with this board is that not long does it come with 6 sockets, each socket is able to accomodate multiple power pin configurations. I wished I had bought two of these boards just in case this one fails on me as I travel all of the world with it.

So what does this say about me ? Do I overpack ? Definitely. But I use everything that I bring along. There are no items that I travel with that are brought "just in case". So that's maximum ROP (return on packing). :D  Enough about me, it's time I turn this over to my fellow Lifespikers.

The Accidental Pragmatic Traveller (Sacha)

Off to Japan and what an exciting trip it should be, additionally to be travelling with good friends is a real treat. Now those that know me, would know my willingness to procrastinate, well with this trip nothing really has changed, it's 12:00am, 14 hours before check in and I have just completed packing, well almost, need to get the toiletries together. Despite this rather annoying habit, my approach to packing is somewhat more methodical in stark contrast to the somewhat just in time, haphazard approach to my day to day life.  Those of you reading this who know me, would scoff, but I kid you not, when it comes to packing and getting ready to fly out, I quickly shift into paranoia mode with constant double checking to see I have got all the right gear, and a propensity to over-pack to cater for weather contingencies. 

This trip is a winter trip as I am heading to Japan in late January, pretty much mid winter. Being a 2 week trip, you can imagine a pretty hefty suitcase but in this instance, it's been recommended by my esteemed buddies to go minimalist. My approach has been to to temper with the minimalist approach and compromise by essentially packing for 1 week with the intention of laundering my clothes, at the end of the first week. Not quite bare essentials but not overkill.

So to break it down, there are just some essentials, that will ensure my survival in what is sure to be a hostile climate at times. I purchased a Lowe waterproof/windproof jacket, a pair of waterproof/snowproof gloves and a pair of  Merrell shoes that can handle the urban jungle, as well as a brief foray into nature's jungle if the opportunity presents.  Of course toiletries are essential!

Instead of hefty jackets, I am going with the layering approach, so I have packed t-shirts and fleecy lined tops to keep me warm and if the weather plunges below 0, I can resort to my Lowe windproof jacket. So I have a t-shirt for each day and will rotate between 2 pairs of jeans and 3 fleecy type tops. There's a fresh change of socks and underwear for each day as well.

My primary motivation for this trip was to photograph the people and the land of Japan, and so I will be taking a few electronics to ensure I can adequately document my travels around Osaka and Hokkaido. In my check in luggage, I will have a Manfrotto tripod for early morning and late evening landscape captures. I have also packed a Canon 400d dSLR camera. Lenses I have packed include a 10-22mm wide angle lens for my landscape and architecture captures. My primary people lens will be the Canon 70-200mm f2.8. While it is probably one of the best lenses in the Canon's range, the cost is its weight. This little monster comes in at just over 1.5kg, which is sure to take its toll on the 12 hour days of sightseeing. With its reach and capability, coupled with the unique photographic opportunities that Japan presents itself, I am more than happy to bear the load. For low light shots, I have packed my Canon 50mm 1.4 which is a light and handy lens. A Canon 580ex flash completes my photography gear packed into carry on luggage.

At the end of each day, I plan on documenting my the travels for the day, as well processing a couple images from each day, so that everyone in Australia can be treated to a snapshot from Japan, to that end, I have packed my Macbook Pro.

Hopefully, I have packed enough, but I leave with the knowledge, that if the weather gets decidedly worse, there are always opportunities to peruse factory outlet stores in Otaru. Pretty pragmatic and structured approach don't you think?

The Sophisticated Traveller (Sonia)

So somehow, I ended up the only female on an upcoming trip to Japan. And believe me, I can foresee no issues with this except in two areas…packing and getting ready. Now, by any “female” standards I am quite good at both of these, in that I impose my own restrictions when it comes to my luggage and can get ready for an evening out in about 30 mins (if I am really pushed, by either time or my husband). However, by male standards, I may still be the one lagging behind and will most likely be the last to leave the hotel or the last to leave the luggage carousel on our upcoming adventure.

This means for the last few weeks, I have been consumed with how I will pack for this trip and what shortcuts I can take that will minimise my ready time, so that I can be as least disruptive as possible, (while still appearing “fabulous”, of course), for the simple reason that I am out-numbered.  I don’t think I will have anyone coming to my defence, see my side or help provide justification for my load or tardiness. I initially thought I could work my way around this, but as the days come closer, I’m thinking it is just not that simple.

So before I begin thinking strategy, I must first think of my obstacles. And to do that I need to break down the two areas. When it comes to packing, they are as follows:

1. It’s winter in Japan and we aren’t talking an Aussie winter where occasionally it might hit zero degrees. We’re talking sub-zero temperatures, potentially reaching a maximum of -20 degrees Celsius
2. We chose this season so we could go snowboarding. Dilemma two is packing for this activity and I have all my own gear. This means a board, boots, ski clothes etc
3. Our activities also include a lot of walking but also some nightlife which means different pairs of shoes…in winter that can only mean boots and runners…which translates into space and weight
4. I have one bag, plus one carry on (thank you Jetstar)
5. You do the math!

When it comes to getting ready, they are as follows:

1. I am a girl (throw in long unruly hair and the need for makeup)
2. What more do you need??

My options are thus:

1. Just pack my snowboard gear,, my winter coat and one set of clothes. Upon arrival in Japan, check out the local markets and buy enough clothes for the 2 weeks and discard upon on my return.
2. Just pack my snowboard gear, my winter coat, a pair of shoes and wear my husband’s clothes
3. Just pack my snowboard gear, my winter coat (are you seeing a trend here??!!), 2 pairs of jeans, 1 set of boots (flat) and a lot of scarves and layering tops in the hope that it won’t be that cold
4. Help??!!!

Problem is how do I find clothes to wear during the day to run around in and also to wear to a nice dinner or evening out? Will it matter when its that cold? Do I care?? Will the boys even give a damn?! Aarrgghhh and that’s just the main items…I still haven’t even thought of the shoes or the toiletries or any other must-have essentials for travelling (which I am sure will be deemed as “luxuries” by the boys!).

What is a girl to do?!

After much deliberation, analysing, measuring, weighing, feng shui-ing, I have come to this conclusion. I am going to put everything I would like to bring on my bed and arrange into 3 categories: 1) Non-negotiable items; 2) Creative Packing; 3) Can live without and then just start packing…when I hit the max, I hit the max and I will just have to live with it! Which translates into: the guys will just have to live with the following statement which may be repeated as often and whenever I please “…oh, I can’t believe I left that at home…I so could have used that1…” Their punishment…for….uhm…well…for being so damn practical!

The Extreme Sports Traveller (Steve)

Coming soon. 

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