What I'm bringing

When I left for the Peace Corps in 2005, it was incredibly difficult to pack my life into just two bags of luggage and a backpack, and I even brought along my large video camera. In my group of volunteers, there was also a guy named Ted, who was in his early 30s and was a Desert Storm veteran. He didn't check any baggage. His entire life was in a medium-sized duffel bag. The rest of us were bewildered; we couldn't understand how he was going to live for two years with just those things. "I've got everything I need for the next week in this bag," he said. "Anything else I need, I'll buy it there, and it'll be cheaper than if I bought it in America."

Ted had a wonderful approach, even if I didn't see much wisdom in it at the time. When he did finally buy dress clothes, he bought shirts, pants, and shoes that fit the Moldovan style, allowing him to be accepted faster in the culture than those of us trying to understand why the Moldovans didn't like our rounded shoes with matte polish.

Years later, Ted's example is my inspiration on this trip. I'm bringing a single large duffel bag from REI, and I'm packing the essentials:

• enough underwear and socks to last me for a week without laundry,
  
• one pair of jeans (wearing them),
  
• one pair of boots (wearing them),
  
• three t-shirts (wearing one of them),
  
• a light jacket (wearing it),
  
• one hooded sweatshirt,
  
• swim trunks,
  
• a cheap, simple Timex watch (wearing it),
  
• three Spanish grammar and vocabulary books,
  
• a couple travel books for the countries in which I'm traveling,
  
• a few English books to read in the first few weeks of my trip,
  
• a camera,
  
• a compass,
  
• two flashlights,
  
• shampoo and soap, and
  
• a dop kit with toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, tweezers, nail clippers, and some meds.

In addition, I'll be carrying money, my passport, my immunization record, my medical insurance information, two pens, a notepad and my cell phone with me (the phone is in case I stay in a place for more than a few weeks and want to have a phone number, in which case I can buy a SIM card and put it in).

What's more notable, I think, is what I'm not bringing. No laptop, no iPod, no fancy clothes, no video camera, no jewelry. This is because in many ways, I think Ted's approach to packing was much smarter than mine. I'm glad that I brought my laptop and video camera to Moldova, because it helped me prepare lessons and create incredible video memories of my life there. But I wonder how much more I might have done with my time there if I hadn't been sitting at the computer for hours every day. Whom might I have met that, because I was interested in reading New York Times articles, I never met? What experiences in my village might I have had that, because I was so happy to stay in my room and watch a DVD, I never had? How much weight might I have lost if I had helped my host family in the field rather than play Civilization III?

This is why I have almost completely deprived myself of entertainment and electronics for the trip; I have to force myself outside, into discussions with people and exciting new experiences. I have to get rid of my 21st century digital boy instinct, talk to people, practice Spanish, and absorb every bit of culture I can from the area. Buddhists would call this "right mindfulness," but Bill Withers might just say that if you're going to travel, "You'd better do it, and do it good."

I won't be completely technology-deprived, though. I will be using a USB flash drive loaded with Portable Apps. No matter where I go, all I have to do is find a PC and plug into its USB port, and I'll have my own web browser, e-mail program, FTP client, and office suite. This is how I'll be updating this blog, e-mailing people, and uploading photos. In fact, I'm using it right now.

So that's all my luggage. It fills about half of my duffel bag, and it's down to what I consider the bare basics. Speaking of which, it's time to keep packing; I leave for L.A. on Saturday. Four years ago, I would never have guessed that I'd be packing like Ted.