The time has finally come to ring in the New Year en route to Southeast Asia. After more than three years of planning, our dream has come true!

I won’t lie, the decision process around what to pack was at times stressful. How much clothing do we need? How often will be find laundry services? Should we wash our own clothing in the sink with small tubes of detergent? Do we sacrifice clothing for a Kindle or iPad? What size backpacks do we buy?

The list of questions and considerations is endless. In the end, we went against Rolf Potts in his famous book called Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term Travel. The experts say to pack as little as possible for extended travel. They say you will shed stuff almost immediately in favor of comfort and that you can buy almost anything on the road. After countless REI Store visits, paranoia set in and we disagreed!

So, we offer you this short list (extended list here) to view some of our travel gear items for 2012 backpacking throughout Southeast Asia. Continue Reading