Packing for a three month adventure

Karen McCann writes:

Next summer, Rich and I will walk out our door in Seville, stroll to the train station with our rolling luggage, and board a train to begin a journey that will last several months and cover thousands of miles. No reservations, just a Eurail pass and an iPad full of information about possible destinations.

We'll wend our way by easy stages through Central and Eastern Europe, winding up in Transylvania and some of the more obscure Balkan countries, seeking offbeat side trips and adventures, passing through just about every type of terrain and climate Europe has to offer. So how are we packing for this? I'm glad you asked.

For our big trip next summer, Rich and I will be packing a towel and an iPad – which is strikingly like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy except that it doesn’t have “Don’t Panic” written across it in large, friendly letters (although I may add this along the way).

Like Arthur and Ford, we travel light. Rich always says: “The first rule of packing is to lay out all your clothes and all your money, then take half the clothes and twice the money.”

Karen McCann is an award-winning journalist, author, food critic and blogger who moved from the US to Seville in 2004. Her new book on expat life is called Dancing in the Fountain: How to Enjoy Living Abroad. “I loved this book,” wrote Lonely Planet. “I must have laughed aloud at least once in every chapter … The advice in the book is terrific.” Wanderlust has taken McCann to more than thirty countries, including many developing or post-war nations where she and her husband volunteer as consultants to struggling microenterprises. Her blog, Enjoy Living Abroad, provides stories of expat life, travel tips and tales of her journeys to some of the more obscure corners of the globe.