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how to pack for a road trip

Help! I’m packing for a 12-month road trip.

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Helping Paul Pack – For a full 365 days on the road

Editor’s note:  Paul, our technology correspondent, is insane.  Not in the bad, lock-him-up kinda way, but in the way that he thinks about doing things only a small minority of us would ever consider.  Then he goes out and actually does them.  His latest adventure is about to start.  It’s a 12-month road trip.  A full year on the road.  He, his wife, and a mini-van.  He needs our help in creating a packing list.  Your suggestions will go in the comments section.

I’m packing for a serious road trip – a 12-monther (more about that here, here, and here).  There are a billion unknowns, so I just have to make a best guess at what I’ll need.  Some things I know – we will be outdoors a lot, we will be living out of a van (down by the river), and we will be stopping at multiple weddings (we’ll be the best guests ever – the ones sleeping in the parking lot).  There will be shitty days.  There will be cold days.  But we’re going to try and avoid as much cold as possible by staying south in the winter, slowly making our way north to Alaska by next summer.  We’ll see what happens.

Think of this as the ultimate ‘would you wear it‘ – what the hell will I wear?  My list is below.  What am I missing?  What do I have wrong?  What can I cut?  How do I pack for both Key West and Dutch Harbor?  Can I be a stylish dirt-bag?

Nobody says they want to be a dirt bag when they grow up. Wait, what?

From the bottom up, inside out, here’s what I’m thinking:

Shoes:

  • Driving loafers nice enough for more formal times.
  • Hiking boots (we’ll be camping in a lot of parks and hiking).
  • Sneakers.
  • Flips – for showering, slot canyon exploration.

Clothing:

  • Socks – probably a lot of blue and brown ones.
  • Undies – Enough that I can make it 2 weeks without doing laundry.
  • 2 pairs of shorts – one teal, one khaki.
  • PJs for when crashing with friends.
  • 4 pairs of pants + 1 pair of more formal pants (again, the weddings).  This means a 3x+ wear rotations between laundering.  Might be high.  I may need to buy another pair of jeans.  My formal pair may need to be informal enough to make it into the regular rotation.
  • 1 belt – got to make it work with one of these.  Will likely be my favorite leather one, not the canvas one.
  • 6 polos, 8 t-shirts gets me to 14 days of no repeats.  That seems like a lot of shirts.
  • 2 long-sleeve cotton shirts for when it’s cool.
  • 2 nicer button-down shirts.
  • Fleece sweater, cashmere sweater (we’re not savages).
  • Swim trunks.

Outerwear:

  • Blue blazer (the weddings & formal s’mores galas).  Although the weddings are in the fall, so I may go tweed.
  • Fleece jacket.
  • Down vest – for the coldest days.
  • Waterproof shell.
  • Baseball hat (probably with a Cubs logo on it).

Accessories:

Let me know what you think in the comments.  I appreciate all the feedback.  And if you want to keep track of us, follow @drivinginertia on Twitter.

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Comments

  1. Merino anything, esp by icebreaker. Polos, t’s, underwear, socks, sweaters – you can wear them for days on end and they won’t take on the lovely must of van-dweller. They are also some of the most comfortable pieces I’ve ever warn across a range of temps. Bonus: they also have pieces that aren’t too granola to be seen with your driving loafers.

  4. A couple of things that I picked up from 2 years backpacking in Asia.  You will be in shorts more than you think. I would pack a third pair of shorts and drop a pair of pants. You don’t mention a hat other than the cap. You will probably want a wool hat that can cover your ears on the really cold days. A large microfiber scarf is a good addition, and it can double as a small towel if needed.

    Most importantly, lose at least half, maybe three quarters of the T-Shirts. T-Shirts are a great souvenir from a trip. They are cheap, practical, easy to find, and you can enjoy them right away. I have a collection of shirts from my travels, some cool, some kitschy. Every time I put one on I am reminded of the place I bought it, and the fun I had travelling.

    Don’t be afraid of bringing too much stuff. If you really bring too much, or you pick up other things along the way, you can always ship stuff home by cheap snail mail.

    Good luck, and enjoy your trip.

  5. Agree 100%. If I had to pick one item for my must-have travel kit it would be a merino t. I wish I could find more in stores locally.

  6. If you’re dead set on driving mocs, then go for it. However, when I did a few-weeks-that-turned-into-a-few-months exploration of SE Asia, I used my (brown) Born shoes, something like this: http://bit.ly/pP2DQl and it worked great for more formal settings i.e. clubs, restaurants, etc. Also, I’d ditch the hiking boots for trail runners unless you’re gonna be carrying a heavy (30+ pound) backpack on uneven trails. Smartwool socks, no compromise on those. 2nd the merino wool (Smartwool, Icebreaker, REI) suggestion for t-shirts and underwear. You can wear a merino t 5 days in a row & not smell. A couple of swim trunks with the mesh will also save you a day or two of underwear. Handy on laundry days. Don’t forget a good swiss army knife and some paracord, trust me, you’ll use them.

  7. I’m involved in a similar situation, only, I’m wondering more what kind of luggage you would use for such a trip. What kind of bags do you have?

  11. Will you be blogging your adventure? I’m curious. I’d love to follow it, and you should take lots of pictures as well.

  13. I would look at a few pairs of ExOfficio underwear. You can wear them for days and rinse them out each night. It would allow you to cut your underwear haul by 75%. Also I would recommend a good pair of convertible pants to allow you to kill two needs with one item.

  17. How about LLbean boots instead of hiking boots? I’d prefer something waterproof for when it rains or snows.

  18. Also, what do you mean when you say “pants”? Aside from one pair of wool or corduroy pants for colder days, chino’s will be much more comfortable and versatile. You can have them for comfortable everyday wear and then still dress them up for a wedding so long as they aren’t torn and frayed.

  19. 1000x this ,espcially for t-shirts, underwear ans socks.  This can cut you down to around 3 t-shirts, three pairs of underwear and a few pairs of socks. Do “sink laundry” at rest stops, restaurants- anywhere where you have soapy water.  Get a performance towel and roll the wet clothes in it a few times, and they’ll be nearly dry in a few hours.

  24. Stop by Iowa City in the Fall.  A good drive west from Virginia in the fall would be amazing, you’ll see the smoky, old mountains and make your way into the rolling fields of the heartland and errant woodlands.  Arrive in Iowa City, a convergence of the culture, under-culture, education, art, literature, music.  Here you’ll find one of the healthiest cities in America, one of the most cultured in the Mid-West.  You might even catch a Saturday morning at Kinnick where you’ll learn our chant, “In Heaven there is no beer. That’s why we drink it here!”