A thousand little things

It's been quite a few days since a dispatch, so here is the latest.

Pulling up roots to embark on a big trip presents a variety of tasks that one doesn't normally encounter. Where does all your stuff go? Where do you direct your mail? How much underwear do you bring for a year? At least when you're moving residences, you know there is a home on the other end that you can live out of. Not so for us.

Here are some details about one tiny thing checked off the list, among many.

In an effort to travel as lightly as possible, we're using the carry-on approach, ie., just taking the carry-on allowance for luggage: one big pack and a detachable daypack. We spent a night a few weekends ago doing a "trial run" of packing - which I have to admit was exciting, in a "it's really real" kind of way - but was also very sobering. I managed to get my pack closed, it's still relatively light (17 lbs), but then started making a list of the things that weren't in there. And realized I'd have to start making sacrifices.

My daypack was almost completely dedicated to camera gear, which is the one thing that didn't sit well with me. While I want to bring my camera, a few lenses and accessories, I also wanted my daypack to be able to carry water, some snacks and other travel items. Armed with these intentions, I decided to investigate other daypacks that could be retrofitted to work with our main packs: something that would have enough room to store my camera stuff and extra stuff, and still approximate the "small component" of the carry-on allowance.

Of course, this was before the whole terrorist plot fiasco occurred in August. But I digress.

After doing some trolling around camera stores, I happened into Downtown Camera in Toronto, which people in the know will tell you is the best place to haggle prices, and generally has a great selection. The website isn't as glamorous as Henry's or Vistek, but the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and they have alot of flexibility when it comes to prices, when you pay cash.

Looking at bags, I noted one in the murky corner of the store with a "special price" tag on it. I looked it up and down, did some measurements with a tape measure I'd brought with me (this happens more often that not lately), and figured that it would actually work as the small carry-on with a bit of squeezing. So, I had to ask, why were they getting rid of it? It's marvellously modular, something I love about any well-designed product, and has a large, segmented internal space instead of other bag arrangements which are actually two bags connected by zippers, one part for a camera and the other for a token amount of cargo.

It turns out the reason was this model of bag (the Lowepro Street and Field system, for the interested) is a pro-level system, which normally doesn't come with such things as a harness and a waiststrap. That's right, you could buy a camera backpack, but in the catalogue it wouldn't have straps to put your arms through. I gather it was confusing the customers, and they were only going to special-order them in the future. This was the last one.

So I bought it. It's working out splendidly, except for a minor problem that the waist strap that came with it was sized for extra-large, and I'm more of a medium man myself. When I took it back for exchange, one of their managers assured me it would be no problem to get one before our departure date. And if not, he would give me his personal one, which was brand new, the same size, and he never used it. In the end, it came in the Monday following the previous Thursday. Kudos to DTC. We'll see how many bungee cords I have to use to get it to fit into the small carry-on allowance, or if by the time we get to the airport, they're even letting me take my camera equipment on board the plane - perish the thought if I have to check it in luggage. Gasp!

So that's just one aspect of the internal side of preparation - we also have to deal with a number of things such as cancelling our services. These are actually really fun phone calls, as most customer service reps are trained to plead longingly for you to remain a loyal customer, and are armed with all sorts of incentives to sweeten the deal. But when I say that we're going on a year-long trip that will take us out of Canada, that all goes out the window, and they're right in there with us. "Cool, where are you going?" It takes about five minutes to get back to the purpose of the phone call...