Thinking about equipment

Choosing the right equipment always is double-edged.

First of all, our recent equipment fit well on all of our trips until now. This was for 1/3 new stuff (e.g. our tent), 1/3 good, but quite used stuff (my beloved, 30 years old gasoline stove from GDR production, for example) and the last part consisted of everyday stuff like jeans and T-shirts instead of fashionable, state-of-the-art gore tex equipment.

On the other hand, we never planned to travel as far as on this trip. And, to be honest, I didn´t like the idea to be dependent on things like my stove that tends to „explode“ sometimes (nothing big, only that you end up with 1/4 liter of burning gasoline on your camp site and a stove that is useless until you buy new sealings). Clothes made of cotton are quite modest, only when they get wet, they stay so for quite a while.

So, if your’e not planning to have cold spaghetti for dinner and ending up with renal disease you need to do some shopping.

But purchasing was not without problems.

In the colorful world of outdoor and bike equipment there is a whole load of stuff which ain´t exactly neccessary but is quite good-to-have, and by the way, hey, take a look, it doesn’t cost this much…

Well,in the end it is expensive. Summa summarum.

So, what to do against this bad, bad trap? My suggestion: Exactly planning what you need. How much are you able to spend. And where to get it (internet, real world shops…) Last question: Do you need to buy everything new? Or could you save money by buying used stuff (hopefully, no gas stoves)?

Well, this is the theory. Us, we spent more than we had planned. But, thanks to the list, we only bought what we planned to buy. God only knows if we will need it.