Packed Like Sardines

I would have to say that packing for the Mongol Rally has been one of the biggest challenges of the trip. Take it from two people that have made the mistake of over packing in the past, it is not fun to have a giant bag filled with useless items weighing you down.

While we all kept our packing to a minimum for this epic road trip from England to Mongolia, we are still crammed into a tiny car and utilizing every space possible.

We are travelling in a 1.5 liter Nissan Almera courtesy of AllWays Rental Campervans and Rental Cars in New Zealand. The whole idea of the Mongol Rally is to drive 1/3 of the way around the world in an inappropriate car. We aren’t traveling in a Landrover or on BMW bikes with full support vehicles backing us up. Nope, we’re driving in a tiny car with no air conditioning and very little leg room.

To top it all off, we are camping a lot during this trip so we are carrying tents, cookware, stoves, camp chairs, thermarests and sleeping bags. On top of the camping gear we are each carrying macbook pros, 4 DSLR cameras, two video cameras an adventure camera and various hard drives. Let’s just say, we’re really weighting down a car that doesn’t have a lot of clearance.

It does help a lot having the roof rack generously purchased by Family on Bikes with a contribution from Brooks on Break. Thanks guys! We’ve got that roof box stuffed to the point of worrying that we are going to break the fragile plastic hinges. Each morning we are very careful to NOT force close anything out of fear breaking something.

Mornings.

The hardest part of the day is packing the trunk each morning. It is as Sherry said like a game of Tetris. We maneuver our bags around like a jigsaw puzzle to make them all fit under the little flap that covers our contents. We push and shove and swear and sweat until it all fits in and we smile and tell ourselves just how great we all are!

We never know if it will all fit

After the bags are packed we have to figure out what goes in the front with us. Not all bags can fit in the trunk and the roof box, so we have to have one rotating daypack come up to the passenger seats to join us. We have cameras and computers on our laps and at our feet. We have food baking in the back window and we have ipods and sunglasses strewn about the car. Surprisingly we haven’t gotten too messy yet.

We just started getting it all sorted out and down to a well oiled machine when we crossed into Moldova and the Ukraine. We had heard a lot about corruption and robberies so we decided to split up our electronics. Some went into the roof rack, some went in the trunk and others went with us on our laps or under the seats. They are scattered everywhere and we have no idea where things are from day to day.

If we can’t find them, the bandits won’t for sure!

The funny thing is, since we started packing anew, we suddenly have a lot more space than when we left London. Maybe we already left something behind and don’t know it yet!

We’ll Keep you posted.