We spent the last ten days on yet another California road trip, and we finally ventured to Santa Catalina Island for snorkeling and camping. It was awesome!
This adventure included multiple stops, nights in tents and motels, hurried transfers between boats and rugged outback SUVs, plus ferries and putting parts of our luggage into day storage. In summary, we put our packing skills and our gear to the test. Things went smoothly, so I decided to share a look behind the scenes with you. In this blog, you find a guide to our essential gear, complete with links to purchase. Here is my full affiliate marketing disclosure: if you buy something through our links, you might be financially supporting our next adventures, and we appreciate it.
After two years on walkabout, we pack pretty lightly, even on road trips: one backpack per traveler, stuffed with clothes, basics, electronics, and a sleeping bag. Add to that one storage box or carry bag with the family kitchen, and on this trip, a second box or bag for beach equipment, like towels, wet suits, snorkeling gear.
The list for "basics" includes water bottles, hats, bandanas, knives, headlights, first aid kits, and our sponge bags. We each carry a different knife, the older ones treasure fancy Laguioles, Elena has a multi-tool pocket knife, and Lolo favors the German Scout brand's non-folding blade whittling knife. We also have different water bottles each. My oldest uses a LifeStraw filter bottle, where the younger ones have more traditional Thermos bottles. I like my easy-to-clean 20 oz KleenKanteen with the wide loop-top. The best headlamp we tried so far is the Spriak brand rechargeable as it is lightweight with red light and nifty hand-wave motion sensor, and waterproof.
Our kitchen box holds the essential gear to cook basic meals anywhere. Most importantly, we treasure our LifeStraw gravity bag water filter. While we were waiting for transfers in Catalina's harbor during a heat wave, we filtered water from the public bathroom faucet, using a construction fence to hang the gravity bag. When lodging, we usually suspend it from the shower rod.
The second favorite item is our Odoland lightweight nesting mess kit for four. One large hanging pot, one frying pan, and a small water kettle. Plus four smallish stainless steel plates, cups, folding forks and spoons.
Our stoves are two different kinds of lightweight and foldable butane burners, and since propane is easier to find, we also carry two small butane to propane valve converters. To complete our kitchen, we toss in a stir stick to cook, tongues, and a spatula. Add a variety of ziplock bags, some plastic trash bags, waterproof matches, a roll of kitchen paper, a sponge, dish towel, and universal camper soap (suitable for showers, dishes, and laundry).
To our shame, our electronics supply might outweigh our clothes. Unless we are hiking pretty seriously, we each carry our own laptop and charger. The kids use the rugged ASUS Chromebooks for their two or three hours of daily school work. We like this spill-proof, drop-safe, 11.6 inch PC with 32 GB storage, because it gives us good performance, is very kid-friendly, and weighs under 3 pounds. The link below this text is for the 16 GB model, it seems the 32GB models are hard to find right now. The family also shares one solar charger, two power packs, and the
various charging cables. Our GoPro camera gear to capture our water adventures is pretty lightweight and small, but carrying various grips and accessories makes it voluminous. Lastly, we travel (frankly live) with the Skyroam Lite to generate our own mobile Wifi signal around the globe for up to 10 devices as long as we can pick up a phone signal.
For wet suits, we have come to believe that nothing beats an O'Neill. Our snorkeling gear is from Cressi for teen and adult, and the cute Mares snorkel gear packs the twins have strapped to their front held up exceptionally well. We also learned that Kelty's sleeping bags are of excellent quality and value; we love the Cosmic 20 with down-filling for warmth, size, and weight.
Below you find a collection of links if you want to learn more about our favorite gear. We might be earning a commission if you purchase via these links.
Born and raised in Europe, Insa is a world-schooling mom of three, a polyglot nomad, and a life & career coach. After decades of working for global corporations, she now explores the surprising revelations of a life adrift. She blogs on Kids on Walkabout.