Packing

We are definitely not weight weenies. We never have been. If its a bit harder to get up the hill, but I'm comfortable at the end of the day, I'll choose that option.

Bike touring with a baby means extra things to transport the baby. We have a single Thule Chariot trailer which James will tow along and fingers crossed Tobias will enjoy napping in there. We'll also have his kinderzitje up front on my bike so he can ride with me when he's awake. Its extra weight and a bit inconvenient, but he's a really curious kid so if he spends too long awake in the trailer he gets a bit cranky because he can't see. I also just genuinely enjoy talking with him about all the things that we see and showing him the world.

We had a shitty (literally) experience with disposable nappies on our last trip, so we've decided to give it a go taking our reusables along. We have a system where the absorbent insides snap into a waterproof cover so they dry pretty quickly. We got a Scrubba wash bag (a dry bag with nobbles) so the plan is to wash them each day and dry them while we ride. That way we don't have to carry so many, or so much shit, with us. But it is an extra piece of daily admin so if its too hard, we'll just try and learn to do disposables properly.

We have all the normal bike touring things like a tent and sleeping bags and sleeping mats. We love our tent. I spent ages trying to find something big, light, and with a vestibule where we could park the trailer. We settled on the Wechsel Tempest 4 and it has fit the bill on all trips so far. We just bought a new 2 person sleeping mat after my Exped de-laminated on the last trip so we have a single and a double. I'm not exactly sure how tent sleeping arrangements will pan out. We bought a light(ish) portacot second hand because Tobias is great at falling asleep independently and sleeping in the night, if he is contained. If this works out then we'll put the single sleeping pad under this and remind ourselves that good sleep is worth it when we are sweating up the hills. If its too heavy, or if he ends up sleeping with us most nights anyway, we'll probably ditch it and he can share the double pad with me and James will be banished to the single.

Normally we'd have a bit more of an idea about how everything fits onto the bike before we go, but since we are packing now to leave our house in 10 days its all getting packed months before we actually start riding. Nearly all our belongings are in one of 3 stacks of boxes - to ship home, to fly home, or to stay here for touring. James has boxed 7 bikes in the last few weeks. Its a bit hard to get in the right headspace to pack for a tour with all the other packing going on, so I imagine there will be a few packages send back to Utrecht from on the road while we figure out what we don't really need.

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