BootsnAll Travel Community

Here is a list of the clothing and gear that we packed. Overall, we are very happy with what we brought. It was very light - we had the smallest packs of anyone else we met. (Except Guillome and Sebastian who smartly packed everything in a school dayback for 3 weeks!) Kay's main pack, when full, weighed about 25 pounds and Frank's main pack weighed about 30 pounds. If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a line or send a comment!

*************** KAY'S PACKING LIST ***************
Main Pack: Kelty Redwing 2500W Backpack
Daypack: LL Bean Stowaway Daypack

CLOTHES
- 3 Pants. (1 Black, 1 Brown - lightweight and made by Lucy. 1 Khaki that rolls up at bottom and made by EMS)
- 1 Capri Pants. (1 Black. Lightweight. Made by Prana)
- 2 Shorts. (lightweight and can be used for sports or pajamas)
- 5 Tanktops. (2 yoga style made by Prana, 1 yoga style by Lucy, 1 cotton cheapy, 1 lightweight by ExOfficio)
- 1 T-shirt. (from Old Navy)
- 1 Short-sleeve Shirt. (button-down. Made by North Face)
- 1 Long-sleeve Shirt. (bright pink button-down. nice for dressing up, but did not really need. Made by Colombia)
- 1 Long-sleeve Shirt. (athletic breathable and warming material. Made by North Face)
- 1 Fleece Jacket. (lightweight with zipped pockets. Made by Lady Foot Locker)
- 6 pairs of Socks (lightweight Coolmax. Packed too many - 3 would have sufficed)
- 10 pairs of Underwear (4 later stolen/missing and dwindled down to 6)
- 2 Sport Bras (EMS)
- 1 Hiking Shoes (Merrel)
- 1 Flip-flops (Haviannas)
- 2 Bandanas (great as a headband, sweat rag, towel, etc)
- 1 Swimsuit
- 1 Rashguard Shirt (short-sleeve, good for diving and snorkeling)
- 1 Rainjacket (lightweight. Made by Marmot - Precip model)

GEAR:
- Snorkel, Mask, and Fins for Snorkelling
- Sleep Sheet. silk and lighweight. packs small. made by Sea to Summit.
- Headlamp by Princetontek (Aurora model. Waterproof.
- Small mini-led Flashlight
- Lock for bag
- Secret Money Belt & Neck Purse (by Eagle Creek.)
- Large Travel Towel (Made by REI. microfiber and lightweight. Drys really quick)
- Sunglasses
- Shampoo, Conditioner, Deoderant
- Toothbrush (+ 1 replacement), Toothpaste, Toothfloss, Holder
- Tweezers, Nail file, nail clippers
- Cipro, Malarone, Tylenol, Advil, Bandaids, Neosporin.
- Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes (keeps your clothes nicely organized)
- Books
- Contact Lens solution, case, extra contact lenses, and prescription eyeglasses.
- Lots of Pony-tail holders and bobby pins, 2 headbands (1 lost/stolen)
- Skin lotion, Sunscreen
- 1 Blanket (polyester fleece. Borrowed from Delta Airlines - thank you)

ELECTRONICS:
- Mini iPod and charger (soon mailed home from Mexico)
- Sony T1 Digital Camera (small) + 2 memory cards (1.5 Gig total) + charger
- Underwater Housing for Sony T1 camera
- Card Reader + USB Cable
- Portable Hard drive by SimpleTech Pininfarina. Very glad we brought it!
- Extra CD's (did not need)


*************** FRANK'S PACKING LIST ***************

Main Pack: Kelty Redwing 3100 Backpack
Daypack: LL Bean Stowaway Daypack

CLOTHES
2 Pairs of Prana pants
1 Pair really light weight travel pants
2 pairs of shorts
1 Bathing suit bought in Costa Rica
1 knee length speedo for under wetsuits when diving
4 pairs of socks
3 pairs of Exofficio travel underwear
2 short sleeve button down shirts (Colombia, North Face)
4 T-shirts - 2 cotton Old Navy and 2 coolmax running shirts
1 pair of Keen sandals
1 pair flip flops
1 pair hiking shoes (leather, covered toes, made by Teva)
1 sun hat
1 baseball cap
1 long sleeve travel shirt (button-down, good for dressing up. Made by ExOfficio)
1 Rashguard shirt (good for surfing, snorkelling, diving)
1 lightweight Fleece jacket (from LL Bean with zip side pockets)
1 travel towel

ELECTRONICS:
Mini iPod and charger (soon mailed home from Mexico)
Nikon D50 Camera with an 18-200 VR Lens
1 backup 28-55 lens
UV filters & circular polarizer
3 1 gig SD cards, 1 2gig sd card and 1 512mg sd card
Backup battery
Charger
Lowepro case

GEAR:
Snorkel, Mask and Fins
Silk Sleep sack
Petzel headlamp (later lost in Valladolid)
Princeton tech small flashlight
Swiss Army knife
Small medical kit
Glasses and extra contacts
Small roll of duct tape & electrical tape
Sewing Kit
2 combo locks for the bag and a steel locking cable
2 Universal Drain Plugs
2 moleskin journals
Secret Money Belt & Secret Neck Money Purse
toiletries kit with the necessties
Marmot Precip Rainjacket
Large Blue Mesh Tote Bag (good as a beach bag, dirty laundry bag, market/grocery store bag)
1 pair sungless
1 Blanket borrowed from Delta airlines on the flight to Cancun (thanks)
Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes (keeps your clothes nicely organized)
Deck of cards
Dominos bought in El Salvador
Frisbee - gift in Costa Rica
On average 4 books picked up at hostels
LP Central America on a Shoestring guidebook


*************** MISCELLANEOUS ***************


PACKED BUT DID NOT NEED
- mini IPods and chargers. Sent home from Mexico. Would have been useful occaisionally.
- Long-sleeve Button Down shirts (Kay and Frank). Brought for dressing up - but never really needed them.
- Extra SLR Camera Lens for the Nikon D50 (Frank)
- Extra UV Filter for the Nikon D50 (Frank). 1 was sufficient.
- Pants (Frank). Packed 3, but 2 would have sufficed
- Socks (Kay). Packed 6, but 3 would have sufficed
- Universal Drain Plugs. Never used.
- Secret Neck Purse (Frank). Frank used his Money Belt instead.
- Secret Money Belt (Kay). Bulky and obvious on women's hips.
- Coolmax Shirts. Frank did not like them for travel. Preferred the Cotton ones (Odor issues.)
- Gatorade powder packets. Gatorade is for sale everywhere in CA. No need to pack!
- Keen sandals (Frank). Used flip-flops instead.


DID NOT PACK BUT WISH WE HAD!
- Hat or Visor (Kay)
- Smaller body towel (Kay)
- Skirt (Kay)
- Seasonings. Central American food is very bland. Wish we had Old Bay Seasoning and Crushed Red Pepper
- More T-Shirts (Frank)
- Different Guidebook. Moon or Rough guides instead of Lonely Planet.
- More Moleskin notebooks (impossible to buy in Central America)
- Lighter/matches. Many kitchens we used were out of matches.


LOST/STOLEN:
- 4 pairs of Kay's underwear (slowly disappeared each time I sent my Laundry out to be cleaned!)
- 2 pairs of Kay's pants (Stolen from Costa Rica)
- Sunglasses (Kay left in Internet Cafe)
- 1 pair white Havainnas Flip Flops (Kay lost in Honduras)
- 1 headband
- 1 Long-sleeve T-shirt (Franks. Left in Valladolid, Mexico)
- 1 Petzl Headlamp (Franks. Left in Valladolid)


PURCHASED/ACQUIRED DURING TRIP:
- Extra contact lenses (Costa Rica)
- Scissors (Guatemala, $1)
- Knife (Mexico, $1. Stored in a toothbrush holder for safety)
- Sunscreen (gift from our friends Walker and Kerry in Belize - THANKS!)
- Caladryl Lotion for bug bites (Honduras)
- Bug Spray & Mosquito Coils (Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica)
- Replacement toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap (many places including gifts from our friend Emiel and Sanne in Honduras - THANKS!)
- Sarong (in Little Corn Island, Nicaragua, $6)
- 2 pairs Haviannas Flip Flops (his & hers, Honduras, $6 each)
- Sunglasses (cheap $2 china knock-offs)
- Books (traded in at many places)
- cotton T-shirts ($1-$15)
- medicine

Thanks for posting your packing list. This should be stickied or put into a FAQ.

And, though you didn't use them, I congratulate on begingin somewhat formal clothes. I have seeing tourists in cathedrals wearing shorts and tank tops.

quote:

This should be stickied or put into a FAQ.

I've added tags so that it can be easily found.

Thanks. Even though we were backpacking we did try to dress nicely when we went to churches or museums. I wore the short sleeve collared button down shirts most of the time.

Thanks for adding the tags.


Check out some of our pics and you can see what we looked like.

Cheers

Thanks for posting this list. I'm planning a 6 month or so trip to Central America and it's really helpful. I have a couple questions if you wouldn't mind answering..
-why would you have preferred Rough Guides or Moon to Lonely Planet? I've almost made up my mind for the Rough Guide and am just wondering
-I noticed you both brought sleep sacks but not sleeping bags. Do you think a sleeping bag would be unnecessary?
-why did you mail home your ipods? Didn't listen to them, or worried about them getting stolen?
Thanks!

thanks for the response.

It was very hot and humid in Central America so we did not sleeping bags. The few times it was cool the hostels always had blankets we could use. The sleep sacks were usefull when we did not think the sheets were very clean. I highly recommend them. I do not think you need to lug around a sleeping bag. It was only cool in the mountain towns.

I found rough guide to be much more informative on the culture and history of the area we were visiting and they were more inclined to give their opinions. This is also only my opinion as many people swear by each of the books you listed. I also found that LP had multiple errors in their maps. That said the LP Central America on a Shoestring book has not been updated since 2004. So maybe the new edition will be better.

We thought we would use our ipods a lot more than we did. We realized we did not use them that much so we sent them home to save weight. We did not think about security at the time but did meet a couple of people who had them stolen. So keep an eye on it they seem to be a hot item in CA.

quote:

*************** KAY'S PACKING LIST ***************
Main Pack: Kelty Redwing 2500W Backpack
Daypack: LL Bean Stowaway Daypack

CLOTHES
- 3 Pants. (1 Black, 1 Brown - lightweight and made by Lucy. 1 Khaki that rolls up at bottom and made by EMS)
- 1 Capri Pants. (1 Black. Lightweight. Made by Prana)
- 2 Shorts. (lightweight and can be used for sports or pajamas)
- 5 Tanktops. (2 yoga style made by Prana, 1 yoga style by Lucy, 1 cotton cheapy, 1 lightweight by ExOfficio)
- 1 T-shirt. (from Old Navy)
- 1 Short-sleeve Shirt. (button-down. Made by North Face)
- 1 Long-sleeve Shirt. (bright pink button-down. nice for dressing up, but did not really need. Made by Colombia)
- 1 Long-sleeve Shirt. (athletic breathable and warming material. Made by North Face)
- 1 Fleece Jacket. (lightweight with zipped pockets. Made by Lady Foot Locker)
- 6 pairs of Socks (lightweight Coolmax. Packed too many - 3 would have sufficed)
- 10 pairs of Underwear (4 later stolen/missing and dwindled down to 6)
- 2 Sport Bras (EMS)
- 1 Hiking Shoes (Merrel)
- 1 Flip-flops (Haviannas)
- 2 Bandanas (great as a headband, sweat rag, towel, etc)
- 1 Swimsuit
- 1 Rashguard Shirt (short-sleeve, good for diving and snorkeling)
- 1 Rainjacket (lightweight. Made by Marmot - Precip model)

GEAR:
- Snorkel, Mask, and Fins for Snorkelling
- Sleep Sheet. silk and lighweight. packs small. made by Sea to Summit.
- Headlamp by Princetontek (Aurora model. Waterproof.
- Small mini-led Flashlight
- Lock for bag
- Secret Money Belt & Neck Purse (by Eagle Creek.)
- Large Travel Towel (Made by REI. microfiber and lightweight. Drys really quick)
- Sunglasses
- Shampoo, Conditioner, Deoderant
- Toothbrush (+ 1 replacement), Toothpaste, Toothfloss, Holder
- Tweezers, Nail file, nail clippers
- Cipro, Malarone, Tylenol, Advil, Bandaids, Neosporin.
- Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes (keeps your clothes nicely organized)
- Books
- Contact Lens solution, case, extra contact lenses, and prescription eyeglasses.
- Lots of Pony-tail holders and bobby pins, 2 headbands (1 lost/stolen)
- Skin lotion, Sunscreen
- 1 Blanket (polyester fleece. Borrowed from Delta Airlines - thank you)

ELECTRONICS:
- Mini iPod and charger (soon mailed home from Mexico)
- Sony T1 Digital Camera (small) + 2 memory cards (1.5 Gig total) + charger
- Underwater Housing for Sony T1 camera
- Card Reader + USB Cable
- Portable Hard drive by SimpleTech Pininfarina. Very glad we brought it!
- Extra CD's (did not need)



PACKED BUT DID NOT NEED
- mini IPods and chargers. Sent home from Mexico. Would have been useful occaisionally.
- Long-sleeve Button Down shirts (Kay and Frank). Brought for dressing up - but never really needed them.
- Extra SLR Camera Lens for the Nikon D50 (Frank)
- Extra UV Filter for the Nikon D50 (Frank). 1 was sufficient.
- Pants (Frank). Packed 3, but 2 would have sufficed
- Socks (Kay). Packed 6, but 3 would have sufficed
- Universal Drain Plugs. Never used.
- Secret Neck Purse (Frank). Frank used his Money Belt instead.
- Secret Money Belt (Kay). Bulky and obvious on women's hips.
- Coolmax Shirts. Frank did not like them for travel. Preferred the Cotton ones (Odor issues.)
- Gatorade powder packets. Gatorade is for sale everywhere in CA. No need to pack!
- Keen sandals (Frank). Used flip-flops instead.


DID NOT PACK BUT WISH WE HAD!
- Hat or Visor (Kay)
- Smaller body towel (Kay)
- Skirt (Kay)
- Seasonings. Central American food is very bland. Wish we had Old Bay Seasoning and Crushed Red Pepper
- More T-Shirts (Frank)
- Different Guidebook. Moon or Rough guides instead of Lonely Planet.
- More Moleskin notebooks (impossible to buy in Central America)
- Lighter/matches. Many kitchens we used were out of matches.


LOST/STOLEN:
- 4 pairs of Kay's underwear (slowly disappeared each time I sent my Laundry out to be cleaned!)
- 2 pairs of Kay's pants (Stolen from Costa Rica)
- Sunglasses (Kay left in Internet Cafe)
- 1 pair white Havainnas Flip Flops (Kay lost in Honduras)
- 1 headband
- 1 Long-sleeve T-shirt (Franks. Left in Valladolid, Mexico)
- 1 Petzl Headlamp (Franks. Left in Valladolid)


PURCHASED/ACQUIRED DURING TRIP:
- Extra contact lenses (Costa Rica)
- Scissors (Guatemala, $1)
- Knife (Mexico, $1. Stored in a toothbrush holder for safety)
- Sunscreen (gift from our friends Walker and Kerry in Belize - THANKS!)
- Caladryl Lotion for bug bites (Honduras)
- Bug Spray & Mosquito Coils (Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica)
- Replacement toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap (many places including gifts from our friend Emiel and Sanne in Honduras - THANKS!)
- Sarong (in Little Corn Island, Nicaragua, $6)
- 2 pairs Haviannas Flip Flops (his & hers, Honduras, $6 each)
- Sunglasses (cheap $2 china knock-offs)
- Books (traded in at many places)
- cotton T-shirts ($1-$15)
- medicine

I just wanted to say this list has been very helpful for me! I felt totally lost as to where to begin packing, and I feel much more prepared now! I did notice there were not any skirts or dresses listed-are these not recommended? I imagine it's harder to hide things (money, etc.) this way, but do you think they are a bad idea?

THANKS AGAIN!!!

Thanks for posting your list - I'm preparing for a similar trip, and it's nice to see I'm pretty well on-track with my packing list so far (though I have a similar question to escapadora's about skirts/dresses - I did not pack any for my recent trip to Ecuador, and wished I had...). I am also struggling with the silk sleep sheet vs. sleeping bag question, and am happy to hear that you didn't regret bringing your sleeping bags. What time of year did you travel?

wandreingredhead - In terms of guidebooks, I agree that everybody has their favorite... I'll just throw out another that I've found useful in my trip preparations, which is the Footprint guide to Mexico and Central America (their South America one looks fantastic as well). It doesn't have the 'exact' prices (which are never exact anyway) that you'll find in Lonely Planet, but it's got great cultural and historical information, and it's much easier to find quick info on health, safety, etc. than LP.

Lacey