Bear Essentials for Living Free and Traveling Around.

This is a detailed post on what kit I travel with, and actually its nearly all the things I own in life..

..Im happy to live like this for really long periods of time, and I really enjoy having no house chores to do or many things to find and organise etc, you know, the usual things that you do whilst house dwelling. Dedicated to @digitree for the request!

Many people think that you need a lot of things before you are ready to go and explore the world. The lists below are what I have started off with, but I always find stuff and swap stuff along the way. For example I dont have a tent right now but maybe next week I do 😝

9 or 10 years back,I began travelling in a van, I put all my belongings inside thinking that I would use them, but did I? Nope!

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• Sleeping Equiptment

The most important for me is that I get a good nights sleep - and that I dont have to pay anyone for it. Sleep is very important for good health and to avoid getting sick. I am able to sleep out in -14c if needed and stay dry and warm.

This is the sleeping bag and roll mat Below, its very bulky and I should find soon a compression sack to be able to make it much more compact as its taking a lot of room in the rucksack. Usually I have a foam roll mat but this time I have an inflatable one.

I have a lightwieght green tarp which I keep in an orange bag, it opens up to 4m2 and when I need to, I can use it as a ground sheet and fold the other half over me and my rucksack and dogs. I had it since 4years and it was 20euro from Decathlon.

With this I can make various styled shelters inconjunction with rope or string. If I didnt have dogs I would use a hammock with it.

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• Waterproof clothes

One mistake I used to make was to go with just a waterproof jacket, but what happens when it rains hard is that your bottom half gets double soaked from all the rain running off from the jacket!

Being in cold, wet and windy weather whilst soaking wet with no shelter around or place to dry off, is a real test of how much you really like freedom haha! Waterproof clothes help but sometimes not!

Below

Ive had these Helly Hansen waterproof trousers for awhile, they were recycled and I kept them as they are high quality, but now I have been given some lightweight rubber postman's trousers and wonder if to leave the hellys here when I leave or take them with me.

I have a thin black jacket also that someone didnt need before I left Oslo, it packs into that tiny bag on the trouser leg. The orange bag is a waterproof bag which I use for the sleepingbag

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• FootWear

Usually I have just one pair of boots. Thinking back now, they were always workboots, because I could always get a building job and they were cheap and long lasting. Downside is with metal toe caps is that in cold countrys your toes freeze especially when walking in snow because of the steel.

In hot countrys, you sweat and your feet get bad. Footwear is very important but its not something that everyone can afford. I have had bad feet before, from walking in hot weather and having no spare socks or water around to wash with. At times to go bare foot is a lot better.

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Since staying in Oslo, I could easy afford to buy some VivoBareFoot shoes. I wont write too much on this brand, but I will say to go check them out. I dont work for them or anything, but I have happily owned 3 pairs in total and they are superb.

The only downside is that your old shoes or boots become useless.. because the barefoot shoes correct your posture and in my experience with Sciatica, it returned instantly if I wore my old boots (the old boots are very expensive top quality hunting boots, but with a raised sole and heel, which makes anyones posture not straight.)

As you see, they are light weight and minimalistic in design and perfect for travelling.

Boots.

Vivobarefoot have a very wide variety of shoes and also offer boots. I got these 6 months ago at a guess, and they were doing great until I did something stupid

When the winter came I started to use spikes and I left them on the boots over-night,creating tension and forgetting that the boots are designed to bend and twist dramatically, and so I have opened up the sides and Im sure water gets in.

You can see them here side by side, they have no elevation throughout the shoe, and a really wide foot part.

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• Clothes

I am travelling with just what I need to stay warm with, I have one pair of worktrousers and a pair of jogging bottoms, 2 pairs of longjohns, 3 or 4 T-shirts, a long sleeve tshirt, a thin fleece layer, a thin thermal layer and lots of underpants, and as usual - not enough socks.

I have this epic woolen sweater Above from Norway and a body warmer as my outer layers. It has a lining inside also. I wouldnt want to carry it as it weighs a lot but to wear it is fine.

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• Dogs

Ofcourse they have also blankets and bedding and also coats. Sniffy, the black dog has a saddle bag and carrys the bed and blankets.

They have collapsable bowls for now, they dont last long though!

• 'Luxurys' aka 'Things'

I have a bag of all the small things I have, this time its much smaller than usual. This time I have no laptop which takes up room in that bag also. I broke the bag down into two halves to show it.

From Left to Right:

The grey material is an emf protective hood, black rope, pen, boot polish, cutlery, Orgonite, 2 usb battery packs,AA rechargables, Creditcard toolkit, Ledgerwallet, Sewing kit, 2 Carabina hooks.

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Passports for me and dogs, MagicFlight Vaporizer, Powerstones, Dog tick remover, headphones, Silver Ounces, Vitamin tablets, lipbalm, Battery charger, Essential oils, Wirex VisaCard (EUR), Triggerpoint massage ball, ipod,Toothbrush charger.

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• Washkit

Above is my washkit, it contains the normal things. I have electric toothbrushes because they work better than normal ones and my teeth are without holes or fillings and i want to keep it like that. I was at the dentist last year for a clean, and before that was 18 years previous hahaha!

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• Fold-out Solar Panel

I forgot that I slotted this in my rucksack, and found it whilst doing photos for this post haha! No clue what watt it is but its there and going to Spain. I guess its just cos I'm in the crypto space that I need it.

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That was a mission to write out on a shattered phone screen!

But entertaining and educational also I hope! If we can understand that the Law of attraction just works, we would know that you can travel with literally just a blanket and get all the other things you really need along the way, but alas.

Have a great day!

@movingman