We never face such a long trip before of this scale and we normally had travel with some rolling suitcases or small backpacks which we wouldn't have been carrying on our shoulders for long time anyway.

So for this trip we are looking to some comfortable solutions with 2 big backpacks and two smaller one for city walking.

Both backpacks' solutions would need to be very light and at the same time tough and functional.

It is essential that they don't weight like a stone since we will probably carry around on our shoulders across also rough routes or conditions.

We found something that could be interesting from north face :

the W Crestone 60 for me and the slight bigger Crestone 75 for Christian (the right one) ..he is the man so he must carry more than me of course!

Sleeping bag compartment, hydration sleeve, side access to main compartment, adjustable torso length and many other features make us opt for these functional backpacks although originally I was carried away by The North Face doubletrack 25 until I remarkable found out it weight.... 5870gr!

I love the idea of a backpack which coverts on a travel bag with strong wheels suitable for pull it around in the airport or on the streets but, when I realized we will be possible travel around Thailand and Asia in dug up roads or up and down hills, wheels would not be an option and carrying on my shoulder almost 6 kg more will have made me a hell of a difference.

Having just start to plan our trip we are trying to see where with stand with its preparation and with all equipments and gears we will need along the way.

Here below we just list at random some considered items we will need and some comments but of course we could possible missed out some essential stuff as this will be our first significant trip, that's where your comments come handy!

Most people would probably write this when arranged already everything or create the blog after the trip but doing it in this way our aim is to get also tips from others travellers to avoid silly novice’s mistake.

That is why we would love to hear from you!

A round the world trip could be a tricky situation cause you will be away from the comforts of your home for a while and still you want to make sure you will bring everything you will need but I realise this will be impossible!

Gadget wise here comes the dilemma.

Well, we have just realized how much will cost our RTW tickets and we have to be careful now not to overspend on the rest so we decide to take our old cameras to start with (also cause I read few blogs about burglary in some places):

Christian's good old FinePix S5500 Zoom with 10x optical zoom and four megapixel resolution (now far surpassed from many 10mp cameras) and my Sony Cyber Shot which it is quite handy and small compare to Christians’ Fujifilm.

This doesn’t mean we will stick with them though: if we will find something that we like along the way which MUST be a real bargain I am sure we could find the place for it in our backpack!

A gadget that we are definitely going to buy is a laptop as we decided it will be the best way to upload our many pictures taken along the way and stay in touch with our families (my dad is addicted to skype so I am sure I could easily speak with him at any time any day). My friend has a very cool ASUS eeePC which I reckon is an amazing little notebook definitely more useful than a Blackberry-type device and also, I must say, quite a good deal pricewise comparing to a standard pc. At a low price it looked pretty useful and effective to me (I could be also completive wrong as I am not an IT guy and have base this only from some friends’ feedbacks).

The only thing is where to shop around for it. Should we buy in the UK or maybe in Asia could we find better bargains?

Also which notebook will suit us better?

The HP Mini-Note, the Acer Aspire One, and the MSI Wind have all come out in the last few months or maybe should we wait for Dell which is releasing one soon? Using skype to make international calls with this great lightweight jewellery sounds pretty grand and would save us the hassle to worry about a quad-band phone or shouldn’t we?

I know... I could be a bit paranoid on this aspect, but is it safe to travel without a mobile phone? And can we easily found one in the event along the road?? Or should we get for example an unlocked quad-band phone Nokia E61?

Another gear we are thinking to buy is a camcorder but we need something that could capture all our moments without making us to go bust (we reckon we would go already easily over our budget without all this gears). We found our answer on the Creative Vado apparently a brilliant affordable compact at more or less £70 in the UK great for home video with 2GB internal memory which you could record up to 2 hours of actions. I will let you know when we will get the hand on this or even better if there is any buddy out there that has it already please blow my mind.

My Xmas' Ipod Nano 4GB will come also along with us although I must say I am not one of its greatest fun, not because I don't like it, but because for some reasons I never got into it and have barely used it, am I the only one out there? Anyway I reckon it will be a good companion in killing the time at the airports or on our long journeys in the bus and is good to rock along the way.

Don't to forget, will be also a world travel adapter. Have it been featured on the popular Gadget show I reckon this Ultimateaddons USB World Travel Universal AC Plug Adapter is a great tool at only £14.99. It works in more than 150 countries (not that we are going to visit all 150 unfortunately ...at least not this time) and comes with a USB converter perfect to charge or run your ipod or laptop plus it is circuit free.

For a more complete gadget you could opt for the Ultimateaddons 3 in 1 Gadget Bag World Traveller Plus at circa 50 quids which has more room for tech than the Inspector Gadget.

While serving the web I also come across the SteriPen, a UV device that will sterilize water in less than a minute. I am a bit sceptical about this device as not sure if really worth it and most important if it works, any clue?

This is a big question mark, yet as the rest of our trip, since we can make up our mind: would a really expensive ultralight tent make the difference or a normal tent could do it?

We bought a very cheap tent for a camping adventure that we took in Sardinia few months ago and for some possible weekend in the English countryside...don't laugh ...

the tent is from Argos as we felt this budget tent will fulfil our basic needs in these occasions.

We only had to carry it (actually Christian will have to carry it) just during few times such as drop it in and off from the transports to and from the airport since in Sardinia we rented a car for the whole journey so it would stay then on our boot and not our shoulders. At a bargain price of £29.99 it comes also with 2 sleeping bags and 2 camping mats for a weight of 2.95kg and a packed size of 18(L)X50(W)cm, not bad isn't it?

It indeed depends on the places we want to be and so far we reckon a 2 season tent will be ok, but would need to hold up also to stormy weather, just to be on the safe "dry" side. Sleeping size is also much limited obviously on a lightweight tent but it will compensate on the weight side.

But would a kilo made the difference on Christian's shoulder?
Packed size, funny enough the cheapest one from Argos is also smaller and we don't want to come up to unnecessary cost so, for the time being, we will travel with the £29.99 one and if we found it too heavy or crapy we will dump it for a ultralight while on the road... being Thailand possible our first stop in the eventuality we might also be like to found this kind of tents for less money.

This one from North Face comes at £199.99 and weight: 1.89kg/1.70kg

Concerning the sleeping bags we stand at the same point as for the tent, which is ummmmm??? ...no idea!

Being a girl it makes a bit more difficult I guess or at least for me (I am a libra and can't made my mind up) so I am thinking at the dress I could wear in the evening in New York, a cool bright top to wear in Melbourne or few bikinis to show off my curves strolling along Miami Beach, although I must confess I don't have much to show off unfortunately, I am not a Naomi Campbell sorry :-( (

Bearing in mind we will try to catch the summer in each country or at least a good weather, although nowadays it is impossible to predict the climate due also to the global warming , we would still need to take into account as well other climate situations as it might rains or when we arrive in NZ might be already late autumn or even winter so could be a difficult choice what outfit to pack.

So regarding the clothes I decide it is not a major aspect at this stage of the plan and will probably start thinking about it only few weeks before the departure once I got my backpack so I could see what will fit in.

Obviously I will have to carry on my shoulder the whole journey so I guess this will win on all the rest and will take the minimum essential; I could always buy any items along the way.

Certainly a good pair of trainer, best if black so you wouldn't notice if get dirty, and Adidas will be my favourite choice, versatile and very comfy, a flip-flops, a bikini, a pair of shorts, few tops, my Tucano Urbano Nano rain jacket (which is a great pocket size ultra light jacket that I am using to drive around London in my old fashion Vespa PK 50cc to keep me dry in the english unpredictable weather) and my usual pair of jeans would be in it..... plus one week's worth of underwear and socks; quick dry socks would be also a good option when it come to laundry time altough a bit pricey.

Well.. will try to squeeze also a pair of ballerina just in case to look presentable in few dining out experiences and maybe a pair of golden earrings just to get ready for a night out, women you know how we are!

I guess Chris will take more or less the same exempt for the earring and the bra (hopefully).

Tips: Ups remember to weigh your luggage! Definitely we don't want occur extra surcharge for our luggage so we will make sure we will not exceed the 20 km allowance and a tip that I got for past experience I will roll our clothes! They stay wrinkle free and compact.

I am not really into technology and I will probably have to leave the subject to the male gender but to keep it up with the blog and mainly in touch with our families we are going to buy some tech gadgets.

Would it be though cheaper to shop for them along the way like in Hong Kong or Thailand for example for an ASUS EEEPC or would be best to buy them online before embarking to this trip back in the UK?
What about also a budget video camera like this pocket Vado http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-Pocket-Camcorder-Silver/dp/B0018QIOPI ?

This is not a gudget that we necessarly will need on the trip but I though when in USA it would now be cheaper than UK and maybe I could get a chance to make myself a present with the new IPhone...