Part of preparing for Peace Corps service is packing for someplace you’ve never been. I’ve been working very heavily from the packing list in my Ghana welcome book, but I have decided to part from their list a bit. In any case, here’s what I’m taking.
Clothing
- 3 short-sleeved button-down shirts
- 1 long-sleeved button-down shirt
- 2 pair Dockers cotton khaki pants
- 1 pair Columbia cotton/poly-blend khaki pants
- 1 plain tie
- 5 t-shirts, printed and unprinted
- 5 A-shirts
- 5 pair white socks
- 2 pair dress socks
- 24 pair underwear (roughly 75% boxer briefs, 25% boxers)
- 2 pair athletic shorts
- 2 moisture-wicking athletic shirts
- 4 bandanas, assorted colors
- 1 black/brown reversible belt
- 1 American Eagle grey baseball cap
- 1 men’s large Marmot Precip rain jacket
- 1 men’s large Land’s End full-zip fleece
Shoes
- 1 pair Adidas Gel Stratus running shoes
- 1 pair Birkenstocks
- 1 pair Bostonian dress shoes
- 1 pair Puma low-top sneakers (think Chuck Taylor lowtops)
Toiletries
- 2 bars Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap
- 1 pack baby wipes
- 1 small bottle No-Rinse body wash
- 1 bottle Johnson’s Baby Shampoo
- 1 cake shaving soap
- 1 shaving brush
- 1 Gillette Safety Razor kit
- 1 pack 5 Wilkinson Sword razor blades
- 1 bottle L’Oreal for Men Aftershave Lotion
- 1 large bar Old Spice Men’s Deodorant
- 1 tube Tom’s of Maine baking soda toothpaste
- 1 small personal first aid kit
- 1 medium sized botle of bug spray
- 1 large bottle SPF 30 sunscreen
- 1 large bottle Sunburn relief gel (for those days when I’m an idiot)
- 90 days worth of ADHD medication (Peace Corps requires me to have it in case there are any delays in getting me my regular monthly meds)
Technical Gear
- 1 White Apple MacBook
- 1 Sony Cybershot Digital Camera
- 1 Sandisk Sansa e250 MP3 player with 2GB MicroSD expansion card
- 1 Sandisk Cruzer Mini 2GB USB flash drive
- 1 80GB USB external hard drive
- 1 Apple Airport Express portable 802.11b/g wireless base station
- 1 6′ CAT-5 Ethernet cable
- 2 USB A-to-B cables
- 1 cable for Sandisk Sansa MP3 player
- 1 USB card reader for SD and MicroSD memory cards
- 1 assorted pack of European/African outlet adapters
- 1 generic USB device charger
- 1 pair Apple In-Ear headphones
- 1 visor-mounted headlamp with replacement batteries
- 1 2 C-cell MagLite flashlight
Other Gear
- 1 Men’s large bike helmet (Peace Corps requirement before receiving bike purchase allowance)
- 1 athletic armstrap for Sansa MP3 Player
- 1 YakPak Flapdoozy messenger bag (for when I don’t want to carry my MacBook around)
- 1 large canvas laundry bag
- 1 Document folio (for all peace corps paperwork)
- 1 money belt
- various stationary and Moleskine notebooks
- a nice handful of Uniball Vision Elite 0.5mm pens, Mechanical pencils, and replacement erasers and pencil lead
- 1 Ikea Slabang digital alarm clock
- 4 sets Rayovac Hybrid rechargeable AA and AAA batteries
- 1 charger for said batteries
- 1 spare pair eyeglasses (Peace Corps requires me to have them)
- 1 Frisbee
- 1 deck of cards
What I’m packing it in
- 5-6 Space Bag travel sized vacuum compression bags, which go into either
- 1 Gregory Baltoro 70 hiking pack (4,200 cubic inches / 70 cubic liters)
- 1 REI standard shower kit
- 1 standard sized shaving kit (for bugspray, sunscreen, and sunburn gel)
- 1 medium sized Land’s End black duffel
- 1 Burton backpack (carry-on)
Any sensitive technical gear is getting packed into a Pelican Micro case or a Sea to Summit 8-liter dry bag, depending on how crushable and/or water sensitive it is. The Baltoro pack itself is getting cased in a rain cover during the airline travel portion of this adventure.
I’m also shipping a box of things I won’t need during training directly to the Peace Corps office in Accra. This box is basically
- technical reference books
- cookbooks
- 3-4 blank CD-RWs/DVDs
- 1 8″ frying pan
- 1 small cooking knife
Anything else I need I will most likely buy in country.