Test Run: Grand Canyon

This site is no longer going to be updated. I have upgraded my site and the new location is:

http://worldgallivant.com

The Grand Canyon trip was first created as my next excursion out into the world. I have always had the travel bug, as I grow older it appears that I now get to pursue that urge.

During the beginning of my mothers last visit to Washington, we decided that it had been a little too long since the last time we had really traveled anywhere. Yes, we want on little vacations to Vancouver and Victoria, but they never actually satisfied those exploration urges. We wanted big, whopping, ocean hopping explorations, and I was only in college once. THIS is the only time that I won't have to work around work vacations. I could take up to three months off and not worry about losing a job or any other commitments. She agreed that this was quit logical. Mother finally caved in and agreed to help me raise enough money to travel to Japan.

Mother's x-mas present to help
with last minute items for our packs
and also to try out some Japanese food.

It had been a while, since we had seen my grandparents. While we were in the state we may as well go see the long told of Havasupai Reservation. As we neared the end of her two week stay with me in the summer of 2013, I started telling her that the time to travel was now.

Since we have never been minimalist travelers or travelers outside the US, we were going to have to complete some research and do a test run. The Grand Canyon trip seemed to be the perfect goal for having our gear together and test everything out. First off we would be in the same state, we could both give feed back on how things worked, improve them if necessary, or decide to chuck them all together. Second, we could organize who should carry what, who should collect what (food, medical, cleaning, etc). Third, it was already planned, mostly paid for, and would be a bunch of fun!

We are now 14 days away from our plane and drive to the rim. Last minute preparations are in order: getting a lite weight can opener (wouldn't have thought of it, until we had to start planning on what to hike down to our camp ground for 2 nights and 3 days), making sure tents, sleeping bags, clothes, hygiene, and everything else was in order.

LUSH's Godiva 2-in-1 Shampoo
and Conditioner

Just came across a article that mentioned LUSH had solid shampoo and conditioner, for pretty cheap too. That way those two items don't cut into the amount of liquids you can carry onto planes; very necessary when you want to travel lite, but clean. We are now replacing those two go-Toobs with olive oil and dish soap.

Clipped toe nails and finger nails (yeah, it's gross to mention) but when your planning on walking down hill for most of a day, you really don't want your toes jamming into the tip of your boots causing serious pain (mother actually had this happen the last time she hiked down as a child, lost quit a few of those nails). Gross, but necessary preparation.

The only things that we have left to really do before heading off on our first documented gallivant is to pack and head for the airports. Waiting is the problem, two more weeks of school before break and I believe they are going to be torture. If I had anything other than planning money (we are selling things on e-bay to raise funds for these trips) and school it might be a little different. I guess I will just muddle my way through to the light at the end of the tunnel.