How to Pack for Four Climates in One Journey
Desert noon, glacier morning, rainforest afternoon, city evening — one bag. Our expedition staff share the layering maths that makes it work.
An around-the-world itinerary is a packing paradox: the same duffel must dress you for dunes at forty degrees and a deck watch at four. The answer, our staff will tell you with some enthusiasm, is never more clothes. It is better layers and fewer decisions.
The working formula is three temperatures, one shell. Merino close to the skin, something warm and compressible in the middle, and a single serious rain layer over everything. Colour-wise, pick one palette so that every combination works — a bag where everything matches everything is effectively twice as large.
Two final rules from twenty years of manifests: the heaviest items travel on your body on flight days, and the shoes you almost packed are the ones you will not miss. Laundry exists on expedition. Regret about a third pair of boots does too.