What follows is something that started small, but quickly morphed into an ongoing hobby of mine: “prepping”.
What is “prepping” you ask? Simply put, preparing.
Preparing for what?
Well, if that was your next question, you are on the right track my friend =). The short answer would be “anything and everything”.
Being “prepared” allows me to up and leave my home whenever I choose, at the drop of a hat. It doesn’t matter where I’m heading – whether it be an island for 3 days, a friends house a hundred miles away, or my family’s home 200 miles away – the preparation applies to all domestic* locations.
I’ll also be taking the two backpacks with me internationally in the coming months, although the contents will have to be modified accordingly for each country.
In any case, the discussion of “preparing for what?” requires more depth than this post will coherently fit, so we’ll leave it for another day.
Today, I’ll share a 3 part video series of “What’s in my Bug out Bag?”, and follow up each video with links of the items mentioned within.
- Space blanket
- Best ear plugs ever created (thanks to Tim for the find)
- Bionic gloves
- I use these for weight training more than anything. Regardless, they have held up incredibly well for over a year now – something I can’t claim for those cheap 5 dollar gloves I use to burn through in high school.
- Coconut Oil (can also be bought on Amazon)
- MSR Pack Towel (thanks to Tynan for the find)
- Bass Pro Floating Sunglasses
- Forgot to mention in the video that the tips of the frame have small holes in them, just big enough to tie some fishing line through, to make a cord suitable for hanging the glasses off your neck. Very cool, and have never seen that before in a pair of sun glasses.
- 550lb Paracord
- 205 Piece First Aid Kit
- Quik Clot
- CPX-1 Two Tone 9mm Semi-Auto Handgun (that I bought from a cop down in my hometown)
- 21 inch Police Baton (with rubber grip, wish mine had this)
- Vibram Five Finger Sprints (also discussed more in depth here on The Dream Lounge)
- Injinji Toe Socks for Vibrams
- Long Sleeve Merino Wool Shirt (from Icebreaker)
- Short Sleeve* Merino Wool Shirt (from Icebreaker)
- Merino Wool Boxers (from Icebreaker)
- Gorilla Tape
*I really need to step aside here for a moment. For one, the black, short sleeve, merino wool shirt I constantly wear at The 21 Convention and in videos, is by far the best shirt I have ever owned. I have worn it religiously for over 1.5 years now, some 3-6 days a week. Often times I will wear it multiple days in a row, without washing it. Why? The material is incredible. Not only is it comfortable, and not only does it resist extreme temperatures (by wicking sweat away or insulating in the cold), but it is incredibly durable and resists odors like a true champion – which can’t be said for cotton or Under Armor. It may be a bit expensive, but I highly recommend it, and it is worth it’s weight in gold when it’s either hot or cold outside.
The List
- Detergent
- Dr Bronner’s soap
- Marbles
- Sling shot
- Burt Bees Lip Balm (“Medicated“)
- Spork (thanks to Tynan for the find)
- Creative Zen 4gb Media Player
- Honestly, I don’t use this very much, but when I do, it works great, and it has held up well over the years. Thanks to Tynan for the find.
- Fire Steel
- Sony Cybershot T-20 8.1 mp Camera
- Vitamin D
- Pocket Constitution
- Make sure you check for all of the pages in this, as I was reading through mine and apparently it is missing quite a few – well that, or our federal government is up to a lot of non sense and often ignores/rationalizes away the supreme law it swears to uphold. I’m sure it’s just missing a few pages though … ya, that has to be it.
- Swiss Army Backpack
- LifeSaver Ultimate Water Bottle (read my full review and see it in action here)
- I get a small commission for any items purchased through Amazon in this post. Regardless, I strongly recommend, if you do buy this, you get it through Amazon (now 14 dollars cheaper than when I bought it). You get free shipping, but more importantly, Amazon has an insanely good return policy, which I did use to exchange my first bottle after nearly breaking it (my own fault, causing it to then leak a lot). Get it through my link, or Amazon.com directly, whatever, just get it from Amazon (when it’s back in stock). You’ll be glad you did
- Pemmican
- Or, make your own.
- Folding Shovel
- I couldn’t find the exact one my room mate has, but there are a few listed in that link for only a few dollars more. I’ll update this if I find his.
- The Little Black Book of Violence: What Every Young Man Needs to Know About Fighting (thanks to Drew Baye for the find)
What kind of pemmican do you usually eat, homemade or from U.S. Wellness? And if U.S. wellness, what kind do you prefer? I’m interested in trying it sometime soon.
US Wellness thus far (with nothing added). In due time I’ll only eat my own though. So far I’ve made plenty of jerky, but have not rendered enough fat before I gobbled down the jerky (which is 100x better than store bought).
you are f*cking terminator with your stuff
I know Tim Ferris recommended this knife,
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009VC9YA?ie=UTF8&tag=offsitoftimfe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0009VC9YA. You might want to check that out.
Are you planning to blog about your second citizenship/passport? IIRC Neil Strauss got one but it cost him roughly $60,000 to get it. A cheaper option would be great.
Ya my room mate has that knife, it’s nice. Opens reallll nice. I might pick it up… not on my priority list though, others things to buy first, even in the knife department.
I’ll blog about the second citizenship at some point, maybe next post (which will explain why the hell I have these bags as I’m sure a lot of people are wondering).
The short story is that I was born into the right family though. My grand parents were born in a foreign country, which to this day, allows the children, and grand children of those individuals to become naturalized citizens, at no real cost.
I simply fly to NY as soon as I have a chance, provide the necessary paperwork, a few hundred bucks, and in a few months time… bam, dual citizenship.
If this option were not available to me I wouldn’t care, but it is, and I’m taking it.
-Anthony
Dreamer,
get your dual citizenship NOW…
RHM
I must admit the that i am jealous of the citizenship. I’m going to probably have to drop my American citizen ship or a serious amount of cash to get a second one.
One of my roommates has four apparently. American, Iranian (where he grew up), Germany (where his family used to own a house), and Turkey (i think he lived there a while too)
I’ll figure it out eventually. I kind of like Strauss’s route, but i want a condo on a small tropical island as well.
I think as a Bug out bag this works well, but for typical travel you will need to cut it down a lot. Some of those things are just unnecessary for most trips. It make more sense to just buy most of those in the place you are in if you need them.
What i would do, is reorganize the bags into two specific ones. First a typical travel bag, with things you need for anywhere. Cloths, vibrams, camera, laptop, essentials only. Then the other stuff, less essential, lice cream, two extra nail clippers.
Certain things like the gun could obviously go either way. While in the US, i would keep it in the travel bag.
Anyway, you get my point.
Anthony,
Could you elaborate more on the “awesomeness” of coconut oil? I use it to cook with, but what else do you do with it?
Thanks
-Ryan
Hey Ryan
Man coconut oil? Soooo useful, not only as a food, but a survival tool as well. I’ll list out some uses off the top of my head, but do some Googling about it (I think you will be surprised as I will hardly do it justice).
First of all, Coconut Oil is
-anti microbial
-anti fungal
-anti bacterial
-anti viral
Read that last one over – anti VIRAL. It destroys any and all viruses from my understanding. I’ve personally used it to rid myself of Molloscum Contagiusum – a viral skin infection.
A doctor had used liquid nitrogen to freeze the virus off, but left small scars, and the infection came back (after 2 weeks had gone by since the painful and scarring liquid nitrogen treatment).
I was in SHOCK when coconut oil destroyed the virus, for far cheaper, without re-occurrence, without pain, without ANY scarring, and 100x faster (the infection was completely gone and healed in 4 days time).
A bit piss offed as well considering what I had gone through with the doc and what I spent on the treatment with him.
Considering all of the above, and assuming one is not rapidly bleeding to death, coconut oil is the first thing I would put on a mild or even serious wound. It speeds up healing, and completely sterilizes the wounded area.
It will also destroy any and all skin or outer body infections, including bacterial, viral, and fungal alike. I’ve read that it even cures eye infections, rapidly, although I would use caution on how much coconut oil you lather on your eyes.
Everything from ring worm to viral infections, even dry skin or chapped lips (it is far better than any chap stick on the planet), coconut oil has your back.
And of course, it’s packed with calories for both a health and survival food (incredibly stable). It’s all fat, no protein, but never the less it will keep you alive and healthy for a very long time – and won’t go bad.
It’s also the best cooking oil on the planet, and refuses to oxidize.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
-Anthony
Anthony,
Holy shit. I was totally oblivious to all of these uses. Anti bacterial and viral! Wow, I can not believe that I had never even tasted coconut oil until I found your site.
Thank you showing me the light
-Ryan
Firstly, it is totally surreal for me as a Brit to see your handgun lying on the bed.
Now to the point of this comment.
Interesting to see your opinion on the Dual citizenship (from the other post). I recently renewed my Norwegian passport but I am yet to find a real benefit of dual citizenship past being able to support them in the Winter Olympics. It is a nice point of conversation when I meet new Scandinavian girls but there is no way I would pay a ton of money for the pleasure.
You mentioned the Indian attacks (I’m assuming the 2008 Mumbai attacks) as a possible reason to get a passport but I don’t think the attackers were not specific with who they targeted, just so long as you looked western or Indian. Your best bet here is probably to pay for some Team America style plastic surgery instead.
So from my experience it would not really be worth buying if it’s not made easy for you through relative nationalities. Although, with the United States’ stellar foreign policy I am not sure how safe I would feel backpacking in the Middle East with a US passport.
Mannik
“Firstly, it is totally surreal for me as a Brit to see your handgun lying on the bed.”
Yes I hear it’s incredibly hard to own a gun, let alone a hand gun. From my understanding most cops aren’t even permitted to carry?
“Although, with the United States’ stellar foreign policy I am not sure how safe I would feel backpacking in the Middle East with a US passport.”
Exactly. If anything, it’s simply not difficult for me to get. Potentially huge benefit, very low expense.
Mannik, another question, as a Brit. I met a friend of my room mates back in the fall. He is 21 now, and left Britain at 19 (lives in Central Florida currently). Really cool dude, definitely in line with other Brits I’ve met abroad and at home (all awesome people).
He said something that struck me pretty hard though, which I get the hint you will agree with to at least some extent. He told me… “I love my country… but I will NEVER move back there. The whole place has gone to shit, and only getting worse.”
The second sentence is from a vague memory, the first sentence is verbatum from what I remember.
Would you agree with this, if so to what extent, and do you think not having the right to defend yourself (referring to guns here) protected by your government has something to do with it?
thanks
-Anthony
just to jump in before Minnik does… when I read the comment “I love my country… but I will NEVER move back there. The whole place has gone to shit, and only getting worse.”, at least to me it sounded very ‘British humour’ like. Maybe I’m way off base, but I’ve seen a fair share of English comedies, and I just seems like the theme is often about a series of unfortunate events and everyone is cynical about it.. and that’s what makes it funny..
The person who said that was very serious, as far as I could tell. I actually gave him a ride back to his car from downtown Orlando, during which he told me quite a few things about Britain that I had never known (most of which, were bad, but not all).
“Firstly, it is totally surreal for me as a Brit to see your handgun lying on the bed.”
I’m Swedish, and I feel the same way. It doesn’t exist in my reality to ever have to wear a gun as protection. Sure there are dangers, but with the philosophy we have here (less guns, less violence) it just doesn’t seem like a viable solution. Now I don’t know the reliability of this source, but if you look here, we’re not even included in the list: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
I was talking to a friend that is currently working as a nanny in USA right now. She said she was shocked when the parents in the house told her to keep an eye on the kids when they were fetching the mail.
This really shocked me too, because since I was 7 years old I’ve always walked/bicycled to school alone.
On the other side of the spectrum I can’t really blame those who want to protect themselves in a country like USA. It’s either you or them.
BUT one thing is for sure, it’s a downward spiral when people are getting armed for a lot of reasons. I doubt the crime rate will fall if it’s easier to get access to weapons.
I also think you get more and more paranoid in a country which allows guns. (My own hypothesis)
@Simon, I agree that there are a lot of British comedians who like to rag on day to day Britain and it is usually really funny but I think the phrase ‘it’s funny because it’s true’ applies here. Generally I think the complaining is a British thing but there are some serious underlying points.
I have to start by saying I don’t actually live on the mainland (but only 30 mins away by plane from a major English city, so it’s not exactly isolated)
@Dream I am not surprised about your friend’s opinion, I know a lot of people who share the same thoughts (including my own father) but I am almost certain that it has nothing to do with our gun laws. I have never even heard a debate regarding this.
From my personal opinion, introducing gun laws similar to that in the US would be absolutely crazy and I am doubtful it will ever be introduced.
My theory. I think that the difficulty in getting a gun stops ‘lower level’ criminals using these weapons. These are the kind of criminals that I think interact with innocent civilians the most through muggings or low level burglaries etc. The kind of acts that are usually associated with collecting money to buy drugs. So keeping guns out of the hands of these guys is seriously important to me. I would rather fight fist on fist, than gun on gun.
I am not naive enough to believe that there will never be a fist on gun situation but reducing the chance of this is more important to me. I also wonder what kind of effect the ‘right to bear arms’ has had on the few college killings there have happened in the States. Do you think the easier availability of weaponry could have been a factor in these killings? I know these are just freak events due to some seriously messed up people but if strict gun laws could have thwarted any of these, adopting similar laws in the UK would be seriously scary.
I agree with Jonas regarding the ‘less guns, less violence’. Whilst guns are not invisible in our society (our school used to include compulsory army training with rifle handling until a few years ago) they are just a non-issue, something people don’t even think about. The surprise I get from seeing your handgun is the same as when I remember that you can’t drink until 21 in the US, if that puts it in any perspective. It is something so ordinary and ingrained in my life that it weirds me out to think millions of people live under a different set of rules.
Long post over, hope this sort of answers your question. Despite all I have said, I still get the adolescent thrill of holding a gun or shooting at a range but luckily they don’t have to change the gun laws for that =).
Mannik
P.S. Is it legal to put your gun in a holster and just walk around the streets?
Mannik thanks for your comments. I am working on a pretty big post, that will address the points Joans/you brought up about guns (among other larger, somewhat related topics).
Regarding your question, yes, I believe it is legal in all states to do so, 49 out of 50 require a special permit though. I literally just took the course today for one in Florida, and will be filing the rest of the paperwork Monday.
Many states also allow “open carry”, meaning it does not even need to be concealed – or as I believe in some cases, can not be concealed, but can be carried in plain sight.
One state -Vermont – also allows concealed or open carry, from the day you can purchase a hand gun, without any sort of permit, background check, etc. If you can buy, you are under very little restriction to use it.
-Anthony