Jill
Sharks get a bad rap. Sure, as a kid I watched “Jaws” and was a little freaked out about even getting in my family’s swimming pool, but for every sensationalized shark terror film, there are tons of sharks going about their business in the world’s oceans without bothering humans. This past week, I swam with…
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If you travel with a laptop and/or tablet, you’ve had that moment: When you really need to use it, and the battery is low. There won’t be a place to charge it in a while, and you wish you’d planned in advance. But you didn’t. Or, perhaps you’re regularly off the grid, and need to…
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Spring has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere and we know what brings all the flowers and green out this season, right? Rain. While we can sing in the rain and still go out adventuring, getting wet can sometimes kill an outing. And packing a heavy rain jacket isn’t always necessary when we want to travel…
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Lately, most of my travels have required me to pack a lightweight daypack for everyday adventures, and it’s been hard to pick which one to bring along from the ones available in my gear shed. One of my favorites happens to be the simplest: the Lowe Alpine Fuse 20 pack. When you need the lightest…
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Finding the right rain jacket that can double to be equally useful on a hike and roaming through town can require a lot of trial and error. Sporty, performance jackets sometimes stand out like a sore thumb when you pair them with out-to-dinner wear, and the more stylish jackets often lack that necessary performance aspect.…
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If you’re the kind of person who reads the first description of a piece of clothing, and then moves on if it’s described as good for a particular sport in which you don’t spend much time pursuing, I’m here to tell you to adopt a new behavior. Keep reading. Just because a jacket is “for…
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When you’re traveling, it can be hard to keep up the same training routine you have at home. Whether it’s hard to wake up early on vacation, or you have to plan a new running route in a city with which you’re not very familiar, there are countless reasons to blow the whole thing off.…
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We often yearn for simple, stripped-down gear design, and then realize we can’t find anything. Sometimes, organization wins. The Eagle Creek Global Companion 40L has plenty of spaces to organize your gear, plus is carry-on size (13.75 inches x 21.5 inches x 8 inches) and fairly lightweight (3 pounds, 8 ounces). It’s not a top-open…
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Recently, I needed to pack for a trip to French Polynesia where I’d be island hopping between very different islands. Some were low atolls with long, sandy beaches. Others were mountainous and scattered with trails that lead from the beach up into the forest. But one, with characteristics of both, is largely uplifted coral. When…
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When you’re going to the Arctic or Antarctica (or a few other notoriously frigid parts of the world), you need a hardcore puffy jacket. But when you need to stay warm without all the bulk of those seriously insulated jackets, you can afford to seek out a lighter-weight barrier against the cold. The Big Agnes…
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