"The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep."
~ E. Joseph Cossman
No, this article has nothing to do with eating snails! :) Read the 2 week update to understand what's that about: Here. 🐌
I have been backpacking, hitchhiking and camping all over Europe. In my younger days with very low budget and low quality equipment, for now I have improved greatly, but Many times I ended up in bad situations and Many of those situations could have been easily avoided and I will tell you how. But first let me tell you this: Equipment is not everything! It's Nice to have. What is a must have is an Attitude, but that's a subject on its own.
In this article we are going to talk about the most important equipment you can have as a human. Hitchhiking, traveling, camping, in an emergency, in the end times, in alien invasion 👽. It does not matter what situation it is. Same Basic rules apply everywhere, even in the city, rescue center, friends' house, urban area, abandoned warehouse, you could be anywhere. Utilities turn off and you are camping!
I covered the topic of Water💧 and the Second biggest Need is Sleep💤. Plans never work out as you planned...
...and you will end up in places where you did not want to be. With all that, you WILL WANT TO SLEEP. That's 100%. I remember I was on the road, hitchhiking the major highways and I would just end up at such a place like gas station or besides highway somewhere where you can't really sleep. You can always get creative, climb the fence, But will you want to? Will you have energy for that? After staying awake for 3 days, like I did once, All you will be thinking about is where you can lie down in undisturbed and safe place to sleep. At some point body will start to shut down, you will fall asleep, want it or not.
So, what do I need? What is this magical Equipment you are talking about?
You have to have something to Sleep IN, ON and UNDER.
1. Something to Sleep IN is a sleeping bag, a blanket, warm clothes.
2. Something to Sleep ON is sleeping mat, hammock.
3. Something to Sleep UNDER is tarp, tent, bivi bag or poncho.
If you had to leave your home in 5 minutes. These are the things you want to grab Second, after filling in your water bottle. If you don't sleep, you're not going to think straight, you're not going to make good decisions and you're not going to be comfortable.
Source: unknown (Japan's earthquake aftermath)
Imagine the worst day possible, rainy💧, snowy💭 and wind💨 is blowing or the opposite hot💥 and dry, you know your environment the best. That's what Ideally you should be prepared for. Think, what a peace of mind you can have with so little effort. For me it's no brainer. A lot of people don't think about sleeping gear, they ignore it. Even those who think they are prepared.
My Sleeping Kit
Also very good idea is to have Sleeping bag in a Dry bag. (Just make sure it's waterproof. How? Go to the bathtub, fill it in and put the waterproof bag under water. If bubbles keep coming up, it means air is getting out and water will get in.)
Let's say you had to crash in an abandoned warehouse or some urban area and you don't have sleeping mat, are you going to sleep on cold concrete? That's not realistic. Or in wilderness, you think putting together brush shelter will protect you from rain and you will sleep comfortably? No. To make really good shelter in wilderness will take A Lot of energy and time and when you move on, which I presume you will, you will have to build it all over again? Yes, it IS possible to survive in nature without Anything. But It's much easier to have Sleeping Bag, Mat and a Tarp or Poncho. Sure at the back of your mind you can still have mad ninja skills of wilderness bush, lean-to shelter survival.
So, what is my Snail Challenge? It's to get yourself a working Sleeping Kit, either it is sleeping bag, sleeping mat and a poncho, or hammock set up (try it first, for example I can't sleep in hammock. Can't handle the moving, sense of insecurity.) or any other setup you feel comfortable with.
For Challenge to be completed: I want you to make an article with The Big 3, explaining why you chose specific item, Can add a Snail🐌 at the bottom to support #SnailClan ;) and to share a link in the comments bellow, so that others can see.
It does not matter what Age you are 10 or 50, Nature does not discriminate and if you do already have a kit like this, you can still share. So, people can learn from your WORKING kit!!!!
Actually on this Article I do not want you to upvote, rather do the challenge and share this article with someone who you truly care about.
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