Going Light: Our Packing List For Bike Touring In Cuba

We’ve been planning for months and now it’s almost here: departure day for our flight to Cuba!

With less than a week to go, we spent yesterday packing our bags. Thankfully – for once in our lives – we have plenty of room to spare. It helps that we’re going on a ‘credit card’ bike tour: staying in hotels and leaving all the camping, cooking and cold-weather gear at home.

Normally we love camping but on this trip we have to contend with a couple factors. The first is a limited luggage capacity. When we booked our flights, we were quoted €800 to fly two full-sized touring bikes to Cuba and back with KLM (it seems this fee has now dropped by half but that’s not what we were told at the time). This was a great incentive to use folding bikes and work within standard baggage limits. The restless sleeping habits of a young baby were also a good reason to go for hotels and B&Bs instead of camping. After years of budget bike touring, it’s time to splurge a little!

That said, you could easily camp in Cuba if you wanted to.

Our full packing list is below. The luggage weighs about 22kg (including the weight of the panniers). All of this will go as carry on (we’re each entitled to a bag of 10kg as carry on luggage). Note:

• About a quarter of the weight in our bags consists of diapers and food for Luke (rice crackers, dried fruit). Our bags will either be considerably lighter on the return flight, or full of rum and cigars.
• Electronics such as our laptop and iPad also account for a lot of weight. These sorts of things aren’t necessary for everyone but they are something we like to take along.
• There are no toys or books for baby. There will be plenty of entertainment from the two jokers this kid has as parents, not to mention the adventures that Cuba itself will bring.
• The clothes we’ll wear on the plane are not included in the weight but are mentioned in the packing list.
• We think this list is complete but – as always – we’re human and sometimes we forget stuff. If you think something’s missing let us know and we’ll update the list if necessary.

Put together, our collection of “stuff” looks something like this:

The bikes and the bags they’ll fly in total about 30kg (Brompton – 12kg; Speed TR – 15kg; bike bags – 1.2kg each). Luke’s Chariot Cougar 1 trailer weighs 11kg but technically it’s a stroller, not a bike trailer. We can gate check this and it doesn’t count in our luggage allowance.

Want the full details? Read on!

The Bikes & Bags:

• 1 Brompton
• 1 Dahon Speed TR
• 1 Chariot Cougar 1 trailer / stroller
• 2 Ortlieb back panniers
• 1 Ortlieb Rack Pack 31
• 1 Ortlieb Dry Bag (£16.50 from Wiggle)
• 1 Vaude handlebar bag
• 2 Outeredge bike bags (a new purchase; we think they’ll work for air travel, £ 35.99 from Amazon)

Bike Parts, Tools & Accessories

• 1 Santos Alles water bottle holder (we’re testing this; see a review and photos in Dutch)
• 2 water bottles
• 1 Topeak multi-tool (£22.99 from Wiggle)
• 1 puncture repair kit (note: we’re not carrying a separate pump; it’s integrated in the Dahon Speed TR seatpost)
• 1 small bottle of Chain-L lube
• 8 zip ties
• 2 spanners
• 1 20″ inner tube
• 1 16″ inner tube
• 1 Swiss army knife
• 3 compression straps ($12.50 from REI)
• 1 cargo net ($6.95 from REI)
• 1 bike computer
• 2 locks

Electronics

• 1 Panasonic Lumix GF1 camera
• 1 iPad 3, plus case
• 1 13″ Macbook Pro laptop, plus case
• 1 Kodak Zi8 video camera (a few years old but fine for our purposes)
• 1 Gorillapod tripod ($80 from REI)
• 2 USB sticks (for back-up of photos)
• 1 cellphone (very old; not a smartphone; only for emergencies)

Clothing (Friedel)

• 3 pairs socks
• 3 pairs underwear
• 3 pairs trousers (3/4 length, lightweight, zip-off)
• 3 lightweight tops (2 long sleeved)
• 1 bra
• 1 large, lightweight scarf (for breastfeeding cover, as a picnic blanket, etc.)
• 1 sun hat
• 1 pair Teva sandals
• 1 pair cycling shoes
• 1 swimsuit
• 1 Gore-tex paclite jacket (£188.09 from Wiggle)
• 1 merino wool hoodie

Clothing (Andrew)

• 3 pairs socks
• 3 pairs underwear
• 2 pairs trousers (1 pair zips off into shorts)
• 3 lightweight tops (2 long sleeved)
• 1 merino wool t-shirt
• 1 sun hat
• 1 pair Teva sandals
• 1 pair cycling shoes
• 1 pair swimming trunks
• 1 Gore-tex paclite jacket

Clothing (baby)

• 4 shirts
• 1 hoodie
• 2 pairs light pants
• 1 pair heavier pants
• 2 pairs shorts
• 2 onesies (to be used as light, summer PJs)
• 3 pairs socks
• 1 pair sandals
• 1 pair normal shoes
• 1 sun hat
• 1 swimsuit
• 1 swim diaper (not something we’d normally use but it was given to us, so…)
• 1 sippy cup

Toiletries

• 150 disposable diapers
• 2 packs baby wipes
• 2 cloth diapers (just in case!)
• 2 tubes toothpaste (one for kids, one for adults)
• 2 bottles 50 SPF sunscreen (one for kids, one for adults)
• 1 First Aid Kit with medicines (paracetamol, sinus medication)
• 1 toiletry kit (shampoo, soap, dental floss etc…)
• 1 travel towel
• 1 Mooncup

Maps and Books

• 1 map of Cuba (‘Mapas Internacionales De Viaje’, scale 1:600,000)
• 1 Guia De Carreteras De Cuba (we bought ours at Cuba Directo but there’s also a free download)
• 1 Bicycling Cuba guidebook (£ 14.99 from Amazon)

Miscellaneous

• A variety of snack food, mostly for baby (dried fruit, rice crackers)
• 1 notebook with pen
• 3 pairs sunglasses
• 1 Eagle Creek Pack-It cube
• 1 MSR Miniworks EX water filter ($89.95 from REI)