The Vacation Get Home Bag

Summer is the time for family getaways and vacations, but just because you’re taking time off from work doesn’t mean you should be taking time off from prepping. Instead of thinking about prepping as an act you do when you buy supplies or put in a new garden, it needs to be a lifestyle. Disaster is just as likely to strike when you’re 500 miles away from home at the beach as it is when you’re sitting on your front porch at home.

This is why you need to be prepared no matter where you are, and doubly so if you’re far away from your supplies. This doesn’t mean you need to cart a trailer along with you wherever you go with your entire prep in it, but it does mean you need to be thoughtful of where you are, where you’re going, and how you’ll get back home if things got bad in a hurry.

This idea really hits home for me personally this year because I’m heading out on vacation at the end of summer and will be hundreds of miles from my home with a group of people that aren’t part of the prepper community. I needed to think of a way to keep my wife and myself safe in case the SHTF while not looking like a “crazy prepper” to those friends.

After thinking it over I decided on changing up the idea of the get home bag from the one aimed at work and other daily activities to a special one-off get home bag for my vacation to the beach. Since I’m packing for a week away from home as it is, some of the standard Get Home Bag essentials like a change of clothes and cash will already be coming along, making the Get Home Bag a little smaller.

Since my wife and I are using the same Get Home Bag, one important tip to mention is that the supplies should be divvied up as soon as possible in the event of an emergency in case something were to happen to one of us, the other would have half the supplies.

Water

Since I’m vacationing with my wife, I’m prepping for two. This means I’ll need 2 liters of water, ideally in a steel container.

Energy Bars

The need for long-term food isn’t very important since the goal is to get home to my supplies, so the plan is for 3 energy bars per day for each of us. With 2 days of estimated travel time to get home, that equates out to 12 energy bars total. Mind you, this is far from a well-rounded diet, but it’ll be enough to get us home and that’s all that matters.

Headlamp

The hurry to get home means there will be a lot of walking at night, so having my hands free to eat, climb, and use a weapon are vital and a headlamp will give me just that.

In a perfect world each of us would have a headlamp but to keep the pack small, one should be enough.

Flashlights

The flashlight goes to whoever isn’t using the headlamp for light and with it you should have a second for backup. Light can mean the difference between walking safely at night and falling into a ditch, breaking an ankle or worse.

Map and Compass

This is possibly the single-most important part of a vacation Get Home Bag. For my purposes I will get a map of the East Coast that shows both my home as well as where we’re going for vacation.

On the map will be two plotted routes, the first being the path we’re taking with the car to drive down and back, and the second will be the best path to walk home in case of disaster. Remember, the highway probably won’t be your best option for walking, so plan that out now while you have the Internet as a resource. Make sure you’re prepared to use a map and compass, and finally it doesn’t hurt to learn how to navigate without a compass, too. As I stated above, it’s best practice to give one person the map and the other the compass, in case my wife and I were to get separated we would each have at least something to help us get home safely.

Paracord

It should go without saying that you basically always need to keep paracord close at hand. You should have about 100 feet of the amazing rope in your bag to use for everything from lashing a shelter together to sewing up damaged bags and clothing.

Multi-tool

You should have your multi-tool on you at all times, but since we’re talking about the beach and vacation, it’s OK to keep this in your bag, as long as it’s easy to get to. One multi-tool should suffice, but ideally each of you should have your own in case of separation.

Personal Defense

This is a tricky one. Since many vacations take you across state borders you need to know the laws regarding the transportation of weapons.

More often than not you should be safe transporting a handgun if it’s unloaded and partially disassembled in your bag. Some states require it to be locked in a box as well, so just check the laws to make sure you’re working inside of what’s legal while staying prepared.

Survival Knife

Your survival knife definitely needs to come along for vacation and will be indispensable in an emergency. Make sure your knife is sharpened and ready for use before leaving, and if you don’t have a good survival knife check out this post on choosing the perfect survival knife. Even though this bag is for two people, only one survival knife is necessary. If you have room for two, then that’s even better.

Along with the survival knife, both my wife and I will have pocket knives for use in the case of an emergency, too.

Fire Starter

A simple flint and steel will do the job nicely here. You can store these without fear of combustion as can come from lighters and matches, especially when traveling to warmer climates like those found at the beach. Our Get Home Bag will have two of these so each of us has one in the case we get separated.

First Aid Kit

All you need here is a basic first-aid kit that aligns with where you’re going. If you’re heading down south you should make sure it has bug repellant and sun screen in it as well as the other basics like bandages.

Rain Poncho

Finally, both my wife and I will need a rain poncho each. This will keep us dry in the case of rain, and give us shelter for sleeping at night. Normally you’d only need one of these, but each person really should have their own.