Being a Better Traveler and My Scottevest Experience

If you’re a regular reader, no doubt you’ve noticed the swanky Scottevest ad in the sidebar. Go on, take a peek; it’s a picture of me in front of Uluru in Australia wearing my fleece Scottevest. So, why is it there and how am I working with this acclaimed travel clothing company? Glad you asked.

Last year I took the Scottevest light baggage challenge when I went to New Zealand. I was a notorious over packer and decided to go extreme in order to mend my ways. For a week the only items I had with me as I traipsed around both the North and South Islands of New Zealand were a small, very small, duffle bag and my trusty Scottevest fleece jacket. Before leaving I had to think carefully about what I needed, what I really needed, and made some tough choices. Instead of saying “Well, maybe I’ll be invited to a ballroom dance and will need my dress shoes,” I left those at home. I was harshly realistic and took only what I needed. Novel concept, right? But it’s something few of us actually do.

In the end the trip was transformational not just for the amazing experiences in the land of the Kiwis, but for the value Scottevest brought to my trip. Traveling unencumbered by copious amounts of crap, I felt free and nimble. It was amazing and forever changed how I pack and how I travel. I don’t go extreme in general, I always have a suitcase and carry-ons, but I also use Scottevest clothing to help augment my travel experience. Using these products has also kept me more organized as I know where everything is instead of rooting through a seemingly bottomless bag.

Fast forward to June 2012 and I ran into the CEO and founder of Scottevest, Mr. Scott Jordan. If you watch ABC’s the Shark Tank, you may recognize him from his memorable appearance on the show. We started talking and decided to try to find ways to work together since I was already such a big fan.

Scott was gracious and offered to extend to my readers a whopping 20% discount on Scottevest apparel. Twenty-percent! This is a huge deal and I really hope you’ll take a look and consider trying some of the clothes on for size, so to speak.

Even though I wear Scottevest on every trip, I’ve decided to really highlight the products and show you all just how versatile and useful they can be. This Friday I leave for an exciting adventure in Africa. It will be one of those once-in-a-lifetime trips and I can’t wait to share the experience with you. But, I’m also going to share the experience of wearing Scottevest clothes on the trip, to show you just how incredible they are. I have a brand new jacket and pair of pants from Scottevest and I already love them, but of course the trip will be the real test.

Since I love the products so much, I want to share them with you all and the fine folks over at Scottevest have agreed to give one of my readers a prize package including the clothes I’m testing out in South Africa. The items include:

• Transformer Jacket ($160)
• Convertible Travel Pants ($85)

Check out the links to see all the cool features, because there are a lot. So, how do you win? Well it’s easy. During my week in Cape Town I will publish one new photo every day, which you can find here: Daily Travel Photos. At the bottom of the photo pages I’ll include a key word. At the end of the contest you’ll have a week to enter the words (they spell something) into a special post I’ll create just for this contest. That’s it! If you can read, then you have a chance to win this amazing prize. Full prize details will be available soon, but start checking out the daily travel photo page beginning on Monday, July 30.

In the meantime, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask and be sure to check out their website and use the discount code LandLoper20 to score your discount.