Ditto on the spandex shorts. Also wash up when you get the chance. Bring enough socks so that you can change every couple of days. If you have to cut back, bring more thin inner socks and fewer thicker ones so you can rotate the inside socks daily. Do some long training hikes/walks in your gear to get your body used to it as well. Talc and vaseline always ended up wearing off on me after a few miles. If you are only going a short distance every day it might be enought, but if you are covering a lot of ground go with liners. One last thing that helped me was to switch to all synthetic clothing. Smart wool or ultimax socks, ex officio shorts, and spun polyester T-shirts. They are warmer when damp and don't deform as much when they get loaded up with perspiration.