OMG! What Do I Pack?

OMG! What do I Pack?

Honestly, this has taken most of my time these past few weeks. How do you pack for a world trip, not knowing what weather conditions you’ll face and what countries you’ll be going to? Well you read, tons of blogs, sites, and get suggestions from people. I really had to take into consideration that I am female while reading these blog sites, many of which were written by men. Maybe a guy can get away with wearing one pair of underwear for an entire year, but that idea doesn’t really sit well with me. Plus who really wants to  wash underwear after a fabulous night out on the town? The last thing I want to do when I stroll home in the wee hours of the morning is washing my clothes in a sink! A few trips to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op), the dollar store, Costco, a few purchases off of Amazon, and maybe a wander or two into Wal-Mart and I think I’m off to the races. The first thing I bought was a backpack and thank god Jason (my friend/neighbour) helped me pick that out to get this party started. Here’s a list of what I’m bringing with me and why. You can scroll through the pics as well and see how I’ve grouped everything off. Also, I’m not endorsing any products or getting paid to put any of this info up. I just want to help you out incase you wanna do a crazy world trip too 🙂

 

 

A backpack-don’t borrow your friend’s back pack. Go into a store and get fitted for one. Why? Well I have an extra small torso and I didn’t realize that until I got properly sized at the store. Which means I need a size “small” backpack that fits my torso and distributes the weight of the backpack evenly throughout my hips hence not causing back pains, which I would have gotten if I picked any old backpack. It is actually 2 backpacks that zip into one. One backpack is 55 litres and the detachable daypack is 15 litres. So 55+15=70 litres! Also unlike many other packs, you can carry the daypack in front of you by snapping it onto the straps of the main back pack. This eliminates worrying about the front pack not fitting properly and sliding of your shoulders.

 

 

 

Electronics

Laptop and charger- I bought a MacBook Air 11 inch because it’s a lightweight reliable computer. You don’t need a laptop; you can use a tablet or bring neither. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

External hard drive- where else are you going to store those millions of photos you take in case you computer’s memory gets full?

CAT5 Cable-this isn’t necessary but if the Wi-Fi connection sucks wherever you’re staying it might be better just to plug it into the computer directly.

CAT5 Cable Adaptor- if you have a MacBook cause it doesn’t come with the Cat5 cable port.

Power bar- Just a small power bar to plug in multiple items at the same time

Travel Universal Adaptor Set- I thought about getting a power convertor but I’m not taking a hair dryer (who cares? Ha ha) so I don’t need the voltage conversion. Just different adaptors to plug in my electronics across the world.

IPhone and charger-Bring whatever phone you’re comfortable with to take pics, do Facetime, whatever you may need it for.

Camera- just a regular point and shoot camera will do

Selfie Stick- C’mon don’t make fun of me. I’m travelling by myself.

Waterproof phone case- In case my phone decides to take a quick dip in the Ganga river, it’ll still be ok.

Outdoor Stuff

A jacket- Now since I’ll be travelling through various terrains, I decided to get something light weight, breathable, water proof and has lots of room for me to put on layers of clothing just in case.

Baseball cap- keep that sun outta your face and custom made with love and style from

Tuque-Merino wool –Costco

Warm gloves- I am heading to the Himalayas

Sunglasses- Cheap $15 pair from the drug store, I might loose them or break them

A small purse-just if I’m heading to a restaurant/bar with friends

A small wallet- A gift from Dylan, thanks Dylan! 🙂

Shoes:

Flip flops- Any brand

Teva shoes-A more comfortable open toed sandal for walking distances

Hiking shoes- Love these shoes. Brand name Columbia

 

Medical Supplies

Vaccines

You better still have medical coverage before you get all these vaccines because they cost a fortune! Here’s the list that I got:

Yellow fever, Typhoid, Japanese Encephalitis, Tetanus/Diphtheria/Polio, Measles/Mumps/Rubella, Whooping Cough (Pertussis), Rabies, Meningococcal Meningitis, Hepatitis A, HPV, Flu shot, and can’t forget the travel clinic consultation fee. Total if not covered=$1500. Don’t forget to bring your immunization book with you.

Medications:

I’ve got a small pharmacy on me but I want to be prepared for anything.

-Malaria pills (cause aint nobody got time for malaria), just incase jet lag pills, pills for travellers diarrhea (I got prescribed 3 different meds, hmm thinking it might be an issue in India lol), Imodium, Gravol, Pepto, high altitudes pills, Tylenol, Advil, Amoxicillin (nobody likes an occasional touch of bronchitis).

Custom made ear plugs and small medical kit (band aids, gauze, etc), hand sanitizer, Wipes.

Any “girl” things you need, pack them with you because apparently you can’t get anything in India just at the drug store, you need a prescription and have to go to the pharmacy. Who really has time for all that?

Medical Insurance-I got one year through Manulife, everything is covered on it including if something happens to you, they’ll fly a loved one by your bedside. $1300 1 year. Most credit cards only cover 21 days and you need to make sure you let your province medical card provider know that you’re leaving. In B.C. it’s our Care card so the are aware in case you need to be flown home, etc.

Miscellaneous

1) Padlock-for lockers in hostels

2) Extra small locks and keys-to put around the zippers of your bags

3) Pacsafe cage- a metal cage to put around your bag for protection

4) Laundry bag-a bag for your laundry, my wonderful friend Lindsay custom made one for me, thanks Linds 🙂

5) Lonely Planet Guide books for India and South East Asia on a shoestring. These books are big and heavy but better to have them then pull out your phone or laptop in a bus in the middle of nowhere and get robbed for them

6) A notebook-to journal or scribble your thoughts

7) Ziplock bags-various sizes

8) A whistle-safety first

9) Pepper spray-you never know

10) Door stopper-more precautionary measures, if you’re alone in a hostel room. Put the door stop on the back of the door so no one can get into the room in the middle of the night

11) Tide packs-to do laundry

12) Universal sink plug- to do laundry in your sink

13) Small clothes line to hang clothes on to dry and maybe clothes pins

14) Toilet paper-on the go.

15) A small bowl. If you don’t want to eat out everyday then buy some milk and cereal

16) A fork/knife/spoon combo. The one I got can heat up to 400 degrees so you can use it to cook

17) Tide to Go Stick for stain removal

18) Mini sewing kit

19) Extra passport photos for visas to other countries

20) A lighter/water proof matches

21) A small candle

22) Rubber bands

23) Duct tape wrapped around a pencil-may come in handy for ripped bags

24) A personal alarm-if you’re in trouble pull the trigger and the alarm sounds pretty loud

25) Swiss army knife-bottle opener, wine cork, knife. Dollar store item

26) Personal business cards? Never know who you’ll meet

27) Flash light

28) Head lamp, makes pee runs in the middle of the night easier

29) Micro fiber towels-Better than carrying big bulky towels around and take up little space. You can use them as a blanket, or for the beach and they dry 4x faster than regular towels.

30) Passport and visas

31) Student card-still got that from university like I do? Use it, you’ll get student discounts.

32) Credit cards/debit cards-more on that in another post

33) Nexus card if you’ve got it

34) Drivers license

35) Travel cubes-you can organize all your belongings nicely without shoving them all into a bag (which I normally do). Saves you from unpacking and repacking everything a thousand times

36) Mosquito net-really don’t want malaria or wake up with a tarantula on my face

37) Bug spray with Deet

38) After bite-for when those bugs bite

39) Silk liner sleeping bag. Light weight and much cheaper to order here than anywhere else. They cost $70-$80 on other websites but $8 here plus a few dollars shipping. So you crawl into this light weight liner and don’t have to use hotel sheets or worry about bed bugs. You can easily wash this and dry it too.

Toiletries-This is all based on personal preference

• Bag to carry all your toiletries with a clip to hang it from a door.

• Toothbrush (battery operated), floss, rubber pic, scaler (I’m obsessed with my teeth), regular tooth brush, tooth paste, batteries for tooth brush
• Face cream
• Basic make up: lipstick, gloss, blush, mascara, foundation
• Hair brush
• Hand and body lotion
• Nail cutters/nail file
• Hair ties/alligator clip
• Shampoo/Soap bar from Lush a good 2 in 1 product

• Small amount of hair gel
• Hair dryer/Hair straightener depending on your hair needs
• Tweezers
• A couple razor blades
• Q-tips
• Make up removal wipes

Clothes

Clothes are something that I’ve racked my brain over and over again thinking about. What do I need to travel for a year? Do I really need that? So I did lots of research but after a trip to Southern Africa and England I realized that I get cold pretty quickly so I need more layers then most people I think. I picked light weight clothes, nothing too bulky. I’m sure I’ll ditch clothes along the way and pick some up but for now here’s the list:

• Long Johns-really, it can get pretty cold at night in an ashram with no heating
• Waterproof rain pants-I hate being drenched in rain so these will be used and definitely came into handy last month in England and South Africa
• 2 tank tops-one black and one white
• 1 dress-you never know when you’ll need to look a princess vs. a homeless hiker
• 2 thermal merino wool long sleeve under shirts
• 3 t-shirts, 2 merino wool and 1 cotton t-shirt
• 3 zip up sweaters, one black, 1 merino wool, 1 polyester
• Bathing suit and cover up
• 7 pairs quick dry under garments
• 2 pairs Prana convertible long/capri pants
• 1 capri yoga pants
• 4 light weight everyday shirts so you don’t look like a back packer all the time ha ha
• 1 fancier sweater
• 4 wool hiker socks
• 1 pair thicker ski socks
• 1 light rain jacket
• Gloves, tuque, scarf/shawl, baseball cap
• Shoes: Teva sandals, flip flops, and Columbia light weight gortex hiking boots