Lists, lists and more lists

I am the Queen of lists.  I like that things can be categorised and written down so they aren’t forgotten – packing lists and to do lists coming up to trips ranking right there on top. I love the sense of accomplishment when I tick things off the list – and have been known to write things on the list so I can immediately tick it off if it was something I forgot to write down in the first place.

The thing is I thought I was becoming more laid back over list making (I would only really make lists for really important stuff like travelling related stuff!) when I started to notice that when I didn’t make a list David would – even for the mundane weekend tasks like mow the lawn and going to the tip, plus he is always the one starting the shopping lists – perhaps as a hint it was time for a trip to the supermarket… !!

I have kept every packing list saved from each trip over the last 5 years anyway – always starting with the last one and modifying as needed.

I especially get satisfaction from making those packing lists smaller – if something doesn’t get used enough on the last trip or gets outgrown – then it doesn’t warrant a spot on the next list.

Our trip to China in 2007 when the girls were 2 and 4 years we could fit everything into the one check-in bag (yes even the framed child backpack fit into the bag!) we still had a small cheap fold up stroller, one day pack and an extra carry-a bag just for nappies! The following year for our trip to Vietnam we were able to drop the baby backpack and the extra carry-on bag with only the one check-in bag, the stroller and one day pack.  The next trip Malaysia/Borneo we were down to one check in bag for all of us, but the extra carry-on bag became the shoe bag whereas previously we only travelled with one pair of shoes each this time we were spending time in the jungle area doing more purposeful walks and hence we had to up that to two pairs each!

The first area on other travellers blogs I go to are the gear ones, the packing lists – the more information the better – I want to know the make and model of things, I want to know how they came to the decision of choosing this over that- I want to know what worked and what didn’t and I love the ones where they list the top 5 things that they couldn’t live without.

I have always packed reasonably light even when I set off on my first backpacking trip at 21 (no mobiles, laptops or ipods to weigh me down then!).  My backpack weighed in at 8kg and that was including some work clothes and shoes too, when going for a year (which ended up being 5 years but that is another looong story!)

More recently, I have been known to even ban taking pajamas because they take up valuable space!  Consequently dressing the kids in regular t-shirts and shorts to go to bed therefore getting dressed the next day isn’t an issue either! Then I went back to letting everyone take a set of pajamas but still insisting on getting dressed in clothes before going to bed whenever it meant an early start ie before daybreak – then the bag can be all packed the night before and waiting at the door ready to go and yes the kids are already dressed – bonus!

I don’t have the latest in all the ‘travel clothes’ (moisture wicking, merino t-shirts etc) – and don’t subscribe to the ‘most expensive must the best’ thought, as I often shop in second hand clothes stores to pick up long cotton button up shirts for the kids before travelling, and generally use the normal everyday clothes we usually wear.  However I am partial to the specific pieces of clothing (shoes, fleece and rain jacket) to be as multi-purpose as possible so as to only carry one.

And my top 5 that are always on the top of my list?

Headtorch –  Petzl tikka2 – simple but good – use it at home as much as when I travel! David and the girls each have a Petzl tikkina

Clothes line – the all-important twisted elastic variety – with hooks not suction caps! We link two together.  Mind you we use this at home too when we need to rig up an additional drying area.

Fleece jacket – my all time favourite that I have had now for years and can’t find anything to beat it yet – a black, Paddy Pallin ‘womens’ fit (longer over hips with elastic cord at waist, with collar – no hood). The kids have a Columbia ‘Pearl Plush’ jacket each (Phoebe has black, Imogen dark pink) dark colours, zip pockets – perfect.

Hats – broad brimmed, soft and foldable, we use every day at home so again our ‘normal gear’, girls also have their ‘wet hats’ – fast drying hats with under-chin cord. I am amazed by the amount of travellers that don’t wear hats – you can usually spot the Aussie – wearing hats are so normal for us!

Baby wipes – yes I know I don’t technically have a baby anymore but these things are indispensible and although I pick up more along the way I usually chuck in about 4 of the small travel packs to get us started.

I knew this time though I wouldn’t be able to fit everything into one bag and when everything is packed up I am sure we have too much stuff – it is way more than we have left with before, but for a month we can make do, for a year though a few more things have to come along for the ride.

Our bags of choice: Osprey Sojourn backpacks with wheels – I’m not carrying a pack unless I absolutely have to now- been there, done that!  So far we have only had to put them on our backs a couple of times. These bags were a bit on the expensive side but they are certainly build to last and we have been super impressed with them so far.

The girls have a Kathmandu Tailspin Trolley each – a cabin size 30 litre rolling duffel that fits all their clothes, toys and school supplies.

We are going to warm and cold places and although we will have to buy the cold weather gear when we get there I still travel with a fleece and a light rainjacket each –the Rainbird Stowaway jackets.

School supplies (something we have never had to worry about lugging along)

The girls each have a zipped folder containing their one Maths and one English text book, a few exercise books and a grid book and a small whiteboard each – which we also used at home as a scratch pad – saves on paper when needing somewhere to work out maths problems etc and can also be used for general drawing – indispensable.

Electrical stuff : which has never been a part of our baggage before.  We have only recently acquired some ‘electrical toys’ for the girls – things I have never been very keen on.  They received a DSi each for Christmas last year and for their birthdays this year (just celebrated) they have each received an ipod touch.  I might be a convert – I can certainly see the benefit just in the educational apps you can get plus loading kindle books onto it so they have a supply of reading material as they are both avid readers and we just couldn’t carry the amount of books I would have like to.  Not to mention giving them ‘downtime’ when they need it to simply switch off, but just like home, when they can only play with their DSi’s on weekends and an hour or so at a time, we have restrictions in place with how much they are used.

We are carrying a notebook, an HP Pavilion dm1- 11.6” and I have a usb stick loaded with the curriculum for English and Maths for both of the girls (and a few movies for downtime).  It also used for storage of photos (harddrive and via Picasa) updating the blog, keeping in touch with family and friends via Skype and finding out general information – booking flights, checking Tripadvisor and Lonely Planet sites for information on destinations.  Sometimes I wish we had another as we each use one when doing school work with the girls or when playing a movie on it for them, when we could also be doing some research or work too.

Camera – I decided to leave the ‘good DSLR’ camera at home, and just bring the Panasonic Lumix.  I hope I won’t regret it – whilst the quality of image might not be as high with the Lumix I know I prefer the compactness and ease of travelling with the Lumix and also don’t ‘worry’ as much when I have it over the DSLR.  So as with everything it is a compromise I have had to make.  The Lumix still has an incredible zoom for its size and so far the photos have been fine – not photographer standard but memory capturing standard. We also have a little Flip video camera – tiny and light and holds up to two hours of video before it can be uploaded directly to computer via its pop-out usb stick.

Mobile phone – a necessary evil?  Whilst not really needing it thanks to email, skype I had recently purchased an ‘unlocked smart phone’ so have brought it along only buying the first local sim card in Thailand and only using it once to date (6 weeks in).  I do have a great app loaded on it called ‘Hello Expense’ where I am recording all our expenses into categories for reference and tracking purposes, comes in handy also as calculator, backup kindle and games and alarm clock.

Kindle – what did I do before my kindle!  This was my Christmas present from Mum and when packing up the house I actually got rid of many books (donated them) that have been taking up space for years only because ‘one day’ I might read them again.  Since so many are available as e-books I thought why not pass them on and know that if I need them they are only a click away.  I have started reading so much more and classic books that I would not normally have bothered trying. I have the Kindle app loaded on my phone too but it is so much easier to read on the kindle as opposed to devices with backlit displays. Problem is David has also started reading way more than before and now we fight for it!

First Aid Kit – we have always included this little hard ‘beauty case’ as our first aid kit – this time it is just a bit more packed.  Eight weeks in, we have used a bit of everything (except Imodium thank goodness) so again I can’t think of anything I would have left out.  We have;

Panadol – adult and child, Nurofen – adult and child, Imodium and pedialyte, Phenergen – an antihistamine and for nausea/vomiting, a few Alcohol and Iodine swabs and selection of bandaids, gauze and a bandage, small tubes of Bactroban and Betadine, Antiseptic powder and Elastoplast spray plaster, Aimine lignocaine anti-itch lotion (similar to calamine but with anaesthetic and antiseptic – magic stuff), a mini tub of sudocreme, a selection of insect repellents – roll-on and spray with and without deet, and invisible zinc sunscreen.

We have since added: ear drops, and purchased more insect repellent as using it every day – we also added a bottle of Dettol and diluting that with water as an insect repellent too.

Laundry stuff – a ‘scrubba’ wash bag – this was a specific purchase for this trip as we have always done our own washing here and there using just a plastic bag and finishing in the shower, but this is something I came across on Indigogo – the website that supports and showcases new inventions. Designed by an Aussie, inspired by his many backpacking trips it is a bag that has a ‘washboard’ made of little plastic nodules inside that you scrub your clothes against – has worked very well so far – as a bag to soak the clothes in because you can seal it and it folds up to no bigger than the size of a cigarette box. Also in the laundry ziplock bag: 2 x elastic twisted washing lines, a scrubbing brush for shoes, a bar of sard wonder soap.

Occasionally include a small bag of washing powder, like when one was kindly left at our door at the Phnom Penh guesthouse by a fellow backpacker: another of the reasons I like the ‘lower end’ guesthouses – the camaraderie of fellow travellers – ever heard of unwanted items being left outside your door at a 4 or 5 star resort!!?

Miscellaneous bag:

Travel size games – Monopoly, Guess who, Uno cards, Scrabble cards, Playing cards, mini chess.

Mini binoculars, micra leatherman, whistle with compass, mini tripod for camera, a few ikea clasps for keeping open packets of food airtight, a couple of small containers for taking out snacks. 4 sporks – used countless times, a little tidy box containing mini sticky tape, stapler, cotton and needles, safety pins – all of which have been used multiple times by the two month mark.

Since added: 4 little plastic noodle bowls for cereal and sharing food dishes – so handy!

Lastly, but very importantly we each have a set of Eagle Creek ‘packing cubes’, a large, medium and small that assists with organising clothes so you can find exactly what you’re looking for. Packing Cubes are colour coordinated of course.  Dave – blue, Sally – red, Phoebe – green, Immi – Purple/pink.  These are our go-to colours.

Contents: one or two pairs of long pants each, two pairs of shorts, a skirt/leggings, a few t-shirts, a collared shirt, sunshirts, 1 long t-shirt, 2 pairs of socks each, 5 underwear, togs and pajamas – well that’s what we left with and will certainly do us through the first five months until we hit cooler climes.

Specifics: My long pants are the Lorna Jane flashdance pants (I have two pairs, a black pair and dark blue pair) that can be rolled to three-quarter pants instead of shorts, I also have one long skirt and one knee length cotton skirt and always carry a sarong for so many uses – extra cover in plane, cover to keep sun off (in buses too) emergency towel, something to sit on at the beach etc etc.

The girls long pants are also the Little Miss Lorna Jane flashdance pants. Immi favours skirts so she has two skirts, whereas Phoebe prefers leggings.  I still think we have too many clothes with us but we wore everything (a sign of good packing) so I’m not sure what I would leave out! David is the only one with a pair of jeans – I think they aren’t conducive to travel – too heavy and take too long to dry but he couldn’t be swayed!

Dave and I both have day packs and use both when on the move, but only take one out once we are settled in a place for day trips.

When we left Australia our check-in packs were around the 15kg mark each.  The girls carry-on bags are around the 6kg mark and our day packs each around 5kg.

We stayed in some great places thanks to up-to-date and honest reviews of accommodation from Tripadvisor,  We would usually select the ‘best value’ option and also elected for the B&B or ‘other accommodation’ options.  This way we avoided ‘hotel chains’ and found some great family owned and small pensions, pousadas, guesthouses and the like.

followed by Lonely Planet Thorn tree forum for recent visa/border crossing/scam information.

Other sites used:

Ownersdirect.co.uk