Pretty much every summer I head away for a few weeks. A couple of years ago I went backpacking in South America and South East Asia for 8 months and by god was I bitten bad by the travel bug after that trip. I absolutely loved it, although I will be the first to put my hands up and say that it wasn’t easy but I certainly don’t regret doing it. After that trip I get the urge to travel for long periods of time over the summer.
Two years ago I went camping in Africa and last year I went backpacking around Central America. After last summer I decided I was tired of the backpacking lifestyle, the constant moving from one hostel to another every few days and the stress of getting from one place to another. I packed away my reliable backpack and thought that’s it now, no more big travels.
Of course as any travel addict knows the niggling feeling of wanting to book flights and feeling restless doesn’t take long to kick in and sure enough by the new year a travel friend had mentioned that she was heading away for a few months and that India was her first stop and was I tempted. Well rubber arm Tanya that I am it didn’t take too long to persuade me to book my flights and the addiction was being fed again.
Originally we had planned on travelling around India ourselves but after chatting to a few friends that had been over there and after browsing Tourradar we decided we’d go with a tour instead. We booked a 22 day tour and with a few extra days leftover we booked a flight down to Goa and thanks to good ole Hostelworld booked two hostels down there too.
All of that was booked a good few weeks ago and so the last few weeks has been spent trying to figure out what to pack for India. After looking at the weather we realised that we’re going to absolutely melt over there, you’ll be able to spot us from a mile away with our lovely pale, Irish, sweaty skin, haha. When I did the big RTW trip back in 2014 a friend gave me the best advice for packing for long trips, bring enough clothes for a week and that’s exactly how I pack now, well usually.
So I packed- 9 sleeveless tops,
- one long sleeved top
- 3 harem pants
- my cardigan that has been on all of my travels
- a light scarf to cover my shoulders and head
- leggings
- 10 pairs of underwear, (I made the mistake of only bringing 7 when I went on the RTW trip, dunno what I was thinking then)
- 4 pairs of ankle socks
- 2 bras
- one pair of runners (I brought a pair I’d bought in Guatemala last year)
- Teva sandals
- flip-flops
- a hat
- 2 pairs of pjs
- Bikini
- Pair of shorts
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- Playsuit
I ended up buying a few t-shirts and swapped them with some of the tops I had in there originally. I had made sure that the tops went with a few of the harem pants and that I didn’t bring anything that I wouldn’t wear at least once.
Now everything else I packed was
- 2 travel towels
- a nod-pod liner
- a light rain jacket
- a plastic shopping bag for laundry
- a water bottle
- travel journal
- little folder for holding tickets etc
- head torch
- hand sanitizer
- sun cream
- Pyramid bite spray
- bite cream
- painkillers
- Imodium
- dioralyte
- toilet paper
- shampoo and conditioner which I put into smaller containers
- skincare products
- locks
- hairbrush, bobbins and pins
- Deodorant
- Sunglasses
- Lip balm
- Inflatable neck pillow
- Eye mask
- Ear plugs
- Head scarf/band – good for protecting your scalp and hiding your hair on bad hair days too
- Toothbrush and toothpaste, also have a little container/cover for my toothbrush too.
- Needle and thread, which came in handy when I went to pack my bag last night as you can see from the pic below.
- Little travel money belt and a bra purse that’s so handy.
- I think that was pretty much everything I packed. I also had a little handbag thats been everywhere with me too. So after doing a very quick DIY sewing job on the bag I was all packed.
- I was all set for heading off this morning but as I put on my Guatemala shoes I spotted a tear, with only ten minutes before my bus I did the only thing I could of and I took out my glue gun to repair the tear, we’ll see how long that holds for, haha.
- Here’s by bag heading on it’s own little journey and hopefully I’ll see it tomorrow morning in Delhi. Watch this space for an update on how our sweaty selves are getting on in Delhi. Off to enjoy some airport food and duty free browsing now, bring on the inflight entertainment, woohoo.
Fernweh with T 