TRAVEL. PREPARATION.
“You are Packing Our Entire Household”
Having the same conversations over and over
I surely wouldn’t call myself a minimalist. I own way too many belongings for it and pack too many “just-in-case” items. But, and that one I stand for, I still travel light.
I pack a first aid kit and surely never travel anywhere without my camera plus extra lens(es). On the contrary, I don’t pack many clothes. Just enough to get by and if not I end up washing halfway through the trip. Which is not the end of the world in my eyes.
However, whenever I do start packing for whatever trip it is, if we’re going on a two-week road trip or a several months-long stay in Thailand, my husband will always comment on how I pack too much stuff.
In case you’re wondering — yes, I pack for both of us. I pack the clothes, I pack the valuables and cash. And if we’re on a road trip I’m also making sure we have enough food and water.
My husband will make sure we won’t run out of beer if we’re stuck in the desert for a month.
I’m German, he’s African.
But no, I’m the one packing too much.
My favorite part is though if we get somewhere and he needs something. He’ll ask me if I have it and celebrate the fact of course I packed the requested item. Then he’ll say “best wife ever” and brag in front of everyone about how I think about everything a man needs abroad or on the road.
So, I’ll take these knocks when packing. Because I know, deep down he still appreciates my packing style.
The only thing he is not happy about this time is the fact I told him he can’t take his pocket knife. A man has to take a knife when traveling. But we’re flying all with carry-on luggage.
A man needs his knife.
I get it. And I’ll probably end up buying a new pocket knife as soon as we land on the other side. However, while he is struggling not traveling with his favorite knife, I have a 2 x 7kg allowance to get all our stuff together for a two-week hiking/adventure trip.
But don’t worry, I got that.
I have no idea what our holiday will look like because we haven’t even booked the first night of accommodation, not even talking about the kind of activities we might or might not end up doing, but I gonna think in advance and pack wisely.
Just remember, you’re telling a man to go on a journey without his knife…
Back to my story. I’m packing our first aid kit trying to take everything out we don’t need. This is pretty difficult since we’re going to a remote area of the country and I have no idea how far we’ll be from the nearest hospital or even pharmacy.
And you know me, I’ve been hit by fireworks before and was more than happy to have lots of medical equipment on me while being wounded in rural Ghana on New Year’s Eve.
According to my husband, I can bring a dead person back alive with my first aid kit.
I’m telling you, it’s not that big. It’s just the essentials. We don’t have kids. But we are the kids who never grew up and keep on going on seemingly fun adventures.
Last but not least. I’m done. Everything fitted into our two backpacks. Kind of. Some of it is hanging off them. Clipped to the side. But you gotta be smart when traveling.
Just don’t make that backpack look heavy. Just don’t make them weigh it at the airport. Just my camera equipment is already over 7kg. But nobody will know.
So, we’re off now. For 9 days we’ll be somewhere in the north of Thailand. Due to the still strict travel restrictions and quarantine rules in Southeast Asia we decided against visiting another Asian country and chose instead to travel within the country.
I will not be taking the laptop with, so I won’t be able to post any updates unless I decide to use the Medium App on my tablet and publish without being able to add photo credits and not being able to submit the article to a publication.
To keep you busy in the meantime, here are some travel stories…
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