10 things to do 10 days before I travel

Only 10 days left until I hop a plane to spend 4 weeks in northern Thailand and Laos. I’ve got everything I need, but I still have a few things left to do:

Be a storyteller. Add photos of my family to my Moleskine. My family being my husband, and my two cats, Buddy & Dottie. People always ask about your home and your family, so now I’ll have pictures to go with the stories. Usually, when people ask me about my children, I say I have two: a boy and a girl. Then I wiggle my fingers atop my head, like two ears, and say “meow.” It’s good for a laugh in any language.

Train or plane. Figure out whether I’m going to take the train back from Vientiane (Lao PDR) to Bangkok, or just save time and fly. This can wait until I get to Thailand. I have a whole month to book my return journey. Taking the train thorugh Isan, Thailand’s eastern province, sounds interesting enough to me to deserve some consideration. One of my friends who has done the trip more than once didn’t think it was all that exciting, but did offer good tips on booking the right berth in a sleeper car. His perception of Isan and its surrounds may have been colored by a terrible bus ride departing from Bangkok’s infamous Khao San Road, the backpacker mecca and source of all things cheap and quite possibly bogus. Tourist scams abound, but the scrum still flocks to this enclave of budget guesthouses, expat pubs, and sketchy tour operators.

Get it copied. Make copies of all my personal documents, like itinerary, flight ticket, passport, and credit card info. This last one is crucial. I lost my credit card in Chiang Mai last year, so reporting it was easy. Getting another card, however, was a different matter. Thai political protests shut down both major airports, and even FedEx couldn’t guarantee when my card would arrive in a timely fashion.

Wash my travel pillow. It needs washing and the innards need fluffing. It’s looking pretty loved. That is to say, if the subject of said affection was an unwashed hobo.

Get traveler cheques. After getting raped by my bank last year for ATM fees in Thailand, I’m sticking to the old-fashioned way of carrying money abroad.

Find currency. Grab all the Thai baht from last year that I didn’t spend. I’m sure there’s enough to take a taxi from Suvarnabhumi Airport to my friends’ home.

Pay my bills. In addition to taking care of phone and DSL, I need to leave my husband a to-do list of the things I usually do around the place that he might forget, like watering the plants or changing the cats’ water dish every day.

Last-minute gear. Determine if my flashlight is good enough to use in a darkened cave, or if I should upgrade to one of those extra-bright LED ones. My husband has an LED headlamp and I’m coveting it. It looks totally dorky on, but I bet it’s a minor miracle of engineering for hands-free exploring.

Be a welcome guest. Bring gifts from home for old friends and new friends. San Francisco souvenir t-shirts (3 for $10) are always appreciated. And stickers. I love giving stickers to kids. It’s better than candy and won’t rot their teeth.

Gather art supplies. I’ve got a lot of time on my hands for the next few weeks, so I’d like something fun and easy to keep me occupied when not stuffing my face with street food, getting massaged, or visiting wats. I like to write, and in addition to keeping a journal, I’m bringing a few supplies to make some mail art to send to my friends. I have a glue stick, some postcard-sized card stock, and put extra colorful embroidery floss in my sewing kit. The rest will just be found objects and local ephemera, whatever can be sewn and/or glued on.

Tags: Lists, Travel

What not to wear in Southeast Asia

I like to travel light. Aside from the practicality of getting about without lugging an oversized suitcase, airlines now make it costly to take too much along on your trip. But I’m okay with that. Back in pre-9/11 days when you could carry more than 3 oz. of liquids on board, I was able to make do with a carry-on suitcase. These days, I still use my carry-on sized case but I check it instead.

Traveling light doesn’t mean you have to forego travel essentials (more about that later.) Being prepared for most inconveniences can make the difference between a trip you enjoy and one you endure. Who wants to run about in an unknown city or town trying to track down something you need right away?

Clothing
Every traveler has her list of clothing they wouldn’t leave home without. This gal needs 5 bras to get her through her travels, but I don’t even own five bras. Packing lists like these are useful, but each one needs personalization to make it fit your lifestyle and clothing preferences. I don’t pack skirts or dresses, for example, but you may want to.

• 2 long pants, but not jeans. Loose, comfortable clothing is important, but jeans are just too hot and heavy for the humid SEA climate. My favorite pair of pants are cut like 5-pocket jeans but are made of a light serge. My second pair of bottoms are linen drawstring pants. They’re easy to dress up, plus they’re light and comfortable like pajamas.
• 2 capri-length pants. Unless you’re hanging at the beach, don’t wear shorts in SEA.
• 1 pair of yoga pants. I can dress these up or down, and they’re great for lounging in.
• 3 tank tops, for layering under shirts or sleeping in.
• 3 cotton t-shirts
• 3 long sleeved shirts. Light, long-sleeved shirts are great for keeping the searing sun off your arms. My favorite long-sleeved shirt is made from crinkle gauze and has tabbed sleeves so you can roll them up. It also dresses up nicely when layered over a tank top.
• 1 Polartec hoodie, good for airplanes and frigid VIP aircon buses.
• 1 pair of low-rise trek shoes. I have a pair of ultra-light Adidas trail runners with mesh uppers that are perfect when heavy, hot hiking boots would be too much.
• Tevas, or a sturdy pair of trek sandals.
• Flipflops for lounging. I also wear them in the shower just in case. I don’t want to develop athletes foot on my trip.
• 3 pairs of socks, which I will hardly wear but are nice to have. I tend to live in Tevas and flipflops when I visit SEA, but I still need socks to wear with my trek shoes.
• 2 bras and 5 undies. I always prefer cotton, but for travel, nothing beats quick-drying fabrics like nylon. Wash them nightly in the sink and never be out of clean panties.
• Scarf or sarong. Use the scarf to dress up an outfit, give yourself some privacy at a roadside pee stop, or cover up after swimming. In some more conservative places, you might want to cover up while swimming.

The other stuff
Aside from the obvious toiletries and first aid supplies like aspirin, Band-aids, and relief from traveler’s diarrhea, here’s a short list of indispensable items.

• Earplugs and eyeshade. I never let a noisy or too bright situation ruin a good nap.
• AC adapter. Almost all electronic chargers are dual voltage, so a converter isn’t needed. Just get plug adapter and you’re all set to charge you camera batteries and other electronics.
• Travel pillow. Mine isn’t inflatable, but it does compress quite nicely and has a nice, plush cover. It keeps my head from lolling & snapping me awake while I nap on long flights, train rides, or buses.
• Journal & pens. Sometimes I just write down a bulleted list of things I did, and other times I wax on and on about my experiences. Either way, it’s the only way I will remember all the details. Good for annotating my photos, too.
• Washcloth. This sounds stupid, but I’ve yet to meet one in the places I’ve stayed, so I bring one from home. I spend my entire day outdoors, and by the end of the day I need a scrubby cloth to get the dust & grime off me.
• a small purse for when a daypack isn’t needed.

Useful tips
Roll, don’t fold. Rolling your clothes takes better advantage of your luggage’s cubic space than folded clothes. I’m sure there’s a perfect scientific explanation for this, but you’ll have to trust me. It works. Wear bulkiest items on the plane (e.g. hoodie, trek shoes) and pack the lighter stuff away. Tuck small stuff like undies and socks in the corners, and pack the inside of your shoes with t-shirts.

Bag it. During flight, the change in air pressure makes plastic containers expand and collapse, so avoid messes by putting all your toiletries in 1-liter zipper-lock bags. Bag your clothes, too. After a trip to the Smoky Mountains that soaked my backpack and everything in it, I decided that everything goes in a plastic bag. Grocery store bags are really good to keep dirt and moisture from your clothes and other effects. Put bottoms in one bag and tops in another, which makes finding stuff easier as well.

Tags: packing, SEA, Southeast Asia, Travel, what to wear