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Documents and tickets, electrical items, gadgets,  medical essentials, toiletries and other random bits and bobs…...will leave absolutely no room for any clothes!

 

The trouble we find ourselves in with clothes is that in addition to all those electrical items, gadgets and “things” which are most definitely on our “Essential-We-Cannot-Travel-Without-Them” List, there is absolutely no way that we can squeeze all our hot weather clothes and all our cold weather clothes into two teeny weany rucksacks. Since our travel plans will take us to areas with temperature differences of approximately 40 deg C within the first of 2-3 months of our trip we have decided to primarily take clothing which will be the most hard wearing and hopefully last the full year,  and also those items of “technical” clothing (such as thermals, waterproofs etc) which would be more difficult to buy abroad. All else we can either hire, such as tents and sleeping bags, hiking boots, trekking equipment and so on, or, we can buy certain items such as sarongs, T-Shirts, beach dresses or casual trousers and tops. We know we can pick these things up for next to nothing, wear them, then ditch them as we travel.  That’s the plan at present anyway but we will let you know what we have found to be most useful things we have taken and what was a waste of time. It’s very tempting to think that buying a bigger rucksack will solve any problems ‘cos no matter how big our bags are we always end up packing them to bursting point. So, Dominique is carrying a 65L rucksack and is praying it will not weigh any more than 15Kg, and Kevin is carrying a 75L rucksack which ideally should be no more than 18Kg. The most important things are that they are comfortable when fully loaded, and we can run carrying them (should we have to).

 

The following is our preliminary list of all sorts of items that we hope to stuff and squash into our two rucksacks and two day bags….and still be able to stand up at the end! Since photography will be a big part of our trip, we will be taking a significant amount of electrical equipment - cameras, chargers and the laptop so we can edit the photos / videos on the road….all this of course weigh far too much!!!

 

 

Lists, lists and more lists!!!!

Electrical  / Photographic

2 x Mobile Phones & Charger

2 x iPods & Charger

2 x Spare Camera Batteries

Canon S90 Camera & Charger

Nikon D2HS  Camera & Charger

Panasonic  Video Camera  + Charger

Laptop & Charger

Mains Adaptor  with Surge Protection

Gorilla Pod

 

Medical / Safety

First Aid Kit

Alcohol Gel

Nailclippers

2 x Mosquito Nets

2 x Money Belts

2 x PacSafe Covers

2 x Combination Padlocks

Door Wedge

Combination Smoke Detector / Torch

 

Backpacking Equipment

2 x Travel Towels

2 x Silk Sleeping Bag Liners

2 x Pillow Cases

2 x Thermarest Mats

2 x Thermo Cups

2 x Sporks

2 x Dry Bags

  

Documents

2 x Photocopies of both Passports

2 x Photocopies of Insurance

Bank Details / Emergency Numbers

20 x Passport Photos Each (For Visas)

(Copies of Passports / Insurance / Bank details also to be left at home)

 

 

Dominique’s Clothes List

 

1 x Columbia Travel Trousers

1 x Columbia 3/4 Crop Trousers

1 x Jeans

1 x Royal Robbins Discovery Skirt

2 x Shorts (North Face / Royal Robbins)

2 x Icebreaker Thermal Leggings

2 x Icebreaker T-Shirts

1 x Sleeveless Blouse

2 x Long Sleeved Icebreaker Top

1 x North Face Fleece

1 x  North Face Short Sleeved Shirt

1 x Columbia Long Sleeved Travel Shirt

1 x Head Scarf ( for temples)

4 x Pairs Underwear plus 3 x Bras

4 x Pairs Socks (3 x thermal, 1 x normal)

1 Pair Tevas

1 Scarpa Lightweight Boots

Crocs (for keeping on in those nasty shared showers)

Swimwear (2 Bikinis, 1 swimsuit)

1 x PacLight Waterproof Jacket

1 x PacLight Waterproof Trousers

1 x Rab Extreme Jacket ( packs down really small..honest!)

 

Kevin’s Clothes List

 

1 x  North Face Jeans

1 x North Face Convertible Trekking Trousers

1 x Mountain Equipment Trousers

1 x Boardies

1 x Icebreaker Thermal Leggings

1 x Icebreaker Thermal Long Sleeve Top

5 x Icebreaker Boxers

5 x Icebreaker Socks

1 x North Face Fleece

3 x Short sleeve North Face Shirts

1 x Long sleeve North Face Shirt

3 x Tee Shirts

1 Pair of Teva Sandels

1 Pair of Crocs

1 Pair of  Scarpa Lightweight Boots

1 x Paclight Waterproof  Jacket

1 x Paclight Waterproof Trousers

1 x Mountain Equipment Jacket (Very Warm!!)

 

Visas,  Red Tape, and Corruption

 

We have applied for our Russian, Mongolian and Chinese visas before our departure from the UK. We have read that it is more difficult to get through the red tape when applying for a Tibet Visa as well as a Chinese Visa in advance. Therefore, whilst in China we will purchase our Tibet Visa and then from Tibet our Nepal Visa and so on, unless we can obtain visas on arrival at border crossings. We will also take plenty of those very attractive mug-shot style passport photographs which we will no doubt need from time to time when applying for visas. Since it is not always possible to obtain visas for some countries on entry we will need to be organised enough when necessary to visit our next destination’s embassy in advance in order to obtain visas.  We have read that it is a very good idea to carry some US 1$ bills to help smooth the lovely border crossings….that’s corruption for you!  We will keep you informed of all those border crossings...keep and eye on “The Good, Bad and Ugly” section of our website!

Medical and Insurance Issues

 

£800 worse off and feeling like a pin cushion! It’s only when you travel abroad that you realise how lucky we are in the UK. Having given the list of all the countries we may visit to an intrigued looking nurse, she in return gave us a list of injections we would require along with a price list! So, here goes…

 

Japanese B Encephalitis - 1 injection (we were persuaded to get this when we discovered that this disease has a mortality rate of 33%!!!)

Rabies  - 3 injections, at day 0, 7, and 28 ( another ugly disease, so yep, we’ll take that too thanks)

Hepatitis B - 3 injections, at day 0, 28, and 6 months

Typhoid - 1 injection

Yellow Fever - 1 injection

Hepatitis A - 1 injection (booster, if you have had this before)

Tetanus, Diptheria, Polio, Tuberculosis - luckily already given and up to date

 

 

In addition, we also have one prescription each for Ciprofloxacin in case of a serious case of diarrhoea, one prescription for Flucloxacillin, and one prescription each for Scopoderm (motion sickness patches—the ONLY thing that stops us throwing up since we are both terrible sailors!)

 

Other diseases to be aware of include the mosquito borne Dengue Fever for which there is no vaccine and no specific treatment. The other biggie is the potentially fatal Malaria for which there are a variety of medications but it is essential to check which areas have drug resistance. From what we have gathered the most common medications are Larium, Doxycycline, and Malarone. The latter seems to have the least side effects but is also the most expensive costing a whopping £2 per tablet. ( 2 people = 2 tablets per day = £4 x 365 days…..hmm)

 

Next, there is the all important first aid kit to consider. Having packed it together it now appears big enough to supply a small refugee camp in Africa! The following is a list of it’s contents….

   

Ibuprofen Paracetamol Aspirin Decongestants Diarrhoea Tablets Anti-histamine Tablets Laxatives Antibiotics Scopoderm Patches

Cohesive Bandage Steristrips Scissors Tweezers Dental / Filling Repair Kit Thermometer Safety Pins Sewing Kit String

Latex Gloves 9 Hour Candles Waterproof Matches Ear Plugs