Thailand - Pack, Regret, Repeat: What Made It Into My Suitcase - and What Shouldn’t Have
The Heroes: What I Packed and Will Pack Again My sisters hiking boots - win! For a lot of the trip I was looking at the hiking boots in my suitcase thinking "god they take up a lot of space, was it worth it". But the day we did our jungle trek I was so smug! I was able to climb over rocks and fallen trees comfortably and really enjoy the views without slipping and sliding in normal runners - 10 out of 10 will pack again! Light bikinis and swimming togs: I brought a few sets of swimming togs / bikinis and the ones that I was really happy with were the lighter ones. They dried straight away so I could get dressed again after jumping in the sea, the heavy lined togs took ages to dry and my clothes got wet if I got dressed straight away.
Lessons Learned: What I Missed More clothes - if I had left half the stuff at home that I didn’t need I could have brought more clothes, I had planned an outfit a day but really in the heat I was getting through two outfits a day. Now it was very cheap to have laundry done, but I was waiting 24 hours for it to come back (I had clothes wash dried and folded in the town, and they delivered it back to the hotel) Mosquito repellent bracelet - I brought insect repellent spray which I was religious about for the first week and a half. Towards the end of the trip I was just letting myself get bit by the mozzies because I was fed up of layering sunscreen, insect repellent, sunscreen, insect repellent, repeat. I friend of mine had the bracelet and raved about it. Now you will always need the spray for certain areas but it would have been great to have both.
Beach Towel - All the hotels had bath towels and pool towels but it would have been handy to have 1 beach towel for actual beach days. A second ATM card. A story for another day.
What Was I Thinking: What I Should Have Left at Home The hairdryer - I have some strange kind of emotional attachment to my own hairdryer and it's not even very good. I'm always worried the hotel won't have one or if they do have one it will be worse than mine. Every hotel I stayed in during the trip had a hairdryer and not once in the two weeks did I use either mine or theirs. The temperature was high 20s so my hair dried naturally.
The Second pair of runners. Absolutely no need. I would have been fine with 1 pair of runners, hiking boots and flip flops. Excessive activities for my 5 year olds hand luggage. In a desperate attempt to ensure the flight went well I put the following items in my sons hand luggage - 3 colouring books, 2 sticker books, pencils, markers and crayons, 2 books to read, iPad. He used NONE of this, and his bag was so heavy that I ended up carrying it and it took up much needed space on the flight. He was given an activity pack on the plane and the in-flight entertainment was excellent. We would have been fine with one colouring book, pencils, a book to read, his favourite soft toy and a change of clothes.
Fake Tan and Make Up: I used a blusher and highlighter and one lipstick. Not once did I use the fake tan or any of the other makeup. (Also a massive shout out to Kelsey at All About Gorgeous who did my lashes before I went!)
Going Out Outfit: I brought this "just in case". Thailand is very casual if you're going out in the evening, no need of this. Two jackets: It was warm even in the evening, definitely didn’t need any jacket on a day to day basis. All I really needed was a comfy hoody for the plane and a light rain coat for the one rainy day.
Hope this helps you pack a little lighter and travel a little smarter. If you're reading this while packing, get ready to have the time of your life in Thailand! And if you're reading this and haven’t booked your trip yet, get in touch - I’d love to help create a personalised itinerary just for you.
