I must admit – for spending a week in a place where the sun is twice as strong as it is in Boston, my most important piece of travel gear while in Central America was sunblock -SPF 85. I didn’t get sunburned!
Trust me, that is impressive for a red head.
Two weeks ago, I mentioned the fact that I would probably discover more “shoulda coulda woulda” moments beyond my silly assumption that tons of bug spray is sold everywhere in the winter. Earlier this month Nomadic Matt shared his tips for what to pack on your trip – it was impressively minimal – and I wish I had read it before I left.
When I decided to check a bag due to the limitations with liquids on the plane, I went in the totally opposite direction and filled the to-be-checked bag to the brim – simply because the room was there. I’m not high maintenance either, I just felt compelled to keep adding until it was full, assuming that if I made sure it didn’t bust at the seams, I wasn’t filling it too much.
I came home having worn about a third of the items of clothing that I brought, as always.
When it came to safety measures other than for my skin, I learned that in San Salvador, carrying your valuables on you instead of in an extraneous bag, was key. I walked around with my twenty dollar bills in my shoes. I separated my dollars into various pockets so as to avoid pulling out wads of cash at any time. I had a backpack, but the only thing of value in it was my precious sunblock.
So for my next trip- I think I will work on finding a bag that is smaller to actually force me to pack lighter.
I’ve heard it elsewhere since, so I know it’s not unique to her, but when we were traveling as kids my mom always advised us to take everything we would need for a trip and place it on our bed. Then, put away half of what was there and pack half of what was left! It was an effective way to travel light, and it’s enabled me to spend just over a week traveling around Europe with a single rollaboard suitcase (no checked baggage!) that weighed a scant 21 pounds. Of course, I don’t need things like hairdryers and alternate pairs of shoes that some women can’t avoid carrying at times and that trip was during warm-weather months, but I’ve always made a game out of seeing how little I can pack to survive.
[...] part of my packing strategy for my trip to Guatemala and El Salvador, I went to BJ’s Wholesale Club and bought a giant pack of LUNA bars – you would have thought I [...]