My daughter said to me this evening “you know, I worry that you do too much planning.  You don’t leave enough room for spontaneity.”  She may be right – which is an alarming thought, given that I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to *avoid* having a plan.

Anyhoo.  This is not the place for introspection.  Oh no!  This, my friends, is the place for a packing list.  This is by way of an aide memoire for future me, and consider it an open invitation to rootle through my virtual underwear drawer, for the rest of you.  No, really – you’re welcome!

I put a lot of thinking/research/rootling through other people’s virtual underwear drawers into this packing list.   It seems packing list plagiarism is a thing.  Remember, I am taking a single rucksack.  I can check it in, so there’s no particular problem with liquids, but at the same time I quite like it with all its straps and things intact, so I’ve tried to minimise liquids in case I decide to go halfway round the world with hand luggage only.  As a third option, my particular backpack has a detachable top box which I could take as hand luggage and put the main body of the backpack in the hold.  We’ll see.   Anyway, I’m going for 21 days and I wanted to ensure maximum flexibility in wardrobe.  Temperature is likely to be 24 – 34 degrees (celsius), with the possibility of cooler nights and rain in the north, and becoming humid in the south.  I have chosen things on the basis of flexibility.

Lonely Planet tells me that the north is more conservative in terms of dress code, and women should wear long sleeves and cover down below the knee.  Paul, however, tells me that since I’ll be in cities in the North I shouldn’t worry too much – shorts and t-shirts will be fine.

Also.  I’m a runner.  I will be running a marathon two days before I go, and I have two ultramarathons to do in June, so I will be needing running kit.  I won’t be running long distances, but I *will* be running.  (Probably)

So without further ado (probably) here is what I’m taking (probably)…

Clothing

• Socks x 4 pairs (one hiking*, one running)
• Knickers x 5 pairs (3 black, 2 white + 1 pair sports knickers)
• Bra x 4 (2 black, 2 white + 1 running bra)
• T-shirt x 3
• Vest x 3
• Hiking Trousers (lightweight but leech proof, see??)*
• Long sleeved top*
• Hoodie*
• Trail running shoes*
• Lightweight waterproof*
• Cardigan
• Bikini + swimming costume
• Shorts x 2 +1 running
• Sundress x 1 + 1 running dress (yes. It’s a thing)
• Toms espadrilles
• Flip flops

*These things will be worn for travel (along with one set of underwear, you may be relieved to know!)

Toiletries

• Shampoo/Conditioner/Body wash – all solid bars from Lush
• Lip Balm x 2 – because you always lose one, right??
• Wet wipes
• Toothpaste tablets (solid. From Lush)
• Toothbrush
• Moisturiser (not solid)
• Body Lotion (solid)
• Deodorant (not solid, although it’s possible to get it solid…)
• Makeup – (mascara, eyeliner.  That’s it.  Both liquid, though)
• Tweezers/nail file
• Face cloth
• Sunscreen (I like this stuff and will get it at the airport since it’s liquid and I think I’ve probably filled my liquids bag already!)

First Aid

• Mosquito repellant (I’m afraid I’m taking the DEET chemically stuff)(also liquid)
• Loratidine
• Rehydration tablets
• Nurofen
• Compeed blister plasters
• Anti-histamine tablets and cream
• Sting relief liquid (um…. liquid)

Tech Stuff

• Travel adaptor
• Kindle Fire (I’m not an iPad fan, and I figure this is less desirable than an iPad anyway.  It’ll hold my usual library of books, give me access to Netflix, and let me download photos to Dropbox.  And, of course, update my blog!)
• Camera (Panasonic Lumix, if you’re wondering.  It’s probably not quite as good a camera as in my iPhone, but it holds more photos!)
• Headphones.  I do have some bluetooth over-ear ones which I might take for the journey but I’ll probably just use my phone earbud headphones.
• Battery power pack. Mine is large and heavy, but it holds a good few charges.

Accessories and Other Stuff

• Sunglasses
• Towel**
• Silk sleeping bag liner**
• Mosquito net***
• Sun Hat
• Scarf x 2
• Pegless washing line (thanks, Helly!!)
• Personal Alarm
• Addalock
• Ziplock bags
• Torch

**Although these are provided in some of my AirBnB rooms, I’d rather bring my own; at least I’ll know how clean they are.  The towel is a flat, woven cotton one which hopefully will dry as quickly as it claims to!

*** I’m going to buy this when I get there.

This looks like a lot written down like this, but laid out on the bed, it seems like it should fit into the rucksack easily.  I will use packing cubes to compress it all and I’m hoping that there will be enough room for me to buy some small mementoes, too.  If not, then …. heh… I’ll have to get another cheap suitcase for the way home!