Travel The World Indefinitely Packing List
To: Everywhere and AnywhereTrip Duration: Undefined
Originally Published June 2012.
This is the dream list, not the real list. I enjoy variety in clothes and shoes too much to be this minimalist, but I'm getting here one step at a time and one multi-use item discovery at a time.
The Two Bags
One carry on size back pack
One cross-body smaller bag, purse, or hip-bag for holding money, papers, small camera, etc.
Electronics
Small laptop/netbook, cables, extra battery
All necessary adapters and battery chargers
Small camera & case
Phone/Ipad/Iphone /kindle? For entertainment, reading, skyping?
Doorstop alarm (or plastic door stop)
Earphones/headphones
Kindle and charger
Random But Important
Passport (with copies of all documents with trusted folks back hom)
Credit cards/debit cards
Cash
ID
Travel documents
Paper notebook
Pencil, pen
Jumping rope or parachute cable
Can opener
Flashlight
Small matches
Granola bar
2-3 gallon ziploc bags
Very small cable lock
Small travel candle
Vitamins and/or emercenG
Scissors
tape
Toiletries
Deodorant
Toothbrush
Fingernail clippers (share)
Comb
Solid shampoo/soap from Lush
Razor for shaving
Sexessories
Lip balm - burts bees spf 8 (share)
Tweezers
Face/body wipes (share)
Solid perfume
Travel GLO brush
GLO basic makeup pressed powder
Solid eyeliner- brown
GLO quadri-color eyes and cheeks
Band-aids (share)
Advil (share)
Eyebrow comber/thin brush
Small, super-absorbent towel (share)
Lunette
Pantiliners
Liquids (limited)
Hair conditioner for hair and shaving
Nail polish
Jojoba oil (trader joes) for moisturizing
Toothpaste (share)
Waterproof Mascara
Face cleanser (share)
Acne spot cream
Small concealer
SPF (recomended riemann once a day spf 20) (share)
Neosporin (share)
Wardobe - Medium Climate
Underthings
One strapless bra
One sports bra that doubles as a bikini top
One regular bra (wear)
Four pairs of underwear, one that doubles as a bikini bottom (wear one)
Three pairs of light-weight socks
black stockings, one pair
Accessories
Inexpensive/hard to steal jewelry
Lightweight hair accessories/headbands
Hair bands
Hair pins
Watch
Running shoes
Ballet Flats (good for walking)
Medium weight scarf
One warm hat
Belt in the same color as my ballet flats
Sunglasses
Clothes
Black tee
Black skirt
Black icebreaker bodyfit crew top
Nightgown
Long colorful broomstick skirt (wear as skirt or dress)
Light-weight jeans
yoga pants - dark color
Black workout shorts
One quick-drying workout top
One spagetti strap tank top
One long (tunic-dress) tee shirt
One tank top
Light weight trench coat with waterproof coating for travel
Emergency rain pain poncho (plastic)
Cold and/or Wet Climate Alterations
Boots instead of ballet flats (boots with caribiners)
Additional two pairs of heavy socks
Waterproof jacket with hood or warmer rain poncho
Gloves or mittens
Heavier weight scarf
Additional vest like ExOfficia women's convertible vest
Switch out warm cap to a extra warm hat with ear area warmth
Thermal underwear (long johns)
Switch out nightgown for warm pajama set
Hot Climate and/or Beach/Tropical Alterations
Flipflops instead of ballet flats
Additional swimsuit
Sarong/scarf instead of medium weight scarf
Sun hat instead of warm hat
Skip long yoga/travel pants
For more fantasy packing fun, check out my Pinterest board, What to Pack to Travel the World.
What About You?
Is there anything I left off that you think should be on there? Could you travel with this list? Need more? Need less?
Adventures in the Antarctic (and what to pack)
Note: This is a guest post by Christine Bernasconi, a professional photographer, blogger, avid traveler and people lover. I'm really excited she's sharing her 2013 adventures in the Antarctic with the Packing Lust Community. I hope you enjoy! --Genevieve
Going to the Antarctic was always a dream of mine since I was 5 years old :) I'm not exactly sure why I had this dream at such a young age. I just remember looking at books and giving my Dad the 'Scott' book {not sure which one} for a birthday one year.
It obviously started something for me.
It way exceeded my expectations and I feel humble and blessed that I've had the privilege of experiencing this awesome part of our planet.
It really was the trip of my dreams. Whales, seals, penguins (lots of them) birds, beautiful landscapes and icebergs – I really, really loved the icebergs.:)
_MG_8730
We organised our trip through Quark (click here if you’re in the States) or Peregrine in Australia (click here).
We booked the ‘Crossing the Circle’ Tour which was 14 days aboard the ‘Sea Spirit.’ – a beautiful ship. Well appointed spacious rooms, an open bar :), dining room, theatre lounge, a library, gym, a hot tub, gift shop and lots of deck areas to relax and take in the sights. The service? Seamless. Nothing was a chore for the staff and everything was done with a smile.
A zodiac heading back towards the Sea Spirit
A zodiac heading back towards the Sea Spirit
The Sea Spirit
The Sea Spirit
The ship carried 114 passengers of which 49 of them were Australian. Being such a small group meant great friendships were formed early. We were all linked by the same thread – an adventurous nature and the desire to experience the Antarctic. I met people from all over the world. I know I will remain friends with some of them forever. We all shared something very special.
Our voyage left from Ushuaia (the bottom of Argentina) and it was a two day trip to the Antarctic Peninsula across the Drake Passage. I loved watching the mainland of Argentina disappear behind us. To me it felt like a true adventure. We explored many bays, islands and channels of the Antarctic Peninsula over the 14 days of our voyage.
Leaving Ushuaia and the South American Continent behind
Leaving Ushuaia and the South American Continent behind
The most amazing part of the trip however (besides the scenery) was the service and professionalism provided by the expedition leader and her team. Cheli is a true leader and a wonderful, passionate individual. All of her staff have an expertise, whether it be birds, whales, glaciers, photography or history. They have all done many similar trips and their experience and knowledge is second to none.
Each day in the Oeanus lounge, one of them would present a lecture on a particular aspect of the Antarctic – marine mammals, the great Antarctic explorers or sea birds – just to name a few. There were even some documentary movies about this fascinating part of the world. It was wonderful to be educated and to hear them speak so passionately.
Most nights one of the expedition staff would sit at your dinner table to get to know you and mix with the passengers. This really personalised the trip and within a few days, they were also friends.
Each day we usually had two zodiac expeditions to an island or part of the Antarctic mainland. Getting everyone in and out of the zodiacs plus keeping everyone safe and informed was handled brilliantly by the expedition staff.
Each disembarkation and embarkation meant going through a disinfection process (you had to step in a solution) to protect the fragile environment.
These outings were fantastic. Whilst you saw lots of scenery from the ship, getting out on the water, feeling the wind in your face and observing the scenery and wildlife from this low perspective was awesome :)
Hootin along...
Hooting along
Every single island or mainland excursion offered something individual. The landscape was always vastly different, and yes, there were always penguins :)
_MG_0556
I never tired of looking at the endless beauty that surrounded us. I loved being on the shore and exploring. Lots of the islands had relics from days gone bye – old whaling boats and whaling stations, whale bones and huts that would have housed the brave people that spent part of their lives living here.
An old hut - Deception Island
An old hut – Deception Island
The wildlife was spectacular. Albatross flying at the back of the ship, humpback whales, Minke whales and even Orca’s! Wedell, Leopard and Crabeater seals and of course, penguins. Sometimes these animals were seen from the decks of the Sea Spirit. At other times you were up close and personal with these animals in the zodiacs.
Imagine being in a zodiac – drifting through the brash ice – icebergs all around you and a humpback surfaces around 50 metres away? What a scene. Absolute magic.
This humpback whale was so close to our zodiac...
This humpback whale was so close to our zodiac…
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Look at the size of him…
So close...
So close…
The Albatross. What a magnificent bird
The Albatross. What a magnificent bird.
The staff organised trivia games, we danced the night away a couple of times , met the Captain at the ‘Cocktail Party’ and I got ‘over enthusiastic’ in an auction to raise money for the penguins (I really wanted that Antarctic water.)
Other nights we sat in the bar talking to our new friends over a glass of wine (or two) – well, you couldn’t go to bed early as there was up to 18 hours of light per day!
We celebrated Australia Day on board with a BBQ up on deck and one patriotic Australian had our flag – I certainly won’t forget Australia Day 2013 in a hurry!
I also participated in ‘The Polar Plunge’ – yes, you could dive into the Southern Ocean (with a rope tied around your waist) to experience the ‘coolish’ waters of the Antarctic. Yep, I did this too. Click here to read about that adventure.
I slept a night on the ice – yes, I did. You can also read about that here :)
I also also slid down a mountain at Neko Harbour (it was so much fun, I felt like a 5 year old)
Yours truly...
Yours truly…
One of the highlights (there were so many) was Crossing the Antarctic Circle. That was a great day. The weather was really cold (-2) and it was a fantastic to think we were at 66 deg 33’44′ S. To mark this occasion, the crew organised a fantastic event called ‘Kiss the Fish’. We all grouped outside on the bow of the ship to Cross the Circle and the crew dressed up in various ‘fishy’ style outfits. King Neptune was there and we all had to ‘Kiss the Fish’ before being given a red mark on our foreheads which denoted ‘Crossing the circle.’ One word – hilarious – especially kissing a frozen fish!!
Me, taking a pic and kissing the fish
Me, taking a pic and kissing the fish
The most common question I’ve been asked since being home is ‘How cold was it’? On the warmest day it was 8 degrees and the coldest -2. Nowhere near as bad as I thought. The only time I felt really cold was on the ‘crossing the circle day’ and at times in the zodiacs when we were going a little faster than the normal trawling speed. Quark supplies you with a parka (yours to take home) that really does the job. They also lend you ‘boots’ for the duration of the trip. These are used every time you leave the ship.
For anyone that's going on one of these trips, here is what I took with me…..
All the sea sick medication I could find (travel calm, the wrist bands, ginger tablets) – It worked for me, I took one travel calm the first night – just in case and a couple of other ‘rougher’ sea days wore the wrist bands – all good.
2 sets of thermals – bought from the Kathmandu store – black bottoms and pink/black/white and blue/black/white long sleeve tops.
2 really warm zip up hoodies – one from Kathmandu and the other from the gift shop on the ship.
4 pairs of super warm socks (Kathmandu store.)
2 pairs of warm track suit pants.
A warm hat.
2 pairs of water proof gloves (only ever wore one pair) and they were too cumbersome to take pics with, so I bought a fingerless pair from the gift shop on the ship.
A warm sleeveless vest (bought from a shop in Ushuaia.)
Waterproof pants – if you're an Aussie, you will pay a fortune at home for these. I bought them in Ushuaia the day before we left at around $50AUD – bargain – (there were plenty of sizes and choices and plenty of shops selling this gear in Ushuaia.)
Check out the sunny weather...on this day I just had a tshirt on under a hoodie...
Check out the sunny weather…on this day I just had a tshirt on under a hoodie…
Each day when we went on a shore excursion off the boat I wore…
A thermal top and bottom and trackpants over the thermals.
Waterproof pants over the track pants (the track pants tucked INTO the boots.)
A warm sleeveless vest over the thermals or, if I felt a bit colder a long sleeve hoodie.
2 pairs of socks (always.)
The parka, hat and gloves.
Here I am in one of my 'thermal tops'
Here I am in one of my ‘thermal tops’
On the ship (which was as warm as toast) I wore…
Jeans and a tshirt and sometimes a hoodie. I dressed up one night for the Captains cocktail party (if you call a skirt and top seriously dressing up.)
Closed in shoes (my rockports.)
Back in Buenos Aires and Santiago I wore….
shorts and tshirts (super humid.)
So if you’re interested in going and want to know more – I'm gonna have to come with you to show you the ropes :)
Please feel free to contact me in the comments section below or on Facebook , twitter or pinterest.
Me in action...
Me in action
8 Steps to Declutter Your Career
This is a guest post by Australia-based career coach and consultant Caroline De Kimpe. Enjoy. - Genevieve
Simplifying your job increases productivity, effectiveness and achievements.
And guess what? Simplifying is exactly what will help you land that promotion or get a salary increase.
When I first came to Australia I had one suitcase full of cloths and toiletry. Since I arrived (in 2006) I moved 5 times and like most people, each time I took the opportunity to throw away “stuff” I wasn’t using any more, to declutter and prepare for a fresh home.
Still, each time I had more boxes to move.
It’s similar in our career. Our first job is very straight forward and (most of the time) we don’t have high expectations and stress. As we climb the ranks, we have bigger teams, projects, more responsibilities and are faced with more politics. This goes often hand in hand with longer working hours and more stress.
Each time we gain a new role and we increase our responsibilities, we automatically increase the expectations we have of others and ourselves.
When it becomes too much and we feel overwhelmed our performance will start to decline, our health will go backwards and, more often than not, we'll be in a bad mood all the time.
All of which will create more stress and unhappiness.
Getting Rid of What Doesn't Serve You
Just like when you move house, once in a while, you need to declutter and throw away what doesn’t serve you anymore in your career. You have gained more roles, and with that greater responsibilities and expectations and to manage them as effective and efficient as possible you need to re-balance.
I believe a simple and effective way to start balancing your life again is to simplify as much as you can.
These are my top 8 tips to simplify your job or career:
- Open calendar (and closed door) policy. To make sure you don’t get distracted all the time you need to make yourself less accessible to everyone. Ask your team members to book a time with you to discuss their problems and challenges instead of disturbing you every 5 seconds.
- Set boundaries – decide how much time and energy you spend on specific task.
- Clean – have a clean work space.
- Make time for yourself. Take does lunch breaks! You need to simplify from the inside out: your thinking, your decisions and your actions. Making time for yourself will give you clarity to do so.
- One task, one focus - try to avoid too much multitasking; it often creates “starts with no finishes”.
- Create an efficient system or routine.
- Have a “one pager:" a business plan, sales plan, life plan, goal plan etc. Make it one page (or a one page summary) – much easier to follow and to keep with you.
- Don’t complicate if it’s not necessary; choose the easiest way when possible and appropriate.
Caroline De Kimpe is a career transformation coach for men and women who have a corporate job and want to break out of their rut and transform their ordinary job into their dream career. Visit her website here.
How to Create a Beautiful Website Without Wanting to Die
Do you ever want to just give up before you start working on your website? Ever thrown yourself down dramatically on a dock and said “How am I ever going to create a beautiful and functional website about my sea shell collection?”
Yeah, me neither. But if you want to create a powerful website with minimal drama, you’re in luck. I’ve got a list of my favorite tips and resources right here for you. This is for those who don’t want to mess with a lot of code and aren’t professional developers, yet want to have as much freedom as possible over the look and feel of their site.
Here, for free, are my best steps and tips (and what I do) for creating websites:
Steps
1. Use WordPress.org (not WordPress.com). Follow this tutorial to get WordPress working for you to create a self-hosted blog that you will turn into an awesome website. Self-hosting via WordPress.org is the single best, industry standard way to get the most out of your website. You will eventually regret it if you go with Weebly or a similar service because when you’re ready to grow, they can’t grow with you.
Think About Theme
2. If you are going to use a free theme, select one with lot of positive reviews, not a new, untried one. Look from the dashboard of WordPress under the Appearance > Themes > Install Themes tab. However, I recommend learning on one of the themes that comes pre-installed free with WordPress, and then paying for the Headway Theme.
3. Now it’s time to learn the basics of WordPress, such as how to add a new post, create a menu, and add photos. The WordPress Codex has everything you need, starting with some basic terminology.
4. If you are willing to pay for a theme, I recommend Headway, which you can download here. You’ll probably only need the base plan ($87). Headway allows more customization-without-knowing-code than any other theme I’ve tried. Not convinced? Read more about it here.
5. I recommend watching tutorials to help you learn how to design in Headway, which involves minimal coding. Search Google or Youtube to find a video that answers your specific Headway questions, or you can find free tutorials here. If you are willing to pay to make your learning process and time shorter and sweeter, I recommend Websites Made Easy, by Nathalie Lussier. She has a way of breaking down technical projects into actual human language. I personally use her Websites Made Easy tutorials and I love them.
5. My favorite website to find royalty-free images to use on your blog or site is Photo Pin. I love how it helps you give proper attribution.
6. For editing images, you could use a program like Photoshop that takes forever and slows your computer down, or you could use PicMonkey, which I recommend.
7. Install a few basic plugins from the WordPress Dashboard. I recommend Akismet, BackupBuddy, and JetPack by WordPress.com.
tips
Break it step down into bite-sized pieces. Make a list, and cross each one off as you go.
Pace yourself — don’t try to get your website up and running perfectly in one day.
All most every WordPress question has already been answered somewhere out there — Google and Youtube are your best, best, best, best, best, best friends.
Rock on!
Yours,
The Blender Story
This is part of the Don’t Be Like Me series, a new column of mostly true stories illustrating what not to do in life.Email me if you’d like to contribute. We all have a story.
When Prince Charming recently came home from a three day trip to Gaza, he was all “Agh… this really stressful thing happened…. someone almost got arrested and I lost my right foot in a freak accident, do you still love me?”
And I was like “AHHHH! That sounds horrible but this blender, and arg, and I am so frustrated. Pay attention to my needs first and then I’ll try to listen to you better.”
Prince Charming: Ok, what’s the problem? (I love him so much.)
Me: I should have used the food processor for this but I don’t know how to use the d____ thing and I f-ing hate it!
(I’m attempting to use a butter knife, spatula, and chopstick simultaneously to dig the cementing pie-gel from under the sharp blades of the vitamix blender.)
Me: I HATE COOKING!!!
Prince Charming: You know, I can show you how to use the food processor.
Me: No! Cooking shouldn’t be like that! You should’t have have to assemble a complicated piece of machinery to cook! And then you have to wash it. And it’s so dangerous! All those moving parts. Ah! I want to push a button and do it! Cooking should be, like, easy. If I can’t figure out how to do it by myself, it isn’t worth it! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! WHY IS MY LIFE SO HARD???
Charming: So you didn’t have to learn how to use the oven? You just naturally know how to do everything?
Me: You probably have a point but I really don’t want to tell you that right now. That is why I said that first part in a quiet Shy Ronnie voice AND THIS IN MY LOUD YELLING VOICE: ITS NOT THAT I KNOW HOW TO DO EVERYTHING, IT’S THAT WITH A LITTLE EXPERIMENTATION, YEAH, I CAN FIGURE ALMOST EVERYTHING OUT. BUT I’VE MESSED WITH THE FOOD PROCESSOR FOR LIKE TWO HOURS AND I STILL CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT. I DON’T WANT TO NEED HELP, I DON’T!!!!! OK?
You can probably see where I am going with this. It’s crazy to think you can do it all on your own. No one ever accomplishes anything magnificent all on their own, not even a vegan pie crust. If we look around, we are generally surrounded by kind, supportive, one-footed or two-footed people who are willing and eager to help us learn what we need to learn, go where we need to go, and be the people we need to be.
Don’t be like me and try to do it all on your own without help. We are all in this together.
ADDENDUM: Don’t worry, Prince Charming did not really lose his foot. That was a metaphor for an extremely stressful experience that took a toll on him. Thankfully, not THAT much of a toll.
Pie crust-covered hugs (the best kind),
(photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lintmachine/2987986325/)
What’s More Fun Than Being a “Serious” Artist?
Answer: Being a fun artist.
That is, having fun creating your art. If what you are working on isn’t something that you would not read/watch/view/experience during your weekend chill time, stop! Do something fun.
One of my favorite artist-writers, Austin Kleon, suggests:
Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.
I wholeheartedly agree with Austin on this one. You've got to be inspired by what you already love. Or, you’ve got to create something that you have looked for, and not found. Ideally, a combination of the two.
AND HEY, YOU CAN BE AS “SERIOUS” AS YOU WANT TO BE.
If that’s truly who you are. If you are working on an anomic novel where the main character’s journey is one long walk through the rain, ending with her suicide, that’s totally cool. As long as that’s the sort of fiction you read when you are trying to relax after a long day.
So have more fun as an artist by creating the sort of things that you enjoy. I know that if you make the sort of art that is fun for you to consume, your work can find an audience.
Take action now by making a list of the books you are reading and the art you love. Compare this list with the projects you are working on. If there are no similarities, you may want to rethink that project.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.
How Artists and Writers are Usually the Opposite of Driven Business Types
Today I got an update from Jonathan Fields of Good Life Project. He interviews all kinds of people who are changing the world in a meaningful way. I’m a fan of his show, and read the bio of the man he recently interviewed, Chip Conley. Here are a couple snippets.
“As the founder of the legendary hotel group, Joie de Vivre, he shattered the status quo for excellence in hotel leadership and customer experience.”
and
“Chip was riding the crest of the wave. Then things went south…
With his success as an author he began traveling the country speaking to packed houses. But the hellacious schedule found him undernourished both creatively and physically. While on stage his body failed him in the most profound way. He literally died on stage. Chip’s heart had to be restarted several times in the amublance to the hospital.
He made it through, but it was a wake-up call. Conley wasn’t here just to build an empire, he was here to create meaning.”
The thing is, we’ve heard this story so many times. Ambitious business person experiences stress-related health problems and realizes life is about more than making money.
When artists, dreamers, and creatives hear this story, we simply can’t relate.
The “lesson” seems obvious. We start out in life instinctively knowing that this journey isn’t about empire-building, but rather, about meaning-building. In fact, we may wish we could focus a little more on making money — like Chip Conley before his heart attack.
However, what the artist instinctively knows about life is a huge gift, and also a massive head start. Some people need a heart attack to slow them down and get them to focus on what’s important. For others, it’s natural.
The challenge for artists, creatives, and dreamers who want to make meaning AND money is to focus on consistently building habits, or rituals, that combine both business skills and heart-based creation.
The way to start is through the 12 Rituals for Art + Income.
Genghis Khan Golan
We Came, We Saw, We Ate Chocolate
Our planned road trip for this vacation.
The Packing Story
Hitting the Road
A visit to a chocolate factory was more cheerful.
My favorite meal of the whole trip was at a French restaurant I don't remember the name or location of. Roasted figs stuffed with goat cheese, followed by papardella pasta with smoked goose in wine and butter, with cream, herbs, and poached egg, all washed down with white wine.
How to Make Jibneh (Guest Post by Prince Charming)
How to Make Jibneh by Prince Charming
Simple White Cheese
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat two liters of milk in a pot until it is almost too hot to put you finger in. Don’t let it boil. turn off the heat.
- Immediately add ¼ cup (125 grams or so) of white vinegar or the juice of half a lemon, mix.
- Let sit for 20 minutes until the curd and whey have separated (when you see white chunks of cheese floating in yellowish liquid, it is done)
- Strain this through a cheesecloth. I usually tie this to my kitchen faucet and let it drain overnight, but if you want to eat it immediately just ball the cheese in the cloth and press it until most of the whey is out.
- Add a couple pinches of salt and mix.
- If you want paneer or queso blanco, you can press the cheese slightly using heavy cans or jars set on top of the cheese in a carton. Here is how it looks pressed:
Sawtain! (Double Health = Bon Appetit!) *** Al albak (right back atcha -- literally "to your heart") Prince Charming