Guest post by Fadzrul Jamaluddin
Do you like travelling but always dread having to figure out what to bring along with you on your travels? Well, I do!
Growing up my mom never bothered to tell me what to put in my bags whenever I pack to either travel or go back to boarding school. She felt like I wouldn’t have listened to her anyway and we’d end up arguing over something as silly as packing a luggage. So, I had to learn on my own on how to pack a luggage…and I suck at it.
Growing up my mom never bothered to tell me what to put in my bags whenever I pack to either travel or go back to boarding school. She felt like I wouldn’t have listened to her anyway and we’d end up arguing over something as silly as packing a luggage. So, I had to learn on my own on how to pack a luggage…and I suck at it.
I always had something I’d forget to bring along with me, which resulted in my parents having to drop by the boarding school on a weekend to ‘deliver’ me those things. I became spoiled. I packed haphazardly thinking “ah well… there’s always the weekend if I ever forget anything”.
Such bad habit continued on. When I was packing to go to Seattle for the first time I thought, “Well, I have shit-tons of scholarship money. I‘ll just buy in Seattle the things I need that I forget to bring along with me from Malaysia”. This habit is still here.
For our vacation to Cabo last year, I packed some toiletries and some beachwear. This girl can’t go anywhere sunny without a full supply of toner and moisturizer and a nice pair of cargo shorts. The rest of the luggage was pretty much packed by a magical elf – my fiancé. It’s so wrong, I know. But really, I hate packing. I will tell Josh “don’t fold, roll the shirts to avoid creases”, “make sure we have enough underwear” and “bring dress shoes in case we decide to go somewhere fancy” but somehow I won’t just do them myself. Lazy? Maybe.
When travelling abroad, the most important things to have with you are:-
Medium of payment i.e. cash, credit cards, traveller’s checks.
Travelling documents
Smartphone
Mini travel kit that includes a Band-aid, a Swiss knife, lip balm, lotion, a pack of Kleenex and a pen. (Believe me on this)
Women usually stuff all of these in their handbags. Well what if you’re not a woman or not travelling with one? Well, seriously…get a man bag. It’ll save your life. Not kidding. Too insecure with your image and sexuality? Get a manly looking man-bag or if you eat tempeh-burger and shop at the local co-op, you can use your biodegradable-made-from-used-tampons-oh-save-the-poor-earth reusable shopping bag.
No matter where you travel as long as that plane is landing in an airport and not on some open unattended land I strongly suggest for you to wear shorts or sweatpants. It never really gets THAT cold in the plane. A flight from Kuala Lumpur to Seattle usually has about 18 hours of flying time. That means 18 hours in one seat where if you were lucky you’d have serenity instead of rude inconsiderate passengers around you. You really should be comfy no matter how short the flight is, so wear something comfy which I guess for me is a pair of shorts, a V-neck and my super comfy ergonomically designed sandals. This also helps you go through security faster. No belt, no socks, no jacket, all your gadgets and important stuff should be in your magic bag – super quick security check.
Once you land, you can always change into more appropriate clothes at the airport. If it’s a long layover and you don’t have access to your clothes then you’re dumb, because you really should have put some clothes in your carry-on instead of putting them all in the check-in luggage. I personally would rather not lug around a carry-on around airports. So I would just buy new clothes if lets say I have a 24-hour layover in Seoul when it’s snowing outside.
Ultimately, it’s not 1935. If you need something and you don’t have it with you, go buy it. Don’t fuss too much when packing for travelling, especially over small stuff like peanuts and condoms. Happy travelling!
[Photo courtesy of Shoot First, Eat Later]