When you are travelling around the world long term, it’s tempting to think you need to take everything including the kitchen sink along with you. But resembling a giant tortoise is not a good look and your back certainly wouldn’t thank you for it. Eventually, and sensibly, you identify your essentials.
Janice Horton
My husband and I have been travelling for almost five years. We left Scotland as ‘empty nesters’ once our kids had grown up and left home. We didn’t relish the prospect of slipping into our slippers and sitting by the fire in our retirement while it was cold and raining outside. We wanted to venture out into the world wearing flip-flops and to have exotic adventures in far off lands before we got too old!
We didn’t have a big bank account so we sold up everything we owned and set off. Thankfully, my backpack is now much lighter than it was back then, but there are still a few things that I simply cannot do without. My essentials are mostly equipment rather than clothes, as equipment is expensive to replace, whereas clothes you can pick up cheaply anywhere. I’m a writer and wherever I am in the world, I’m usually working on a book, researching the next book, writing travel features for magazines or for my travel adventure website at thebackpackinghousewife.com.
As I spend most of my time wearing light cotton dresses, shorts and a vest, or a swimsuit (I love tropical countries and a beach) it’s never my clothes that take up much space in my backpack. I usually pack a couple of sarongs because they are so useful as a beach coverup and can be tied in so many ways to make a dress or a skirt or a scarf. I take a lightweight towel. Underwear. A pair of trainers. A fold up travel rain coat and a cotton sun hat. I try to carry as few toiletries as I can get away with (a collection tends to be heavy) and I find a bottle of coconut oil acts as a moisturiser, a hair conditioner, and a sand-fly repellent. I always have a high factor sun screen and mosquito repellent.
My laptop: I couldn’t imagine life without my laptop. It is my window into the world. It’s the instrument of my work and a storage facility for my ideas and creations and photographs. That said, I do of course save all my work to a virtual storage ‘cloud’ so that everything on my laptop is securely backed up. My laptop is actually quite heavy. I wish I had a lighter one!
My phone: Just recently, my trusty iPhone 4 burst apart in the tropical heat and died. It was 39 deg C and the battery had swelled up inside it, splitting it open, and cracking the case. My husband’s phone battery did the same thing but he managed to save his phone. Having to get a new phone is a huge deal. We were on a tiny island in the eastern Caribbean but we knew a friend was due to join us from the USA in a few days’ time. So I ordered a new phone up on Amazon and had it sent to our friend to bring out to me. Success. I now have an expensive fancy new phone that can also replace the camera I just broke. I’m enjoying it but also now worried about losing it!
My Kindle: Essential for carrying the hundreds of books I want to read while travelling and waiting around in airports or train stations.
Noise cancelling headphones: For listening to music or watching movies and blocking out noise.
A reusable water bottle: an essential item for refilling at drinking water fountains for free and avoiding having to buy one use plastic bottles of drinking water.
K-Beauty Hydrating Facemasks: I stock up on Korean facemasks whenever I’m in Korea. Koreans have the best skincare products in the world in my opinion. I use these fabulous skin hydrating masks on my face twice a week to counter sun damage and to keep wrinkles at bay. My son and his wife and my three-year-old grandson live in South Korea. I love to go and visit them a couple of times a year.
Author Bio: Janice Horton writes contemporary romantic fiction with a dash of humour and a sense of adventure. Almost five years ago, after her children had left home, Janice and her husband set off to explore the Caribbean. A year later, they returned to the UK only to sell their material possessions in favour of travelling around the world. To date they have explored over 50 countries and are still travelling. Janice writes for Harper Impulse, the romantic imprint of Harper Collins UK.
The Backpacking Housewife: Lorraine Anderson was meant to be making a Sunday roast, not swanning off to Thailand, backpack in hand! But when she finds her husband and her best friend in bed together there’s only one thing to do – grab her passport and never look back! Now, with each mile travelled Lori sheds the woman she once was and finds the woman she was always meant to be. A woman of passion and spirit who deserves to explore the great unknown…and to indulge in the temptation she encounters along the way!
Link to The Backpacking Housewife on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ydWH2A
Website: https://thebackpackinghousewife.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBackpackingHousewife
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaniceHorton
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicehortonwriter
