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Dear all,
We have made it back home - enjoying Easter brunches with the family. We tried to bring you all some sun. Can you tell?
As a short wrap up we thought we share our "lessons learnt" from the trip: what to bring / not to bring and what to do / not to do. Just to ensure that you are fully prepared for your next trip!
Bring:
- Duct tape: fixes it all! Such a handy thing to bring. Helps you to close gaps in huts wall and avoid mosquitos entering…or to repair your diving buoy
- Pocket knife: Obvious - right?! Can be used to cut bread, etc. Should include scissors!
- Sewing kit: Repair bikinis, shirts, pants, etc. and avoid clothes from breaking more. You have none? Small kits are for free in business hotels…just the right size.
- Spork: If you get tired of eating the same all the time, this tool can help you to eat yoghurt, instant soup, tuna fish, etc. that you can buy in the supermarket
- Small amounts of salt, pepper, oil: At one point in time you would wanna cook somewhere. But are you gonna buy these almost unavoidable ingredients every time again? Best to bring small containers to transport them. There are going to be opportunities for refills somewhere
- Pencil and block: There is always something you wanna write down - addresses, prices, etc.
- At least 2 adapters: There is gonna be a time where you will want to recharge batteries and use XX - believe us….and it almost weights nothing.
- Flight bag and lock: Sometimes we needed our big backpacks (trekkings), but wanted to leave clothes in the Hotel. Putting these in the flight bag and locking it is an easy solution. It also provides extra security for your belongings when traveling by bus.
- Extra Backpack (fold-up): There were quite some times where we left our main bag somewhere and wanted to distribute our belongings. And suddenly you need an extra bag.
- Extra battery for camera: Traveling for 5 days in the desert - which battery lasts so long?
- Your own PC: We did not and regretted it. EVERY Hostal has WiFi nowadays, but not every hostal has a common computer anymore. .. Further, you cannot imagine how much time we spent in cybercafés writing the blog - which we could have written in a hammock while chilling out. Security? We did not bring it for security - but we came to believe that thieves would assume you to bring a computer anyways as EVERYONE traveling has one. Maybe take an old one / with no indispensable info on it, that might break or be stolen in the worst case.
- All shoes you might need: In Latin America it's almost impossible to buy shoes bigger than size 40!!
Do's:
- Order is everything: Organize your clothes in some way. It helps a lot when packing and unpacking all the time. E.g.: Small bags for a) socks, b) underwear, c) dirty clothes, etc. A vacuum bag (e.g. from decathlon) is very handy to pack clothes you are not going to use for some time
- Wanna save some money: Carrying some cereal is handy - yoghurt you can buy everywhere, just as fruit - and ready is your breakfast. A can of tuna fish together with some bread (you can buy everywhere) substitutes a lunch…
- Buy a local SIM card: Makes life so much easier. You can call hostels from on the way, call emergency, etc. A local SIM can almost always be bought for less than 2€ and mostly already includes credit.
- Always ask the locals for the security situation at the place. Do not ask in the capital or read all safety instructions on the internet. Security situations can change daily and can be very erroneous. It might keep you from a nice experience or put you at danger.
- Don't plan everything ahead - it always comes different than expected. Especially in Latin America.
- Carry your own toilet paper: Almost no toilet has some and you might need it more often than expected.
Don't :
- Bring too many clothes from one type: You can wash everywhere and you have to carry them all the time! (Anna: 3x short sleeve shirt, tank top, 2x long sleeve shirts, 2x short pants, 3x long pants (1 trekking pants, 1 jeans, 1 linen pants), 1x jogging pants, etc.
- Bring too little warm clothes: From 1000m above sea level it gets cold at night. Combined with the high humidity this may get quite unpleasant.
Apart from that: Enjoy your trip and do what you feel like.
Looking forward to see you all soon.
Happy Easter,
Anna & Maarten
- comments
Josef Coole Reise, nehme ich auf meine to do´s... LG, Josef