To Take Or Not To Take?!

I’ve been traveling light since I’ve parted with my prrrrecious post-Soviet trauma of not having enough clothing and looking like a tramp at best or a commie at worst. Ever since ‘chic tramp’ and ‘smug commie’ have become my conscious look choice, I’ve been a happy traveller. Nothing’s wrong with commies, hey, just google Isabel Magkoeva :)))

Indeed, I’ve managed with hand luggage only (and by that, I mean 8 to 10 kilos city backpack) through most of my  Russian, European and S-E Asian trips. I usually brought along one or two things that made me feel like home: a miniature book of Tarkovsky’s poetry or a porcelain doll dressed up in silk lingerie. I stick a sachet with favorite smell (found in Disseny Hub Barcelona) between the clothing items so that they smell like a drawer at home, too.  I’ve substituted underwear with swimsuits or no underwear, jeans and chinos with fishermen trousers, and used a rectangular piece of patterned cotton as a scarf, a skirt, a cape, a yoga mat, a towel, a kerchief, a blanket, and a tent roof. In Europe, black fishermen wrap-around trousers and a black velvet jacket buy you access to ‘smart casual’ parties like no other designer items. (Don’t forget to bring your diamonds and sapphires, though…))

So, tantalizing over What To Take on a trip has never been an issue for me… until the New Kid on the Block has occupied my luggage in a very successful #occupyall movement of a solitary winner.

From 2010 on, I became a known carrier of Japanese pampers across the continents (hard to get those in Europe, and they are the best in the world), and 80% of my suitcase contents is in 50 shades of pink.

Now, I am generally at a loss about what to drag along on this full of urban dangers and jungle viruses trip. My ideas range from taking a medical jet nebulizer (great for dealing with fits of suffocating cough when a kid has difficulty breathing)  and Patagonia insulated clothing for visiting, well, Patagonian penguins – to ditching everything but a couple of drawing albums and Princess-themed books for the first 12-hours flight, and then getting all the stuff on the spot.

Five things that I LOVE to use but definitely will NOT be taking, are:

1. 0,5 kg of MAC decorative cosmetics and CLINIQUE cremes – indeed, no cosmetics at all, except a sunblock. I have discovered that you can try out local brands of relatively ‘green’ shampoos and cremes, and decorative paint will be used on VERY rare occasions and can also be bought locally from teenage shops.
2. Beach towels. We will be mostly renting apartments in the places we stay, and most of the hosts provide shower towels. For the beach (or yoga) mats we are using patterned ‘pareo’-type pieces of fabric that we’ve bought in Thailand and fell in love with for their functionality
3. My iPad. The little Aglaya has one of her own (no way lo leave this one out), and we will have two laptops for work. iPad is a device for content consumption, not production, no matter what the producers are trying to demonstrate in cute adds. With two smartphones we will be more than loaded for all the feeds we need to receive and send out. (Yeah, don’t forget to follow @PadThaiTweets on Twitter, and FlyingFox1915 (Anna) + Bulgarious (Slaven) on Instagram!)
4. Jeans. With 16 flights to take, I’m going for the comfiest possible cargo trousers with ‘baggy’ knees, thigh pockets for wet towels and lip balm, and an elastic band waist. Also, in most of the countries we plan to visit, it will be too hot for wearing jeans in town, and they are almost never good for trekking, however short.
5. High heels and handbags. It is a big temptation, to sport my black suede high heels on the streets of Rio and to carry a coquette rabbits-and-ribbons patterned handbag. If only I did not have to catch that 3-year-old running rabbit of ours 5 times in 10 mins. If only I haven’t watched the ‘snatch-and-run’ street game with fancy handbags oh so many times during our travels (the last one, in Barcelona this September).  If only we were not going to trek on ancient lava in Chile and bury feet in Australian beach sands just weeks after. Sigh. The ups and downs of the nomadic life… ))

I will very much appreciate your own lists or items about the Most Useful things you’ve been taking on your travels For Ages, and the Over Estimated Items That Should Never Be In Your Luggage tips, too! Please give feedback!!