The Terrific3 travel blog

By the time we come back, we’ll have been away for 9 weeks. I thought it might be fun to talk about packing, especially for the things I brought that didn’t get used and what I wish I had brought more of.

First, to start, we had a large suitcase, medium suitcase, carryon on size suitcase, which were all checked. In addition, I had a large Tobiq duffel bag —this one is a winner for long hauls as it organized all our stuff well—and kids had their own backpacks. I also had a small travel bag that could fit inside the duffel bag but I could also take out and carry in which I stored passports, extra $$ etc—our “do not lose” bag as I told my kids.

Stuff that we brought that we did not use but I’m glad we brought—I brought lots of emergency wound closure stuff, including dermabond, and a laceration repair closure for dummies (no medical school needed). I’m glad I had this given 2 energetic boys, and you still never know. I’ll likely keep this packed for all future trips. I also brought lots of OTC meds—lots of pepto bismol, which wasn’t used, Tylenol, Ibuprofen (used a bit) as well as back up meds such as inhalers for asthma just in case (never used but good to bring). The one thing I didn’t have enough of in enough places was bandaids. I did bring bandaids but never seemed to have them when we needed it them. In the future, I’m putting some in each bag plus buying a big box. Also, the triamcinolone cream (or some version of hydrocortisone) was highly used for skin itching, bites and irritation.

I brought a lot of games for the kids, and they actually did use these, more in Thailand than Bali. We bought additional stuff in Thailand including some games, balls and a soccer ball, which we will leave behind.

In terms of clothes, I tried not to bring too much. The kids had 7 t shirts and 4 shorts. Given laundry was less accessible, maybe an extra pair of shorts would’ve been helpful. They each also had 2-3 swimsuits but outgrew some and had to buy new ones. We only bought one pair of swim goggles, but both kids broke theirs early on and we’ve bought 4 more so backup would’ve been nice for a vacation with daily pool use. We did have 2 pairs of sunglasses each, and that was great as S lost a pair.

We brought lots of mosquito stuff—picardin and Deet—bottles and wipes, and we do have some left over but used about 60%, so that was good.

For myself, I was glad that I had some longer dresses to do temple tours in. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have brought my maxi dress, but maybe just another mid calf one. I had the most clothes because I planned to exercise a lot, and I’m glad I packed a few exercise outfits as things get sweaty and stinky fast. At the last minute, I removed my paddle board shorts and short and long sleeved rash guard, and I wish I had brought them as we did a lot of water activities where it would’ve been great. Also, I’m glad I had swimsuits with skirts or more coverage as bikinis aren’t totally appropriate in this part of the world.

I packed a lot of toiletries, and I’m glad, as I use very specific stuff for my sensitive skin, and those things (like Dove soap, Cetaphil cream, etc) would’ve been very hard to find. I’ve used up most of them, so we’ll have some more space coming back.

I packed multiple copies of passports and birth certificates and I’m glad I didn’t need them, but was good to have. Also packed lots of chargers for each of us, and travel adapters, which were good to use. Some of the hotel have universal sockets so not needed, but we did use them some places. I also packed a flashlight (bulky and never used). We packed a selfie stick that we did use often enough.

I really liked having a pack of different sized waterproof no disposable zip bags as stuff was organized in those, and it was the best way to stay organized.

In terms of shoes, the kids brought flip flops, keens water shoes, and keens tennis shoes. I brought the same plus a nice but comfortable set of sandals (and my “tennis” shoes were my running shoes). This was the right amount.

I’m not sure how people travel with only carryons but it would’ve been impossible for us for this length trip and the location we were going. I imagine if we were going to a 2 week trip to Europe, it would be easier as I would need less toiletries, no mosquito stuff, less stuff overall, and would bring fewer meds as medical care is better there. I was glad to not have to deal with all our luggage all the time and actually have checked some.

We bought some souvenirs (but small ones) so the space we created from using some of this stuff will be filled with those. I am looking forward to being back and having more variety and choice in my daily wear, and our own laundry that we can do as often as we want. Overall, I think we packed pretty well for this type of a trip.