Packing The Other Stuff: Electrical, Toiletries And Reusables…

Packing for longterm travel can easily cause stress before setting off; but it doesn’t have to!

If you aren’t travelling or planning family travel, this likely couldn’t be more boring(!) BUT, if you are, and you are like me in planning mode and wanting answers about what other families take, then I hope this is useful.

Here are the details on what else we took aside from clothes – packing lists for full-time family travel can be found here.

Aside from clothes, the other stuff in our bags can be sorted into four further categories:

• Medical
• Toiletry
• Electrical
• Other

Lets take a look inside…

Medical supplies

Definitely note that I am not a medical professional, so I can’t give advice on specifics that YOU might need; but here is what WE took and what worked well for us.

Painkillers/ Analgesics

• Paracetamol tablets (adult)
• Ibuprofen tablets (adult)
• Liquid paracetamol (child) 100ml

Antibiotics

• 1x broad spectrum penicillin antibiotic (adult – tablets)
• 1x course broad spectrum antibiotic (child – powder form)
• 1x Doxycycline tetracycline antibiotic (adult – tablets)
• Topical antibiotic ointment (not an ideal solution as can build resilience. We carried this but did not use it). 

Anti-inflammatories

• Loperamide anti-diarrhoeal tablets (essential!) 
• Antihistamine tablets (adult) 
• Chewable antihistamine tablets (child)

Creams and Ointments

• Betadine Antiseptic Ointment 25g
• Crystaderm First Aid Cream (Hydrogen Peroxide 1%) 10g
• Pimafucourt topical corticosteroid cream 15g
• Savlon/Total Antiseptic Cream 40g
• Antifungal Cream 15g
• Lucas Pawpaw Ointment 25g (especially good for burnt lips) 

Other

• Digital thermometer (my Mum insisted we take one and bought this for us at Auckland Airport!) 
• 5ml plastic syringe for measuring liquid paracetamol for the kids
• Bandaids/sticking plasters, gauze and knee-grazing-size wound covers (good strong bandaids are essential, though you can buy budget ones anywhere)
• Female sanitary supplies
• Electrolyte rehydration powdered solution to help treat vomiting and diarrhoea (6x sachets to make 200ml each)
• Tweezers
• Scissors
• 2x safety pins, clean needle and thread (this was primarily for sewing but was a lifesaver for prickles in Fiji). 

*Update: I wouldn’t change anything we took in our first aid kit. However, I do feel extremely fortunate we didn’t need use of the antibiotics. We did use the liquid paracetamol on multiple occasions for the kids, as well as topical antiseptic creams. 

It is also important to note in many countries in Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Japan and many more) codeine is banned and highly illegal. It’s important to know the contents of any medications you are carrying, regardless of whether they are prescription or not. Check restrictions of each country before travelling. 

Prior to departing, I visited our GP in New Zealand to discuss the contents for our medical kit and to get prescriptions for antibiotics and topical creams that we carried. 

Toiletries

This evolved a little bit as we travelled, and realised what we needed more and actually didn’t need at all… We ditched the plastic shampoo bottle in favour of a shampoo bar, spurred on by the far-too-visible challenges of recycling and plastic education in Southeast Asia, and decided that hair product aside from shampoo was pointless and not necessary in humidity anyway!

• Toothpastes and tooth brushes
• Insect repellant
• Sunscreen
• Ethique shampoo bar
• Deodorant
• Light moisturiser
• Nail scissors, tweezers, and small penknife
• Comb/hairbrush
• Razor and replacement blades (we are yet to find a non-disposable option!)
• Toothfloss

The rest is up to you!

Electrical

• Camera
• 2x iPad mini [2nd hand; but with new Pepkoo Childproof Plastic Case]
• 1x 1TB Portable harddrive
• 1x MacBook Air Mini
• 2x Basic Batter Pack (+USB chargers)
• Camera charger and cords
• 1x International power adapter
• 1x Multiplug USB port with interchangeable international plugs
• 5x USB charging cables
• 1x MacBook power cord with multiple adapters
• 1x iPod (old; used by kids for camera)
• 1x Macpac padded storage case (used for electronics).

Reusable and other things

Not technically essential, but we would definitely not now travel in Asia without our own cutlery. Seeing the plastic straws, chopsticks, cutlery and plastic bags handed out with drinks and food was scary, and we felt horribly responsible as travellers ourselves that we were part of the consumerism that was adding to their insurmountable challenges of waste management.

We found this small bag in Laos, a chopstick bag, and carry one each in our day packs – perfect for coconut-drinking-straws, morning-coffee-spoons, lunch-ready-chopsticks, and roadside-picnic-spreading-knives!

We carry 2x net laundry bags from Kathmandu (for dirty laundry), as well as a small container of laundry powder and our Scrubba wash bag. I am claiming to have become quite the professional at hand washing travel clothes in any sink or bucket, but we also use our Scrubba for larger loads of hand washing. We have now been carrying our Scrubba washbag for over FOUR years of full-time travel and it is still going strong! A truly great option for washing clothes and laundry on the road.

Have you tried a shampoo bar? We carry a soap bar and shampoo bar in two small reusable Sistema containers (old fashioned with bars instead of liquid; but they work!).

Reuseable shopping bags. This one is only from our local supermarket in New Zealand; it doesn’t have to be fancy, just reusable!

KeepCup: This is handy right from the first day you leave home to accept a hot drink on the first flight and refuse one more plastic cup! We use our KeepCup for hot drinks, cold drinks, even as a bowl for hot noodles if we are staying somewhere and need to be self sufficient. Its definitely worth it!

Is there anything in particular you would add to the list? Something you wouldn’t leave home without? Or one thing you would change next time when packing for longterm travel?

Useful links for your travel and travel-planning… 

These are the companies we use while traveling fulltime as a family and that we would recommend to anyone planning and booking travel. 

• Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation and it’s easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally. 
• Hostelworld – The largest inventory of hostel accommodation in the world. 
• Skyscanner – This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.  
• GetYourGuide – Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world including everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
• World Nomads – Travel insurance tailored for longterm travel and nomads (including those who have already left home). 

Read more about packing for travel

• Packing toiletries, medical and electronics (plus all the rest).
• 10 Daypack essentials: When that daypack really is a daily pack. 
• Our travel medical kit: Have you packed yet? 
• Our packing list for full-time travel: 2 packs, 4 people. 
• Our complete packing list for India: Everything you wanted to ask. 
• Kids daypacks: What is actually in there?