Blog Interlude #1 - Useful Stuff

Seeing as I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment with Diana doing her yoga course, I thought I’d do a quick intermediary post, as Diana is doing the next chronological one.

At this point we have now been travelling for almost 4 months and have still yet to leave the first country on our list. Whilst we are both enjoying our time in India, for me especially it is starting to feel like time to move on and see another country, surprisingly I believe this to be the case for Diana also. Our next plan we’d decided upon a long while ago had been to visit Nepal and potentially do one of the many treks, either to Everest Base Camp which was our main preference, or somewhere on the Annapurna circuit. However, in light of the recent disaster this seems very unlikely as it’s more likely we’d be in the way and using food and resources they currently desperately need. We have considered volunteering to assist with the current situation, but a vast number of places I’ve looked have recommended against it as we’re more likely to be in the way having no past experience. Other places I’ve seen have been quite willing to take a team of people with them on the assumption you donate $2000+ and then you may not be needed after all, which is not exactly an option. If anyone knows of any way we can be of assistance, we’re all ears.

This being as it is, after some quick research we’re likely to be heading towards Kolkata from Rishikesh, and from there getting a flight into Bangkok. A rapid change of scenery and culture would be good now and the novelty of Rishikesh has definitely worn thin.

As for some actual content for this post, we decided as this is a travel blog and may potentially serve as some inspiration for someone, somewhere, somehow, it would be useful to say what items we’ve found useful/useless so far, as we left home with almost no idea what we would or wouldn’t need. Fortunately, plenty of people gave us advice and donations of previous equipment. For the most part, they’ve been spot on. So without further ado, here’s a boring list of items, in no particular order other than how I remember them!

Multiway UK Plug Adapter

As recommended by a colleague where I used to work, the moment I heard this tip I couldn’t believe I’d never twigged it. Why carry around loads of plug adapters, or expensive worldwide ones, when we can bring just one plug adapter and a multiway UK bar? The amount of times we’ve had a room with only one working plug socket, this has allowed us both to keep phones charged with a spare socket for… Well, mostly Diana’s hair appliances, but the possibilities are endless. Our only concern now is finding a single cheap UK -> *country name here* plug adapter wherever we go, and all our current plugs are compatible. And it adds another fused layer, so our actual devices should survive the less than perfect power supplies around and we’ve only lost a £1 accessory. Possibly the best £1 we spent before we started our travels.

5/5

Inflatable Travel Pillow

Invaluable to have some form of pillow, as there have been several occasions we haven’t had bedding, whether that be a cheap room, sleeper train or slightly reclined ‘luxury’ bus. We went for the cheapest ones we could find online. With hindsight, they’re actually quite bulky considering they’re inflatable as they’re filled with spongey stuff to self inflate. Once inflated, you can’t really feel the sponge, so either one that was bulky and a bit more comfortable or less bulky and empty would probably have been better. However, we’ve both found space for them and they’ve certainly come in handy. Just every so often we see people with far more comfortable pillows and feel a little sad… And we think Diana's has a slow puncture. So it's not road worthy anymore.

3/5

Travel Washing Line

A kind donation from my half-sister and brother in laws previous around the world experience, this has come in handy pretty much every time we’ve needed to do washing. Believe it or not, hotels aren’t actually that keen on you using your room for washing and for that reason rarely provide anywhere to hang up wet articles. Introducing a long length of elastic, twisted around an equally long length of elastic! An instant makeshift washing line wherever we need it, which has been fairly frequently. Don’t risk having to hope there’s a few rusty nails poking out of the wall, attach this anything. A chair, a doorframe, the TV bracket, even a hole eaten into wood by a friendly termite…!

5/5

Pocket Knife

Given to me by Father Christmas, or my parents, just before we were leaving, this has come in handy for all sorts of odd jobs. Fixing zips, bending Diana’s various bits of jewelry back into a vaguely jewelry shaped item, cutting up fruit, opening up the tablet that exploded on us to confirm it was in fact dead, tightening locks on shady guest house doors, you name it. I hadn’t considered picking one up before, partly because I wasn’t sure on the regulations of having a knife with me on an aeroplane (fine in checked in baggage) and I figured I wouldn’t really need one. Highly recommended, even if you have one that doesn't have every possible accessory (our one lacks a kitchen sink).

5/5

Packing Cubes

These are essentially to organise your packing within your bag. These have been a mixed blessing, as long as you adhere to putting the items back into the same packing cube so you remember where they are. Unfortunately as times gone on and got a bit more rushed I’ve got a bit sloppier with this, however, when they’re properly organised (and clothing is tightly rolled up – Thanks Chel and Kirk again!) it’s a godsend as you can pull everything out and get it back in again without having to repack anything. It’s just a shame this requires some organisation on my part… Will sort this out again before we leave Rishikesh!

4/5

Sleeping Bags

Another invaluable item, more often than not we’ve stayed in places with questionable beds/bedding/walls/just about everything. This has provided us a thin barrier between us and them, whatever they may be. We were recommended to just bring a sleeping bag liner with us, due to the amount of space they took up, however we found some cheap, fairly small sleeping bags on sale in Mountain Warehouse before we left and figured if we found them too bulky or heavy we could always downgrade whilst we’re travelling. So far though, we’ve been in places where the bedding provided was far too thick for the climate, and vice versa, so they’ve been an ideal medium ground for what we’ve needed so far. Surprisingly fast to dry as well, and they’re a somewhat shiny surface that dirt and dust doesn’t affix to as easily. Pretty happy with them all in all, and we've found you can zip both together so you don't have to pretend you don't know each other.

4/5

Smartphone

Hats off to everyone who travelled without one or before these were a thing. This has made everything infinitely easier. Maps, guides on places, advice on where to go and how to get there, train timetables, entertainment, looking up and booking accommodation, paying off our credit cards, checking prices of things in advance, phoning places when lost, keeping in contact with friends and family, the list is almost endless. I have absolutely no idea how travel was even possible before all this stuff was available at our fingertips. Well, I do, of course, but it’s certainly removed a whole ton of potential stress.

5/5 – and in the same vein…

Foreign SIM Card

Since our third or fourth day we managed to get a Vodafone IN SIM card with 3g. This made things a lot easier when we were lost in the middle of nowhere, or for phoning people when we couldn’t work out what to do next. Unfortunately being foreign, we were only allowed it for 3 months and it’s now deactivated. Fortunately a friend of Diana’s has lent us one for our trip that doesn’t expire, so we can still at least make phone calls if needed. Highly recommended as they’re cheap and break the need to find a place with working Wi-Fi.

4/5 (Indian ones are some hassle. ID, forms, passport photos, copies of passports and visas, an Indian address and phone number are all requirements to get a SIM card that expires in only 3 months. Bit of a pain but well worth the effort)

External USB Battery Pack

For anyone travelling where a phone/MP3/other small USB powered device is your main form of entertainment, this is very useful. It takes a long time to charge up fully, but especially in Sadhana Forest and other places where we’ve had limited power such as long trains and buses, this has given us both the ability to have entertainment and still have a device at the end of the journey we can use as a map or for a phone call. Good for about 4 full phone charges, it wasn’t the cheapest but it has certainly been worth it.

5/5

Laptop

Bloody tablet blew up. Was perfect for our requirements, only a little while before it died we worked out we could use the pen stylus to plot out on maps and everything perfectly… Incredibly irritating. We then bought a cheap little machine to replace it, which ended up being far too slow and not my cup of tea at all. It had to go, so we sold it on the Indian equivalent of the Friday Ad. We now have a proper laptop, 14” so not too big and bulky and I carry it all the time anyway as my backpack has a built in laptop holder bit. Certainly has made my last month less painful, giving me the chance to brush up on my programming skills and to catch up on some TV series we were missing out on. I was never going to come back less into technology, was I..? Useful for blog posts, backing up photos, editing videos, just about everything really. Would have been silly not to have something…

6/5

Nintendo 3DS

I had one anyway, I figured it’d come in handy for long journeys so may as well bring it. Honestly, probably shouldn’t have brought it with me, barely played on it as I tend to just use my phone for everything (maybe without the battery pack I’d have used it more). Turns out I can live without SOME technology. Maybe in Japan where I think it's part of the law to carry one though...

2/5

Halifax Clarity Credit Card

I have no idea how much money we would have spent by now in commission, fees and interest without this. This is possibly the most essential thing I’d recommend. I value this over the laptop. Yup.

Honestly, for anyone travelling, even just on a holiday, or buying anything in a foreign currency, it’s the only sensible choice I could find. The only ‘catch’ is it’s a good idea to pay it off ASAP, as once you use it for an ATM withdrawal you begin paying interest from that day. As such, it’s impossible to pay back no interest, but in one month of withdrawals (Around £600) I paid 26p. Non ATM payments don’t incur interest unless not paid the following month, as normal, however I believe if you withdraw any amount of cash from an ATM whilst still having outstanding credit, you pay interest on it all (unconfirmed but don’t plan to try it either way).

The exchange rate is set by MasterCard and it is always incredibly close to the actual exchange rate as we check it. As an example:

06/05/2015 – Mastercard exchange rate: 97.07INR -> 1GBP          XE exchange rate: 97.11INR -> 1GBP

I don’t know how or why they do it, but compared to my debit card where we’d be paying an extra £2.50 MINIMUM on every transaction, with a commission AND worse exchange rate, we’re doing so much better off. Honestly, even if you don’t plan on travelling, I’d recommend getting one just in case you ever end up paying for something in a foreign currency online. Very impressed.

10/5

Nook Simple Touch EReader

Diana also had one of these but hers got broken. I also have one but use it far less, I’ve read maybe 5 books the whole time I’ve been away, and most of those were just pictures (joking, wanted to get that in before someone else…). Battery lasts forever, have charged it twice and that was just to be sure I’d have enough battery for some long journeys. Anyone who is a heavy reader, it’s a perfect way of carrying around a huge library for almost no weight, it’s probably the lightest gadget I own. Diana is currently carrying around 3 paperbacks and swapping them anywhere she can once read, but it’s not as easy as you’d hope.

4/5 (if it breaks, you’ve lost all your reading material…)

Rechargable AA Batteries

A case of us thinking we’d be clever – between us we have 2 battery chargers and 8 rechargable batteries, thinking our cameras would drink through them in no time. In reality, I only charged the batteries in mine once, and that’s just because I was worried my camera would die on the way to the Taj Mahal so I wanted to be sure. Honestly, we should have only brought one charger at most, they’re quite bulky. Really though, we probably wouldn’t be paying much if we just bought AA batteries when we needed them.

3/5

Bridge Camera

I bought a bridge camera a couple of years ago and was really not sure whether it was worth bringing with me due to the bulkiness of it. However, it has definitely produced some good photos, although not as good as a DSLR which would have been a huge investment in camera, lenses, training and bag space, it has the convenience of a point and shoot along with an actual optical zoom, rather than a stupid digital zoom, a feature that has disillusioned people into believing they are zooming for far too long. It just crops people. It’s no better quality than taking the picture normally and chopping it up later if you want, and then you have more picture.

Anyway, it IS bulky and heavy and I don’t like taking it everywhere as it is basically a big ‘STEAL ME’ sign around my neck. However the photos have made up for it, and it wasn’t really expensive.

3/5

Action Camera

Just before the trip I figured I wanted to give one a try as I quite like the wide angle shots produced by action cameras. So after looking at prices, reviews and sample videos, I settled on a Sony AS30V – the GoPro was out of my price range considering I wasn’t sure how well I’d get on with it. Actually very happy with most of the photos it produces and will use it in most scenarios where we aren’t trying to take a photo in the distance (where the zoom of the bridge camera is superior), as it captures a lot more of the scene. Produces some great up close shots of people also, and the videos are crystal clear and can be done underwater. So far we haven’t done much in the way of action, but it’s still been useful for things like Holi and rafting, as well as a lot of our general shots, and it’s so small and compact you barely notice you’re carrying it. Unfortunately I don’t have many mounts for it as I didn’t know what I’d need, only have a chest mount which I haven’t used for anything important yet. Keeping an eye out for them.

5/5 

Travel Towels

A must. Almost nowhere we’ve been has provided towels, so we’ve needed these. Diana’s is a towel/yoga mat, one side has little pads that are supposed to grip the floor beneath. In actuality, it doesn’t, so she actually has a subpar towel and had to buy a yoga mat. She’s now using the towel ON the yoga mat as the mat is starting to deteriorate with her month long relentless assault on it, but that just means we only have one towel. Takes up little room, they fit in little compression bags, mine (Diana’s one she used on one trip previously) is a microfiber one that absorbs really efficiently and dries in no time, even in cold areas. Would highly recommend one each of these, absolutely essential, almost as essential as a laptop.

5/5

Immersion Heater Coil

Bought the last time we were in Rishikesh for about 80p, I figured it would be useful anywhere we don’t have hot water, or want to boil some water to drink etc. So far we’ve not had a use for it, but it’s small so I’ll carry it around a bit longer. You never know…

1/5 so far. 2/5 on the entertainment factor though. Waiting for it to boil is great fun.

Clothes

Actual amount of clothes we brought

Well obviously we brought these. But we brought too many. The amount of walking around with our bags is minimal, but we absolutely dread it. We’ll be arranging a clear out of these soon, I have far too many pairs of jeans. And socks. I don’t even remember when I last wore socks. Probably somewhere cold though.

We also bought walking boots thinking we’d be going to Nepal. They’re heavy and bulky. Bugger.

2/5 for insight. Clothes are a solid 4/5 though. Almost a necessity.

Money Belt

Not that ours contain Euros

Useful in situations where we need our passport accessible or we’ve just withdrawn a lot of cash. Unfortunately not so pleasant to wear in a hot climate, which is most of our time currently. It’s nice having the security though, and it’s light and comfortable when it’s not ridiculously humid. Certainly doesn’t take up a lot of space! Thanks to my aunt for providing one as I completely neglected to think of it!

4/5

Hair Dryer

Recently this hasn't been very useful, Diana stopped using it for drying her hair much since Sadhana. However, where it does come in useful is when you're stuck in a freezing cold climate, it's too cold to even move, let alone get out of bed. Pop on the hair dryer and inflate the duvet like a hot air balloon. Incredible, heat to every extremity in no time, and it's a fairly compact travel hair dryer. Not essential, but nice to have.

3/5

Hair Straighteners

Honestly don't know how I'd have left home without these. Incredible invention, they keep your hairs all straight. What more can I say, I am considering throwing the laptop out to get a few more pairs.
In all honesty though, Diana isn't using them as much at the moment, but wouldn't feel like a human without them, I guess.

4/5

Travel Guide

Handy to look places up, however some of the information is quite outdated in the one we're using and we get the impression the people who wrote parts of it really didn't like India a lot. Really quite bulky and heavy as well, definitely adds a fair amount of weight to carry. In all honesty, we've gained more information from asking other people their experiences, or looking the places up online and finding forums where people are discussing them. The guidebook has been used more to reaffirm that we did want to go to a place. Probably wouldn't recommend bringing one, if nothing else the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books are sat around on 90% of bookshelves we find in cafes and hotels, so you could easily look places up on the go if you need to.

2/5

Budget Book/Diary

So I figured I wanted to keep a track of our spending as we're travelling for such a long time with a finite amount of money. Initially it seemed a bit of a silly practice, however it's allowed us to get an idea of what we spend roughly per day, what we spend it on and how it equates in GBP. We've made little notes on what the day actually involved also, I figure it'll be interesting to take a look at in the future when the pound has dropped to nothing and we think about how we used to be able to get more than 1 INR to 15 GBP. The good old days...

5/5 - Maybe not so useful for short trips but we're keeping a paper and electronic copy so we can track it easily. We like it anyway.

May have missed some stuff but that's enough for now... Hope everyone at home is well and Diana will be updating with the next sequential blog post as soon as possible!