Pack it Up, Pack it In

Let me begin. After over a year of religiously planning our wedding (pun sort of intended), we shifted gears to plan our extended 3-month honeymoon in Southeast Asia. Admittedly, we were a little burnt out on planning things, so I am letting Shiv’s tendency of  “figuring it out when we get there” take over. Now, that isn’t to say we haven’t done anything. We do have plane tickets into Chiang Mai, a hotel for the first 4 days, a spreadsheet of recommendations from friends who have either visited or lived in the area, and a general sense of the countries we’ll be visiting: Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, and Sri Lanka.

Many of you have been asking me what we are packing for the 3 month excursion. I’ve been doing a lot of research on both practical and appropriate items to pack. Other than summer clothes and the usual toiletries, here are some of the more unique items I’ll be packing:

• Sunscreen: Hawaiian Tropic & Sun Bum (they work well and smell tropical)
• Mosquito Care: Ultrathon lotion and spray, Malarone pills (by prescription)
• Hair Care: Briogeo Rosarco Milk Reparative leave-in conditioning spray to help with the heat & humidity (thanks PopSugar!)
• Health: z-pak (by prescription), aspirin, rehydration packs, standard first aid kit, steripen
• Shoes: his-and-hers Tevas (seriously, they make them really stylish nowadays)
• Outerwear: our trusty Uniqlo puffer jackets (you can pack them up into a tiny bag and can be layered with other items)
• Travel Purse: being very particular about comfort & security, I found a new travel purse after my MbMJ purse was deemed too beat up to use again. I decided on this Fossil purse which has a similar style and comes in fabulous colors.
• Laundry Supplies: dirty clothes bag, travel Woolite laundry packs
• Appropriate items: long skirt for Buddhist temples, scarves for modesty, Indian clothes (kurtis and patiala pants, saris, kurtas) for India

This, of course, is only a limited list. We haven’t actually packed yet (!), but will get to it this week after we do laundry. In the meantime, we are wrapping up all of the loose ends (like work projects and thank you cards) before we head off.

Stay tuned for updates from Southeast Asia!