5 Questions To Help You Pack For A Trip

Travel Exclusive Packing List: 
5 Questions To Help You Decide What To Pack And What You Really Need.

Soooo....almost a year after my last post: here I am, writing again! This time about a practical, down-to-earth common problem. Today I am trying to answer the question:

What do I bring on this trip?

Whether it is for work, for holiday or to see a friend... I am attempting here to make a general list of questions and list of items that could help you remember some items you might otherwise forget to pack.

Why? Simple. I also find myself in this situation and, instead of panicking and packing last-minute, I want to take the time to, not only write down a list for me to use in the future but also, humbly share the knowledge acquired in years of packing for all sorts of adventures.

1. To pack basic necessary items: think about your routine

What do you do every day? You wake up and probably: shower, brush your teeth, dry your face, get dressed. Well if, the day before packing, you note down all the items that are indispensable to you on an everyday basis, you might find that you remember your night cream or your hair brush more easily. To make it even easier for you to pack, you can also divide the essentials up by time of day you use them and other categories (such as where they are located in the house). To give you an idea, the first part of your packing list could look something like:

• Morning
• Alarm (or phone)
• Make up/perfume/jewelry/nail care items
• Shoes and bag/s
• Towel/s
• Toothbrush/toothpaste
• Bath essentials (small bottles with shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and any other creams you use every day)
• Razors/hair brushes
• Afternoon
• Essential clothes (underwear, bras (for girls -usually), socks, tops, pants/skirts/leggings)
• Snacks
• Tissues
• Evening
• Telephone charger
• Book
• PJ or comfortable clothes to sleep in
• Slippers

2. Do you need to go on a plane to reach your destination?

This question helps you decide what to bring and what not to bring. You have a bit more of a leeway if you are going by car, train, or bus. However, if you are taking a plane, you might want to remember to:

• Put all of your liquids on a transparent sealable bag
• Check regulations and weight restrictions imposed by the airline you are travelling with
• Narrow down the amount of things to bring. Imagine yourself being arrived at the destination: will you really need this item or can you survive without it or buy it there if necessary?

3. Are you staying at your friend's house?

If you are, ask him/her if you need to bring towels or some other things that they might have and be happy to lend you. You might also want to pack a present for them (chocolates are easy to transport and a general nice general gift if you can't think of anything else to bring them).

4. What kind of environment will you find at your destination? (a.k.a.: The Extras)

Now you can finally think about any other extra bits and pieces you may need. Are you going to the beach or the mountain? Are you going camping? Will you need your laptop or any other electronics? How long are you going for? What will you do there? Will you need specific medication? Will you need any other items that you do not usually need at home? This phase is the one that scares us the most. But really, if you pack the essentials first, only a handful of things remain in this extra section. Unless you are going to Tibet for 40 days on your own, that is.

And last, but absolutely not least:

5. What important documents do you need to travel?
Whether it's your passport, your tickets or the top-secret presentation you need to give to a top-secret agency, do NOT finish packing until you actually prepare your change of clothes for the travel and, most importantly, your travel documents! Put them somewhere accessible but secure, and check this (pocket, zip, whatever it is) before leaving the house and every time you move from one means of transportation to the other.

Have a nice trip!

*Feel free to comment below if you think I've missed anything!*

Random whining

So...
This post is dedicated to all the people who have been wondering why I haven't been posting anything in March. I have jot down a few experiences out of the ones I have had in the past month and done with them what I do best: whine... It's ok I love my life and I know I don't have a rough one either: in fact I'm grateful for everything I have. However, I am writing my whinings here in the hope that my experience might be useful little advices (or things to think about) to some readers.

Reminder: Please remember that no one is forcing you to read all my points so stop reading as soon as it gets to be too much whining for you in one go.

• Group interviews: BEWARE of them. I hope one day it will be a banned practise. You are in a room with other people who are applying for the same job as you. At the same time, you have to BOTH be nice to them and engage with them AND compete. It is, I believe, very inhumane. And generally sad. And at the end of it you have schizophrenic thoughts like "Well, what a nice bunch of people...oh I hope I get the job...oh what a lovely person good luck to her...oh no maybe not?!?"

• Ryanair's terravision bus from London Victoria: where does it leave from? Yes, I've also been travelling a lot this past month and I've had to do it in the middle of the night, as the takeoff time of the plane was around 6AM. Buses from Victoria leave regularly at night, making it possible for the sleepless ones to get to the airport on time. However, the Ryanair buses leave from 2 different bays...and online or on the ticket you print at home there isn't a way to find out from which bay the bus leaves. I suggest you go to the Terravision Cafe' (which is in between the 2 bays) and you ask the person to give you the little leaflet where the buses that leave from bay 2 are highlighted in blue. Or follow the blog and I'll take a pic of my leaflet soon so you can find it here.

• NHS, some help please? Recently I've felt my knee funny and dull pain. To sum up, after having been twice to two different healthcare practices and after following their advice (i.e. "take ibuprofen, put some ice and keep it elevated but you can walk just don't put too much weight on it") none of the nurses or the doctors I have seen has done further analysis on it. My knee  started to swell and properly hurt, nevermind the discomfort. I now know it is a problem with my patella and they didn't discover it at all and never helped me to find a specialist that would. And that is nothing: a friend of mine was in pain, called an ambulance and they asked her 3 times the same kind of information. All they were worried about was where she was living, not how she was feeling. She was left sitting on a chair, somewhere just like that. I mean, come on NHS! I've found a few nice receptionists and nurses but really, the majority of the people that has seen me haven't been helpful. :(

Can you relate to any of the points above?

Do you have something to moan about?

Comment below!

A story that never gets old...

While looking into the files of my computer I saw a story I wrote  a while ago (some years have passed). It was about a girl who would leave everything, rebel and move. Reality meets fantasy.
I guess some stories never do get old and some feelings come back.
You feel like you are experiencing something for the first time, but maybe what changes is only the way in which you go through it, not the feeling itself.
In any case, here's some excerpts of the story.

"A time, a specific moment in the life of a person, reveals that reality is not a dream. This moment: frustration and sadness. It is in that instant that the human being understands how few the chances of getting everything dreamt in those night of fine sleep are. Even she experienced this moment, this unbelievable instant. Even she, the childish girl that never wanted to grow up. She…finally understood that it’s hard to make your dreams come true and it’s hard to see the world this way. Now, she remembers everything: the facts, the memories, everything…and she saw, how blind she became. She was living in a dream, not in reality: in a fantastic world where she could always fix what she had done. Aisling was sitting in her bed, not moving, thinking hardly. She couldn’t believe it. She always thought everything could be fixed. This time, there was no one helping her. No one. If she wouldn’t sustain herself, there was no one to help her out. Yes, I’ll leave she thought. There is no other way. I must take my responsibility.

Leaving was not a simple thing. She had to abandon all her hopes, all her dreams for maybe something that wouldn’t give stability, security. But she had to do it.While packing, tears fell from her eyes; soft tears that spoke of truth. She stared at the wall, full of pictures: her dad, her mom, her grandmother…she knew she could possibly never come back. She quickly left a note and forced herself out. She didn’t even look one last time at the house, at her room still full of old remembrances, security but not of happiness.

As she hurried down through the street, she couldn’t even believe she was leaving forever everything. She passed the church, the deli, the shop. As she crossed the street, the flower her friend gave her broke and fell, the stem still in her hands.She looked at it for what it seemed like an eternity to her. Then she picked it up and, arrived at the other end of the street, she threw it in the garbage can and continued her journey. It is now summer again, and two summers have passed by since her leaving. After all this time she understood: one can never, ever...even begin to end to find oneself."