AKA “What I packed for Cyprus”.
This is out of my comfort zone. I’m used to cold places, I’m used to packing thermals and gloves and warm socks. The last time I packed, barely a month ago, I was packing snowboots and I spent the trip sliding on the ice. And from your perspective, I blogged that only two weeks ago.
I haven’t been somewhere warm since I went to Bucharest in June 2009, when I almost died of heatstroke (not literally. I was very sweaty and easily annoyed though). It’s also different because this is a Family Holiday, the first I’ve been on since 2011 (unless you count a weekend at the Christmas market in Frankfurt) and Cyprus is a little different from the Austria Alps. Finally, although we’re going hand luggage, we’ve got a single suitcase between us in the hold.
I’m expecting heat. We have a villa with its own pool because apparently I’m a princess after all, we’re five minutes from the beach and we’re not going to do anything terribly strenuous. So without further ado, my packing:
First up, two pairs of sandals. These will both go in the big suitcase and I’ll wear my boots on the plane (in case of going to the mountains). The first pair are a decorative pair for wearing out in the evenings if we should go out. The second are the ones I’ll live in, my mountain sandals. I’ll also be walking as much of the Laugavegur Trailthe Laugavegur Trailthe Laugavegur Trail in them as possible. They’re tough, they’re waterproof, they’re bombproof – and given that the Orange Thing has just bombed Syria last night and Syria is 60 miles from the eastern tip of Cyprus, that might be just as well.
And they say we take too many electronics with us these days. We do. Obviously, I need my phone. I’m emetophobic so I need the iPod and earphones (in the Icelandair box) to survive the flight. Kindle for reading, tablet for entertainment. The Instax camera isn’t strictly necessary but it’s fun. My normal camera is in service right now. And of course, wires for them all and plugs. Cyprus allegedly uses UK-style three-pin plugs.
Paper, for lack of a better word to tie these three together. My travel pouch as always, which contains my passport, notebook and any travel documentation. I’m a grown-up so I’m carrying my own boarding pass. My mum has the other three. Book, because I thought (hoped!) I might have finished it before I went but I haven’t. And guidebook because I love guidebooks.
Bags? The folding bag you may recognise from the recent Useful Travel Items post. It’s for when I’m there and want to go out without carrying my entire hand luggage with me. The three waterproof cases are for taking phones/cameras into the pool/sea. I swear by them.
Ok, first of the clothes! I have a stripy beach dress which is ideal for just putting on to go down to the pool. I made a lot of use of it camping near Paris last year. Two pairs of shorts – they’re actually men’s swimming shorts but I wear them as everyday shorts. The orange thing is a swimsuit. A yellow vest for when it’s really hot. And the pink thing is actually a red-and-white pinstriped off-the-shoulder dress for going out and about in, mostly to go with the more decorative sandals I packed.
Five t-shirts. Three plain ordinary Primark ones in red, green and biscuity-white. One giant pink Longleat one (which, when I bought it, I kind of planned to wear on its own as a dress) and my Clever Travel Companion one. It’s a t-shirt but it has pockets. I will probably wear it to the airport because it’s handy to keep my passport on when I’m needing to get it out every five minutes.
And that’s what it looks like when it’s all in! I have underwear in a small red cube which I didn’t show you, most of my electronics are in a smaller blue cube and everything else is in two large cubes. Except my camera, which will go in the front pocket on the bag, the travel pouch and Kindle which will go in the front section and my iPod and phone which are clipped to the outside in a miniature backpack.
When I get on the plane, the main bag will go under my feet or in the locker and this little bag will unclip and go on my lap. It’s just big enough for phone, iPod and headphones. I may also get out the Kindle while I’m waiting at the gate and I’ll definitely have my sunglasses hooked on my t-shirt.
Accessories: my El Camino bracelets. I’ve ordered a new Cyprus step but it hasn’t arrived yet. My watch – waterproof and virtually bombproof. My ring – it’s a stainless steel Viking ring of the kind sold in every tourist shop in every Nordic country. Dragon, which has been around my neck since I was about sixteen (although this isn’t actually the original Dragon. That one got lost in a local supermarket about eight years ago and I’m still livid that it never turned up. Sunglasses because it’s sunny and also I have photophobia so I wear them on overcast days. And nail varnish, to top up my nails throughout the week. I’m going to paint them this afternoon. It’s a limited edition by Barry M from several years ago, called Seaside, if you’re interested.
Other things I added but didn’t photograph: swimming goggles, travel towel, wallet.
Now, I know you think I’ve forgotten something. I haven’t. It’s in the main suitcase.
I don’t usually take this if I’m going hand luggage – all its contents have to go into a plastic bag in the top of my bag so there’s no sense in taking an extra bag to put the bag in later. But this is going in the suitcase.
Obviously it opens but even better, it hangs up! At the top, it has a mesh compartment for toothbrush and toothpaste, with a plastic mirror velcroed to it. The main section has a big zipped pocket, an open pocket and then there’s a mesh panel at the back. The bottom is a waterproof bag that pops off, so you can take it in the shower. I don’t, because it doesn’t fit the shampoo and conditioner and shower gel I want to take in the shower.
So. In the little plastic bag at the top is a bar of hotel soap that I’ve been carrying around for a while. No sense in wasting it, or in taking a whole bottle of handwash (my mum’s initial plan for this holiday). It lives in the popper section at the bottom, along with the sachet of hotel shampoo. I won’t actually use it. Mum has packed 900ml bottles of shampoo and conditioner which were literally, not proportionately, cheaper than the smaller bottles, so we’ll all use them. Toothpaste and folding toothbrush go in the toothbrush section. The round thing is a travel washing line that lives in a little pouch in the back mesh section of the bag along with the lip balm. Everything else goes in the main section – shower gel, all-purpose wash, antistink, moisturiser, hair oil and sun cream. I know it’s my sun cream because it has an Eyjafjallajökull sticker on the back. You get one at the visitor centre to show you’ve paid. When I left, I stuck mine in my notebook. And then a second materialised in my car. No idea how it got there. So now it lives on the sun cream, obviously.
I fly tomorrow morning. We’ll see by tomorrow afternoon if there’s anything I’ve forgotten. My dad has just announced “I’ll wear my big coat on the plane, just in case” and my mum has packed waterproofs but I know my sister hasn’t – and for once, neither have I.