How has it taken me this long to realise I should do a Russia packing post? Everyone loves a “how did I manage on hand luggage only?!” post. My not-quite-three weeks is at the very bottom end of the long trip-minimum luggage ladder. However, I was visiting three distinct climate zones – Moscow & St Petersburg’s eastern European summer, Murmansk’s Arctic and although I had no idea what Ekaterinburg would be like, it’s as far east as Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and further than most of Iran so maybe different again.
I’m not a light packer and there were times when I found myself drowning under the weight of my luggage but the internal flights were hand luggage only so I had to tidy myself up at least three times.
My bag was the travel blogger’s favourite, the Osprey Farpoint 40, that ideal compromise between suitcase and backpack. I think it doesn’t swallow quite as much stuff as other bags of the same volume but it’s what I have and it’s what I’m going to use until it falls apart.
Clothes
1 x red pocket t-shirt
1 x black pocket t-shirt
1 x longline t-shirt
1 x jeans
1 x hiking trousers
1 x zip hoodie
10 x pants
10 x socks
1 x ski jacket
1 x walking shoes
1 x sunhat
1 x pyjamas
1 x red scarf/pashmina
This is more minimalist than I could imagine. Too minimalist, perhaps. One t-shirt on, two in the bag – and the long t-shirt was a kind of “best” which I wore to the theatre and when I returned to Moscow. Cavalier approach to rainwear – the ski jacket is warm and waterproof while being fairly lightweight but it’s not lightweight enough to wear on a pleasant but wet day! Packamac-type thing next time!
One hoodie and I actually didn’t wear it that often. It was all a lot warmer than I expected, even Murmansk. Mostly it was t-shirt weather. The t-shirts have pockets – the black one is from Clever Travel Companion and has zip pockets hidden down the sides – ideal for passports and bank cards. The red one is from Amazon and has two huge but open hidden side pockets, a fairly obvious small zip chest pocket, a small zip shoulder pocket easily hidden by an open hoodie and a small zip pocket near the hem. The long one was a plain long black t-shirt from Primark.
The scarf is for head-covering in Orthodox churches. I didn’t need it in Moscow or St Petersburg because all the churches I went in were museums and/or welcoming to tourists. By the time I got into a working church in Ekaterinburg, I’d fallen out of the habit of carrying the thing and had to use my hood to cover my hair. Probably for the best – I’ve never mastered wearing it without looking ludicrous. In another season, it could have been useful as a scarf, shawl or blanket as well as head-covering.
Yes, I did some washing. Twice? Three times?
Scrapbook
Packet watercolour postcards
Watercolour paint palette
2-4 x black fineline ink pens
2 x red fineline pens
1 x double ended Sharpie
2 x gold pens
2 x packs index cards
Roll of glue dots?
1 x washi tape?
Ok, this isn’t so minimalist but I don’t regret any of it. My scrapbook is my masterpiece. The watercolour palette was a small slim Hobbycraft beginner’s/kid’s one and the pad of postcards took up less room than my notebook normally would and I’m so happy with the little sketches I brought back. The index cards were my journal and notepad – easier to put in a scrapbook, though – and I brought a few pens for journalling and sketching. I definitely took the remains of a roll of glue dots. I may have taken a roll of washi tape but I didn’t use it and I’m far from 100% sure I took it at all.
Toiletries
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Mini hotel soap from a previous trip somewhere in 2017 or 2018
Deodorant
1 x GoToob of shampoo
2 x GoToobs of conditioner
Suncream
Hairbrush
The hotels I stayed in provided various wash products and there were some dregs in the apartments too. I’m low maintenance – no makeup or skincare beyond the soap and the suncream. I bought a bottle of conditioner somewhere, probably Ekaterinburg, and got it down to flight size before flying back to Moscow. Top tip, the long-acting contraceptive jab is two-in-one handy for these occasions too.
I took home one of those mini bars of hotel soap once. They bin them after you leave. So this one now lives in a little bag and travels around with me, saving me from having to ever open a new one and leaving it to be binned.
Jewellery/wearable
Watch
Fitbit Flex 2 + charger
ID bracelet
Hieroband
El Camino bracelets
Rune necklace
St Christopher
It was too many bracelets – I stubbornly kept my ID bracelet and my Fitbit on but the Hieroband and the El Camino got stored away within a couple of days. I wear my energy rune most days anyway and I wear my St Christopher when I’m travelling and of course, I spent at least a week of my time in Russia disentangling the two chains.
Tech
Camera + charging wire
Phone + charging wire
Spare camera battery
Spare memory card
Mini GorillaPod
2 x 3USB European plugs
Tablet + charging wire
Instax Mini 8 + 2/3 packs film
Film camera + 2/3 rolls film
Headphones
Portable charger?
Kindle?
Was it strictly necessary to take three cameras? No, of course not, and switching between them was annoying. Also, if I used the film or the Instax, I took exactly the same picture with the other, which was stupid. My film camera, by the way, is a £3 eBay special, the sort your nan would have taken to Torquay in the early 90s. No features whatsoever, not even a timer. My plugs are three-USB chargers from IKEA, but IKEA in Iceland so they have European prongs and save me carrying around the bulk of UK plugs plus two adaptors. Best travel buy ever!
I don’t remember if I took my portable charger but surely I must have? I also don’t remember if I took my Kindle. On the other hand, I can’t imagine being prepared to go three weeks without books.
Other/misc
Mini jar of Marmite
Bank cards
Cash
EHIC
Guidebook
Phrasebook
Little Book of Russia
Passport
Sunglasses
Handbag
Water bottle
Travel pouch
Shopping bag?
Most of these are fairly self-explanatory. The jar of Marmite was one of those tiny 30g jars of airport cafe jam, cleaned out and refilled. The Little Book of Russia was a handmade passport-sized notebook in which I made notes about each of the cities I was visiting – how to spell it in Russian, expected temperature, things to see + how to get to them, metro maps with relevant stations highlighted etc. A personal lightweight mini guidebook. I also had a couple of pages of useful Russian words and phrases, instructions for getting to and from the station and/or airport from and to my accomodation, if that sentence makes sense, and later, precise accommodation addresses. I probably took my EHIC – not because I expected it to be useable in Russia but because it’s the sort of thing I always take just in case. I don’t remember if I took a shopping bag but I can’t see me loading up my Farpoint 40 at the supermarket nor can I see me repeatedly getting disposable plastic bags.
And the handbag – I wanted a daybag, of course, but I didn’t like the idea of a backpack, for security. So I borrowed my mum’s big green spacious monster crossbody handbag. Backpack next time. Crossbody with that kind of weight is murder on your shoulder.
It all sounds like so much! Despite the fact I only had three t-shirts, two trousers and a jumper and of those six items, I was wearing at least two at any time, my bag was as full as it could get. Would I do it differently? I’d probably leave the jacket behind – the only time I wore it was while boarding the plane from St Petersburg to Murmansk and then only so it didn’t look bulky and not-allowed strapped to my backpack. I’d take a second jumper and a packable raincoat, maybe a light long-sleeved thermal top for that extra warmth and maybe a third t-shirt for variety. I’d leave the phrasebook and the bracelets. I’d still take the scrapbooking/journalling stuff. Day backpack instead of handbag. But otherwise no, I’m still pretty happy with my packing.