Sunday, August 21, 2011

Packing For Travel - Czech Republic

I really love to travel - domestic or international - love, love, love it. I have three methods of packing. Car travel means loading up the car with everything I love (almost), food, games, books, electronics, and lots clothes without caring whether I will wear them of not. Domestic air travel means filling small bottles with all the hair and skin care products and only bringing clothes I know I'll wear. International travel means something entirely different to me when it comes to packing than any other blogger I have read. For me, it is all about comfort - which comes from having easily carried belongings - as little as possible while not embarrassing myself or my country. It means packing: one safety pin, one lipstick, one spare pair of easy wash and dry underpanties, (ex-officio brand), tiny bottle of very concentrated hair conditioner, highest spf sunscreen, comb, toothbrush and travel size paste, sliver off a bar of Lush brand soap (which does face, hair, body, and clothes cleansing duty), travel size deodorant, light crinkle style skirt, sandals, and 2 spare t-shirts (dark enough color to stay clean looking). If I'm sharing a room, I will bring some very light weight silk shorts to sleep in with one of the t-shirts. On the plane, I'll wear the pants, walking shoes, light wool socks, top, money belt/pouch holding passport and debit card, and jacket. Add reading material with bookmark made of a passport photocopy and I'm set. (The right brand of wool socks can be worn for a week without even smelling bad, if you air them out every night.) This will all fit in a large purse or backpack and makes riding local trains or changing hotels a breeze. I never take jeans when I'm travelling internationally, since jeans are often OK, but slacks are always OK, so why take the chance of being inappropriate in someone else's country. This time is going to be the exception, since my cousin has spent so much time in the Czech Republic and assures me that woman of a certain age do wear jeans in Prague. But with my curly Czech hair, round Czech face, and 100% Czech last name, (just my mother is French), I really don't want to be mistaken for a local, since I don't speak a word of the Czech language.

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