It’s always a constant struggle between the temptation of carrying your whole wardrobe and travelling light! After a few years of travel, I have learned the mysterious art of packing that has helped me to fit all the things I need and a couple of stuff I want(almost unnecessary), all into Travel Friendly Bags. Here’s a little detail of what you need to pack for your next trip to the Mountains/Hills during the monsoons.
- Woollens: Be prepared to face a few degrees cooler temperatures up there!
- Tops/Shirts: We need to be clad, don’t we? 😉
- Pants: While we want to be stylish, we also want to make sure we get something comfortable too!
- Trekking Clothes: I have seen some people trek in jeans and so many other “Non-Trek Friendly”clothing. But it is advisable to be in breathable fabric during any physical activities. Also carry quick dry fabric, that way your bags won’t stink when you’re packing them back in after a hike.
- Rain & Trekking Gears: I found this compact raincoat in Decathlon that is both travel friendly and protects you during monsoons that is very handy. Along with this,
- A trekking pole: I use the one from decathlon that has shock absorbers. Honestly after using this for quite sometime now, I don’t remember how I would hike without one. They can be dismantled easily to carry into your travel kits
- Knee caps: These are extremely handy especially for people with weak knees
- A small water resistant bag: This is useful to protect your money or electronics. This bag in particular can be folded into a small pack, so it’s easy to carry with your luggage and then used on small hikes. This can be used to carry all essentials for the hike only, and leave the travel baggage behind.
- Night Clothes: For whatever it is, that you wish to do!
- Toiletries and Medical Kit: While some hotels do provide toiletries, I prefer to carry my own. I transfer everything i need into travel friendly smaller bottles, that would suffice for a week, making it easier to carry. Another useful tip is, I clean up empty sanitiser bottle and fill it up with hand wash to carry.
We might be used to medical stores at every corner in the cities, but up in the mountains, it could get a little tricky, so it is recommended to carry the basic medicines like some paracetamols, pain killer, mosquito repellant, travel sickness tabs, pain relief spray, bandaids among few. - Electronics: This includes your phone (How else will you read my list?!?), chargers, power bank being the most basic.
- Footwear: I carry trekking shoes that are ankle high and are water resistant, so that the socks don’t get wet. Wet socks are my pet peeves!
- Sunglasses and Sunscreen: The sun can be pretty harsh up in the mountains so please carry sunglasses with UV protection and sunscreen with spa 50+
Type of Bag
If you’re going camping, then carry all this in a rucksack. Some mountain trips involve only a day hike, so I usually like to carry my stuff in a duffle bag, and I keep a daypack with me to take on the hike. Duffle bags are a lot easier and compact. But that’s just my preference.
Nice to Haves
- Games Kit: This is just something I take when I’m travelling in a big group. This is a nice to have but please avoid this if your luggage is loaded already
- Books: The joy of kicking up your feet and reading up in the mountains is unexplainable in words. So, I always carry a small book with me.
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