Welcome back future Racer. Here is Part 2 of my packing list for Asia (Part 1 talks about the top 10 things you must bring to Asia or basically on the Race in general):
NOW I will give you a list of items that may be a good idea to have. Some I have used, some I haven’t used even though I brought them. But then some of my teammates have used these items so you just never know!
- Something to identify your stuff
I put a small piece of black duct tape on all of my electronics (headphones, iphone charger, hard drive etc) With a squad of 51, there are probably at least 25 people with Apple headphones out there. Also, identifying your airporter. 51 backpacks all in black airporters in one big pile at the airport…good luck finding yours unless you identified it in some way (colorful luggage tags, patches sewn on the airporter, straps around the outside of it etc)
- Extra pair of headphones
Unless you identified it well (see #11), your headphones will probably get mixed up with someone else’s and therefore lost. Bring an extra pair so you don’t have to spend the 22 hour bus ride in Vietnam unable to watch some Friends episodes. I brought extra ones but still haven’t needed them. My teammate’s headphones, however, ended up breaking and she was grateful she had a spare!
- Headlamp
Used it every day in India to use the squatty potty at night. I don’t want to fall in that thing. And my hands are busy doing other things to try to hold a flashlight. Haven’t used the headlamp much since but I firmly believe it was worth it for that one month. Other teammates have used it for reading at night as well.
- Tampons
If you use them, bring them. I tried to bring a year’s worth of the small O.B. brand ones. I have found plenty of pads sold here in Asia but not many tampons.
- Jeans
If you wear them in normal life, bring them. Why wouldn’t you? Life doesn’t stop just because you go on the Race. I have worn my jeans a million times here in Asia. They really aren’t THAT heavy to carry around. And guess what? All the Asians are wearing them too so you will fit right in. (except probably not too often in the villages in India)
- Contact solution
If you wear contacts, I would suggest bringing one big bottle and one small bottle for travel days. I haven’t found solution readily available here in Asia.
- Hand towel
If you like to dry your hands after you wash them or after you wash your face, bring a separate hand towel. Hand towels are not a thing here in Asia so you will always have wet hands after you use the bathroom. It’s not a huge deal but it’s nice to have a hand towel for your team to use whenever you set up your life at your ministry site. That way not everyone is using their own personal towel just to dry their hands when they are trying to get their towel to dry after taking a shower. Sidenote: get an REI quick dry towel because it packs down small and dries fast. I bought a size big enough to cover my whole body when I come out of the shower. Worth it.
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Okay! Wow so much helpfulness in two blogs. I apologize for the length of them. But I have just spent the last five months in Asia and know what to expect while I know you don’t yet! Which is okay because I didn’t either till I got here! So here are some more packing pointers of things to bring and also what not to bring. I can’t explain everything forever so just take my word for it. Also, again, these are items that are a hit or miss on your list. You don’t HAVE to have these, but you may find them helpful during one of your months and will be so grateful you packed it.
Which reminds me….DON’T DROP CLOTHES RIGHT BEFORE A COUNTRY CHANGE. Just because you didn’t wear it in your current country doesn’t mean you won’t wear/need it in the next one! Just like my teammate kept all of her tank tops from hot Cambodia and dropped her t-shirts but then we got to Thailand and discovered that you can’t show your shoulders at ministry in Thailand. Oops. Ok so here we go.
® Shower shoes – if you can’t imagine showering barefoot where your other teammates (or possibly hostel mates) have showered
® Q-tips from USA – the Asian ones are more pokey and not fluffy
® Sharpie/extra pens (can be purchased in Asia though)
® DON’T BRING A YEAR’S WORTH OF MEDICINE. IT IS SO MUCH CHEAPER IN ASIA. I SWEAR. I brought Tylenol and Advil for my period cramps and also some Tums and Pepto-bismal. My other teammates brought other things (like allergy meds or Dayquil) which works out if I ever needed them as I was easily able to take some from them (yes, you will learn how to share soooo much on this trip). But for real, they sell meds so much more cheaply over here. Bring some stuff, just not a year’s worth.
® If you think you will die if you use spray-on deodorant from Asia, bring several of your own sticks from America
® Sunscreen (can buy in Asia)
® One pair of basketball shorts that reach the World Race length requirement (for playing sports and manual labor) and one pair of NICE long length shorts for other days
® Bring some dry-fit clothes but also normal nice clothes too. The world doesn’t stop and require you to stop looking nice for a year.
® Bring spanx that go to your knees – so helpful for wearing under skirts and dresses to stop the chub rub
® Bring buffs, arm bands, or a scarf to cover a tattoo that may be offensive so you don’t have to scramble to find something to cover it up when you are in the moment of it (most tattoos are fine but we had to cover many of them when we did prison ministry and were grateful we had scarves with us to do so)
® Bring ONLY two pairs of socks. Crazy right? One to wear, one to wash. I swear it will be enough in Asia and honestly probably the whole Race (because you’ll probably end up wearing your chacos a lot in Asia so they will be easy to slip on and off which you will do every time you enter a building)
® DON’T bring survival gear. You’re going on the Race, you’re not going to live in the wilderness for a year
® Multi-tool: some say yes, some say no. I brought a small knife and haven’t touched it once. But I did bring nice, sharp nail clippers that I use all the time (cutting string, cutting a bag of dried mango open, or cutting a tag off of your new shirt)
® You will probably be charged extra for a guitar – you can EASILY buy a cheap one in Asia (my teammate bought one at a grocery store in Thailand. Not the nicest brand but do you really want to risk bringing a super nice one that could potentially break on the plane?)
® If you love your Study Bible bring it, but also bring a smaller one to carry with you during ministry. Not so fun hauling a big heavy Study Bible around. Personally, I just brought the medium sized one I have been using for the last 8 years.
® Don’t bring tons of warm clothes for Asia – it is hot here (We spent January-May in Asia). Bring a flannel and a raincoat. Buy more if you are cold (using that extra money you set aside for that purpose)
® Each team on your squad will be given a first aid kit and water purifier (which we haven’t used once) so don’t worry about extra band-aids unless you are clumsy a lot
® If you get car sick, bring meds for motion sickness – you will be spending tons of time on buses here in Asia and many of my teammates suffer from car sickness and would be much sicker without this
® Don’t bring essential oils unless you already use them at home – you truly only need tea tree oil, lavender, and peppermint if you have to choose
® Lice comb/lice shampoo – not a necessity but I did have 5 teammates acquire lice during our time here in Asia. It has been two months and some people still can’t fully get rid of the lice. The stuff to get rid of them here in Asia is not as good as America. My poor teammates. So if you truly fear getting lice, I would say bring it. I did not bring anything and thankfully never got lice but my teammate did! And right during a holiday here in Asia so all medicine shops were closed so she couldn’t even go buy anything… Just be VERY careful when playing with slum/village children!
® DON’T bring a hammock unless you use it every day at home – because you definitely won’t use it here if you don’t already.
® Bring a swimsuit – not always tons of chances to swim, but when there are (like at the beach in Vietnam or the pool at Debrief in Cambodia or the waterfall in Thailand), you will be so grateful you have a swimsuit that fits you (because Asians are so tiny that you can’t fit in the ones they sell at the store. Also my team was near the beach in Vietnam for the whole month so I wore my suit every day).
® DON’T bring clothes out of dress code. Literally just wasted space and added weight.
® DON’T bring laundry soap or Dr. Broners soap. You can buy what you need here and all my squad said Dr. Broners just doesn’t work well for them. Waste of money.
® Only bring dry shampoo if you use it at home (I brought it and haven’t touched it; also I truly have had no problem showering on the Race almost every day).
® Don’t bring the small REI shampoo and soap packs, they suck and don’t work.
® Bring a watch. You will need to tell time and not be late.
® Baby wipes have many purposes and were my “shower” for the one time I had to go 9 days without one (living in the “jungle” of Nepal. Long story) Also can be purchased easily in Asia.
® Always carry TP with you. JUST DO IT.
@ Bring a hand scale so you can weigh your pack so you don’t have to worry if your pack is overweight before flying to a new country/continent
® Don’t be attached to the clothes you bring. Every country will have a slightly different dress code and you may need to swap some clothes out sometimes. And of course you will probably be buying some cool elephant pants or funny Asian t-shirts.
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TIPS FOR REMEMBERING YOUR YEAR ABROAD
- Collect something in each country – decide what you want to do before you go so you can be looking for it right away in month 1. Ideas: bracelets, small elephants, flowers, bills or coins from each country, or what I do – snow globes (I don’t actually recommend that but I do currently have 3 snow globes in my pack. To me it is worth it because I have 25 more at home that I have collected from around the world already).
- Use cool Apps like Close-Up (iphones only I’m pretty sure) that you take a selfie everyday and then it creates a video so you can watch how you have changed over the whole year. I’m only halfway done but the video is already pretty cool.
- Another cool App is called 1SE – 1 second everyday. It costs roughly $5 but TOTALLY WORTH IT. You take a video the regular way on your phone but then you can take one second of that video and add it on to the app. Honestly this is my favorite way of looking back because you get to remember every single day and aren’t having to scroll through thousands of pictures or watch hours of videos.
- You can send stuff home here in Asia so don’t be afraid to buy some souvenirs for the folks back home (if they will help pay the shipping fee of course). Because who knows if you will ever go back to Cambodia!
And there you have it! I hope you found at least some of this information helpful! Bookmark this blog and keep re-reading it if you can’t soak in all the fun facts and tips at once (that’s what I did before the Race because it was hard to take in so much information all at one time). I wish you the best of luck on your World Race adventure in Asia! I know it will be amazing! God bless you fellow brother and sister in Christ!
P.S. If you have an iPhone, figure out how to use Airdrop. You don’t need wifi and you can send notes, pictures, and even movies to anyone else with an iPhone (as long as you are in near proximity to that person). Probably my most used function of my phone on the Race. Comes in handy when you take a group photo then you only have to use ONE PHONE and can just airdrop the photo to everyone later.
