In my travels on the World Race, I’ve found that there are a few items I’m extremely glad that I remembered (or extremely bummed that I forgot). I’m not normally the type to do an “11 things…” blog, but I thought I would put this list out there for future Racers who have seen all the conventional packing lists that might forget to mention a few things.
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Rubbing Alcohol- This has proven to come in handy for several reasons: If you’re like me and are prone to canker-sores, rubbing alcohol works wonders on zapping those things before they have a chance to fester. Alcohol is also a perfect way to dull the pain of mosquito bites. If you have several bites on your arm or leg, just rub some alcohol on it, and the itching disappears almost instantly. Alcohol is also handy to just have around as a general disinfectant. However, remember to keep it packed in your checked baggage, as I learned the hard way that airports will not let you through security with it in your carry-on.
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Ziplock Bags- I’ve been very pleased with myself for remembering this at the last minute of my packing. First of all, if you like to keep small souvenirs or currency from each country, it’s a handy way to keep them separated. Also, if you have shampoo, soap, or other bottles of liquids in your checked bags, putting them in a ziplock bag will guarantee that if they explode during a flight, they won’t ooze all over the other items in your pack.
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External Hard Drive- AIM staff may tell you that you shouldn’t bring computers or hard drives, but please trust me when I say that a point will come on the Race when you will want one. As much as we hate to admit it, there are a lot of ministries where you will have a significant amount of down time, and a great way to bond with your team is by having a series of movies, or a TV show to watch together. For example, while my team was in India, we didn’t start ministry until 4pm, and it lasted until 11pm; other than that, our day was wide open, and we weren’t allowed to leave our compound. In our spare time, we went through 4 full seasons of Boy Meets World, and learned countless life lessons from Feeney and the gang.
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Q-tips- Outside of being the best way to clean out your disgusting ear-holes, a q-tip can work well as a means of clearing out hard to reach crevices in cameras, ipads, or computers.
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Airporter- This might be my biggest regret. I would always see people on our squad facebook page talking about buying airporters, and I never really thought of it as a necessity. I’ve come to regret this every time we travel. Airporters are the easiest way to keep all your items in one place, and not have some of your necessities poking out of your pack. If you’re going on the World Race, buy an airporter. That’s all there is to it.
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Pillow Case- This will be dependent on the amount of comfort that you rely on. I’m someone who doesn’t require loads of head comfort when I sleep, so my means of creating a pillow are simply to take a pillow-case, stuff it with a jacket, sweatpants, and/or sweatshirt, and it will provide all the comfort I need.
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Decks of Cards- Again, with the amount of down time you find yourself in, there are numerous occasions when you can allow yourself to be the life of the party with a deck of cards to play mafia, hearts, spades, etc. Or combine forces with someone else who has a deck of cards and create a conglomerate game of nertz.
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Extra headphones- I think it goes without saying that you need to bring an ipod/iphone/ipad for music listening purposes, and I can all but guarantee that one of your pairs of headphones will break. I would recommend bringing two additional pairs as a backup for your main pair, and you should be in good shape.
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Drawstring backpack- This may seem frivolous, but trust me in saying that this is almost a must-have for the Race. If you’re going out for a walk and just need your Bible and some water, you don’t want to take your whole daypack along, and a drawstring pack is just the right size to fit your needs. Or if you’re going to get some wifi, and just need to take a computer or an ipad, it can be annoying to take your whole daypack along. Also, a drawstring bag takes up an almost insignificant amount of room in your daypack on travel days.
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Lists- This is something I wish I would have done better from the get-go. Start with a list of things you want to do/see/take a picture of in every country. Or think of things from the start to make into a catalog: for example taking a picture of every bizarre bathroom you use, or counting the amount of showers you take in each country.
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I’ll use this last spot to tell you a couple things you shouldn’t have to bring: Bugspray and sunscreen. Once you get into the field, team funds can always be used to provide your teammates with these two necessities, so I’ve ditched mine and allowed the money that I raised to be put to good use.
