Packing list for India

Before leaving for India, I got stressed about what to bring. I didn't want to load up my knapsack, but at the same time I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. I even did a speech at my Toastmaster's club about the struggles I faced with deciding what to pack.

When I got packed and was ready to go, I decided to bring my packing list along with me and track what I actually used during my month-long trip, and what I wished I'd left at home. I hoped that this might help those of you who plan on going to India or Asia. (Note that I was packing for a one-month trip during the monsoon season and into the high altitudes of Leh, Ladakh.)

I split the list into categories because that's how my brain works and, in keeping with these categories, packed items into labelled or distinctive containers to make it easy to find things en route.  That worked really well and my stuff stayed organized to the very end.

The following packing list includes what I brought, what I wish I'd left at home, and what I'd bring next time.

Hope this helps!

Clothing

 

Sandals	One pair of Teva walking sandals and one pair of rubber flip flops. (I originally intended the flip flops for the shower, but ended up wearing them everywhere.) I hemmed and hawed about open or closed-toe shoes, but decided that I didn't want to spend the money on buying a pair of new shoes. I ended up not needing the closed-toe shoes--I was just careful where I walked.
Rain jacket	Gortex would have been nice, but not necessary
Shalwar Kameez	Bought two Punjabi outfits in India with the same color of pants so I could mix and match the tops and bottoms. If I'd bought an outfit in Vancouver before leaving, I could have left a lot of my Western clothes at home. I hardly ever wore my Western clothes as I felt that I blended in better wearing the Indian clothes and they are so much more comfortable in hot and humid weather.
Hat with brim
Sunglasses	Buy a strap so you can hang them from your neck
Fast dry underwear	Four pair of nylon underwear with cotton gusset. Decided against buying the expensive mountaineering fast-dry underwear as a way to cut down costs.
Light cotton socks	One pair to keep the mosquitoes at bay and to wear on the plane.
Cotton pyjamas
T-shirts	Two lightweight, easy dry cottom -- even so, hardly worn after buying Salwar Kameez
Bras	Two.
Sweater	One lightweight wool sweater
Yoga pants	Good for lounging while my Salwar Kameez were drying

What I would definitely bring next time:

• Sports bra

What I should have left at home:

• Two polyester dresses: while polyester is great because it doesn't wrinkle, it is not the fabric of choice for India. (My sister recommends Viscose.)
• Shorts:  I felt uncomfortable exposing my knees and legs. For the one time that I actually wore my shorts, I could have left them at home and had more space in my pack for presents.
• Heavyweight cotton t-shirts. They don't dry fast enough, and white is the worst color to bring! 

 Toiletries

Deodorant
Nail clippers	Finger nails get dirty really fast, so bring nail clippers that have an attached nail file.
Ear plugs	Five pair. Night life can be really noisy: horns, constructions, parties. You could also use them during the day to drown out all the honking.
Eye shades	Recommended for the plane to help with jet lag. Shades help to black out the light so your body can produce melatonin. This combined with drinking lots of water cuts down my jet lag by about 80%. Also, if your roommate is a night owl and you're not, you can go to sleep easier with eye shades
Kleenex pack	Once these ran out, I used toilet paper
Sunscreen	I brought one kind for my face (expensive) and another for my body (cheaper)
Toothbrush and toothpaste	Toothbrush, toothpaste (travel size), dental floss
Razor	You can use hair conditioner as shaving cream
Hair clips, elastics
Shampoo and conditioner	Even though they don't chlorinate the water, my hair got really dry at high altitudes and in the pollution of Delhi. Bring small containers and be sure to put them into a Ziploc bag; my shampoo bottle spilled into my toiletries bag after the first plane ride.
Moisturizer
Feminine products
Foot powder	Best to bring medicated foot powder that kills bacteria.
Face wash
Lip balm	If you bring the Bert's Bees colored lip balm, you won't need to bring lipstick
Soap bar or body wash	Doubles as laundry soap in a pinch

 What I would consider packing for the next time:

• Mascara



My toiletries bag, two weeks into the trip

Medication

Water purification tables	I brought the Micropur tablets because they remove cryptosporidium as well as guardia. Needed to leave it for 4 hours, so usually purified the water at night, ready for the morning
Water jug	Marked at the 1 litre level for purifying water
Water bottle	A 500 ml bottle that is easy to carry around during the day
Immodium	Very handy when you have traveler's diarrhea and you need to travel.
Hand sanitizer
Antibiotics	I took the Azithromycin as soon as the traveler's diarrhea symptoms occurred. Was cured in two days.
Advil, Tylenol, Aspirin	Recommend bringing brands you recognized as it's difficult to tell what is what in an Indian pharmacy
Mosquito repellent	The travel clinic recommended the Ugava brand that contains 30% DEET, which is scary stuff. But I chose not to have anti-malaria vaccine, so it was important to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
Probiotics	Buy the pearl tablets that don't need to be refrigerated
Grapefruit seed extract	I brought the pills, my travel buddies brought the liquid drops.
TUMS
Emergen-C	Small packets of 1,000 mg of vitamin C, which you dissolve in water. They really helped with high altitude sickness, and provided the vitamin C that I was missing with my new diet.
Mini first-aid kid	Bandaids, polysporin, aloe vera, alcohol wipes, etc.
Homeopathic travel kit	My travel kit was customized for my system by Nicole Duelli, a Vancouver homeopathic practitioner. It included Arnica, Nux Vomica, Ars, and so on.
Foot balm	I got mine in Mexico and will be very sad when it's all gone. It's a waxy substance that cures dry heels in a snap.
Daily medication	Bring your daily medication with you on the plane, in the original container from the pharmacy
Eye drops	The pollution in Delhi and dry mountain air can be hard on your eyes

Vaccines I decided to take (after much research and lots of hemming and hawing):

• Dukoral vaccine. But I ended  up with GI problems anyway.
• Diamox (high altitude medication). Originally thought I'd take it, but the side effects were so bad (it felt like all the nerve endings were electrified), that I stopped taking it after one dose. I didn't need this medication after all and just dealt with the headache and nausea with aspirin and ginger, and Emergen-C 
• Hepatitis
• Typhoid fever
• Tetanus, Diptheria, Polio

What I could have left at home:

• Moisturizing baby wipes

What I would definitely pack next time:

• Secaris nasal gel: to help with a very dry nose from high altitudes
• Ginger chews: to help with nausea from high altitude
• Gravol suppositories: when you can't keep anything down and you want to stop vomiting
• Melatonin: to help with sleeping at high altitudes
• Breathe Right nose strips: to help with inhaling oxygen at high altitudes
• Cough syrup/drops: who would have thought I'd catch a cold in India...
• Oral rehydration salts: I was lucky that the doctor brought these.



Toiletries bag used solely for medication

Household

These are the items that normally live in your linen closet, broom closet, laundry room, mud room, etc.

Microfibre wash cloths	I brought two--they were great for washing my face and cooling me down.
Ziploc bags	I brought two large ones, but could have used about four. Small Ziploc bags would have been handy too.
Plastic clothes hanger	These have a hook to hang and a ring with 8 clothes pegs so you can easily hang up wet clothes. It's a bit bulky, but I found it worthwhile and am glad that I brought it.
Umbrella	Buy one that is lightweight but sturdy
Headlamp	Having a flashlight on your head allows your hands to be free. Lightweight with a very powerful lamp.
Laundry soap	I brought liquid soap, but next time would bring a bar of laundry soap
Borax	To add to laundry or when rinsing out sandals. Cut down on smells
Dehydrated wiping cloths	These are great. They come in a pack and look like mint candies. But when you wet them, they unfurl and unfold into a sturdy cloth for wiping
Universal sink plug	Large, round flat rubber sink plug that fits over any sink hole.
Sharpie pen	Used this to mark containers and Ziploc bags
Scotch tape	Bought this during my trip and it turned out to be handy on more than one occasion
Travel scissors	The ones that fold up. Be sure to pack them in your checked baggage not your carry on
Travel knife	A folding knife to cut up fruit, etc. Be sure to pack it in your checked baggage! I lost mine on the first flight because I forgot it was in my carry on baggage. I kept missing it and ended up getting a plastic version from a kind fruit seller
Bedsheet	From what I could see, hotel linen and towels are washed by hand in the local stream or river. It's hard to get out some stains. So after inspecting one particular set of hotel sheets, I decided to buy a lightweight cotton double sheet which I folded over. Worked like a charm.

What I would definitely pack next time:

• Travel alarm clock--Hotels are not reliable for giving wake-up calls.
• Small Rubbermaid container--for leftovers at restaurants, mixing up a fruit salad
• Small notepad -- so I didn't have to rip pages out of my journal

Labelled Ziploc bag housing some of my household items

Plane and Train Travel 

This bag was great. Whenever I had to catch a plane or train, I just grabbed this bag and put it in my carry on.

Small microfiber towel	I personally never used this item, but my travel buddies did, so I'm leaving it in this list
Travel pillow	Small down-filled rectangular one from Mountain Equipment Coop. Rolled up in its bag, it makes a great back support while travelling. Unrolled, it provides comfort when the headrest is hard. (I would not recommend the MEC blow-up neck travel pillow that wraps around your neck. It chokes you--I will be returning it)
Luggage zipper locks	Small locks for your luggage zippers
Small bicycle lock for securing luggage	I bought one at the dollar store for $1. Good for securing your luggage to the underside of the seat in a train, and to a chair in the airport while you sleep. Worth the peace of mind
Ear plugs	For ease of falling asleep and blocking out all the noise.
Eye shades	For ease of falling asleep.
Toothbrush and toothpaste	British Airways gives these out on their flights, so I kept a couple and added them to my bag

What I would leave at home:

• Blow-up neck travel pillow from MEC

What I would definitely pack next time:

• Two tennis balls -- great for relaxing your hamstrings and back muscles on long trips. Just put them under your legs or down your back and lean on them.

Labelled Ziploc bag for plane and train travel

Electronics

Extra memory cards for camera	I took about 2,000 pictures on three cards 2GB, 4GB, and 32 GB (borrowed from Gordon)
Camera-to-PC connector	To upload pictures from camera to computer at Internet cafes.
Audio Recorder-to-PC connector	It's really interesting to record sounds when you travel. Sometimes these are more powerful and evoke more emotion than a picture or a video with sound. Plus, it was a great ice-breaker with the kids of Jamyang school.
Spare bicycle lock	In case I lost the key in my traveller's belt.
Battery charger for camera
Plug converter	From 120v > 230 V
Photocopies of important documents	This electronics pouch had a handy slot for important papers, so I kept them there.

What I would definitely pack next time:

• A travel document holder for my passport, boarding passes, photocopies of important papers, and so on. 
• Lightweight laptop / tablet PC / iPad
• Lonely Planet (pages ripped out)
• Contact information for drivers, guides, and hotels (duh! see the story)

Bag containing electronics, spare key, and important papers

Traveller's belt

This goes under your clothes, next to your skin. With all the sweating, you'll need to wash it frequently. Buy one that is cotton, not synthetic.

Two bank cards	In case your card doesn't work in an ATM, you can try the second one. This happened to me in the London Heathrow airport.
Travel insurance contact information	Usually you have to contact your travel insurance before getting services at a hospital or clinic. I wanted the contact info on me at all times.
Combination and keys	The combination for my luggage zipper locks and the key to my bicycle lock
Passport
Cash
Credit cards	Indian sellers don't like credit card transactions. They think the buyer will cancel the sale and then the seller is out of pocket. As a result, sellers charge a huge percentage on top of the price if you pay with a credit card. Didn't use mine ever; but it might be good to bring, just in case.

Traveller's belt

Daily over-the-shoulder purse

This is a small, over the shoulder lightweight purse that I bought in Mexico. Love it! It is also just the right size to carry my passport and boarding pass (when I'm pulling them in and out at the airport).

During a regular travel day, it holds:

• Small change purse for coins and small rupees
• My day's money 
• Ballpoint pen
• Waterproof camera -- It was lightweight and small enough to fit into my daily purse. Chose not to bring my larger camera with retractable lens because of the weight and because the risk of getting moisture on the lens that then retracts into the body of the camera--this can ruin the camera. I bought a waterproof Lumix with 10 x zoom and video features.

Daily over-the-shoulder purse

Daily knapsack

In addition to my daily purse, I carried around a smallish knapsack that held various items for a day's travels.

• Snacks
• Journal
• Water bottle
• Maps
• Hat
• Umbrella
• Prescription glasses
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Mosquito repellant