Preparations, and their small annoyances

French version here

Logistic

And here we are! The departure is tomorrow and I'm finally ready! You could tell me it's about time, and you are right. But I tend to be confidence in the time I have and I was not totally wrong. I did not imagine what preparation implies. You have probably guessed previously, mine was not that simple.

I had planned to travel during 1 year. Unfortunately, my project was cut in half. Even if I ended up accepting and thinking that everything happens for a reason, I did not make that choice. What happened? After an oral agreement to stop my mortgage for a year my bank (Crédit Agricole, agency of Saint Philippe in Biot for the one who lives in South of France) came back on its decision. Of course, their refusal did not come fast enough. No no they left me time to organize, leave my job, find my replacement at work, book my flights, take my travel insurance and so on ... And of course, no commercial offer to satisfy an angry and disappointed customer. At the end everything was settled since I was able to arrange with my work and my travel agency!

What do you need to prepare before a long leave?

At home:

• Find a tenant for my flat

• Change my car and flat insurance

• Transfer mails

• Terminate all contracts (mobile flat rate, electricity, internet ...)

• Find the best cat keeper (and it was not easy task to find and trust the right person)

• Manage my bank

• I probably forget some tasks

Travel preparation:

• Prepare the itinerary (countries I wanted to visit, countries to be removed when I had to change the duration, the logical order of countries according to geography and weather). I did not detailed too much the itinerary, the idea is also to define the details during the trip

• Define your budget, save (I for my part recovered my salary savings and rented my apartment in airbnb during the summer)

• Choose the travel agency. After making several quotes, I chose Zipworld. A French agency, responsive and honest

• Choose your travel insurance. After talking with friends who did travel in the past, I chose Chapka, a specialist in travel insurance

• Medical check-ups and vaccinations

Travel Bag

During all my preparations, I had 2 small voices in me. One was saying, "You never know, it can be useful", the other more reasonable, I was rather saying "do not take too much, the bag will be too heavy to carry for your frail shoulders". Yes, I am not alone in my head, and I am finally bringing it to light!

After this long mental torture, my bag is ready. 11.4KG in the bagpack (the same weight as mine schoolbag for secondary school dixit my mother) and 4.6KG in the small backpack that I will keep with me. 16KG in total. I'm not sure that the voice of reason won, but I'll tell you later if I did well or not!

How to choose the bagpack?

Decathlon was my best friend during my purchases. Huge fan of Decathlon, I did not need much thinking. Indeed, already it is a French brand but in addition let's be honest, they propose very innovative products at very affordable prices. I already had a 60L decathlon bagpack that I like a lot. For the brand no doubts, I remain loyal. My doubt was about the volume. After reading several feedbacks and talking with friends who had been travelling for a long time, I decided to reduce and leave with only 50L. According to my readings, a bag too heavy is quickly a huge constraint.

I am delighted because this bag is super practical, I can easily tidy my stuff up thanks to its suitcase effect when opened and it has plenty of pockets.

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I also chose to take a small bag (10L) to transport my electronic equipment and relieve a little my back. I will wear this bag at the front when I'll have the 2.

I customized my bags with little gifts from my girlfriends, so I will easily recognize it😊

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What is inside those bags?

Filing a bag of 50L is also saying goodbye to my heels, dresses or other tops to favor usefulness and comfort (once again thank you Decathlon).

In the bagpack:

• 1 coat that folds like a sleepingbag (warm, light and does not take up space) and 1 k-way

• 1 fleece sweater

• 1 long sleeve undershirt

• 1 breathable sport T-shirt, 8 tops and T-shirts and 1 shirt

• A cardigan

• 2 shorts

• 1 jean

• 1 legging

• 2 pants

• 9 underpants

• 7 pairs of socks

• 2 swimsuits

• 1 pajamas

• 1 pair of sneakers (which will serve as hiking boots)

• 1 pair of flip-flops

• 1 pair of sandals (it's my girly side who decide)

Other:

• 1 toilet kit including a solid organic shampoo and soap and Marseille soap for laundry (it takes much less space, once again I will see when I will use it)

• 1 pharmacy kit

• 1 headlamp (I planned 2-3 nights treks)

• 1 cotton sheets

• 1 pareo

• 1 very fine shower towel

• Several notebooks (gift from buddies who either saw some liberation in writing either know my goldfish memory)

• 1 agenda prepared by buddies filled with words and photos

• Photocopies of my passport, insurance papers and flight reservations hidden at various locations in my bag

Computer equipment and photo:

• Surface pro

• an e-book

• Iphone

• 2 lens Pixter

• 1 GoPro qu’un ami m’a prêtée

• 1 charger with 3 USB plugs

• 1 Reflex camera (I hesitated a long time before taking it, but always this little voice pushed me "just in case". If it bothers me too much, I will leave it to my friends who will visit me)

• 1 GoPro that a friend gave me

As you can see it, I'm not a great photographer. For all that the photos are for me a way to keep memories.

So you have seen the perfect bag for a stylish girl!

Anyway, now it's done, I have probably forgotten things, taken some I will not need, but it will be ok 😉