Packing is a learned trait, and well, I am an avid under-packer. Meaning that most times, if I don’t have it, I buy it. Since I was living on a ship that went to other countries for my semester abroad, I learned pretty quickly that I needed to pack more. Here are some things I didn’t need to pack and what I should have packed instead.
What I should not have packed
Scrubba Wash Bag
I wish I never spent money on this because while living on a ship, you need all the space you can get, especially if you are living in a small cabin meant for two to three people. This was supposed to make my laundry easier, but it made doing laundry harder and way more complicated than laundry should be. After using my roommates’, I said no more. I spent seven dollars after every country to have the ship clean my laundry rather than me doing it. This could also just mean I am a bit lazy, but it still wasn’t worth bringing.
Bathing Suits
For starters, I am not the best swimmer. Plus, we were traveling in countries while it was winter, so that meant it was cold, and the bathing suits served no purpose. The space my more than five bathing suits took up could have been used for more snacks. I mean you can’t go wrong with more granola bars.
Packing Cubes
I gave up using these as soon as my mother and I started repacking both my suitcases. These things became troublesome. For me, I think just rolling all my clothes would have been better.
Pairs of Shoes
I brought way too many shoes. I think I packed a total of six different pairs, and I only ended up wearing three pairs: checkered slip-on Vans to walk around the ship, black Vans for in-country travel, and a white pair of sneakers.
What I should have packed
Sometimes, when packing for a short trip like a three-day weekend or a full semester abroad, you always feel like you are missing something. When I went abroad I felt like I was missing something every single port, so for 11 countries, I was missing something that I probably needed.
My favorite brand of Tampons and Pads
Let’s start off by saying that European brands are missing the applicator so that was a bit of a shock. Every girl has their go-to brands, and well I did too, but sometimes when I was in certain countries, I was shocked to find out that European brands didn’t have an applicator. For the trip, I said no to tampons and went to pads until I got back to the States.
My favorite condiment – Whataburger Ketchup
After so many days, I was already missing home, and one of my favorite things is the Whataburger Ketchup, which is very different from normal ketchup. With the amount of french fries that I ate, I was always missing this. Plus the ketchup on the ship was a little too chunky compared to the smooth ketchup I was used to.
Emergen-C
Let’s just say if I had this and drank it at least once a day, I wholeheartedly believe I would not be as sick as I was. Being sick on top of being on a ship that induces motion sickness, I was in for a bad time. I kind of forgot I was living in an incubator with so many others on the ship. If one person gets sick, then we all get sick. And one of my roommates had it worse than me, so whatever she had, I would have the next day.
These were things I could have gone without and things I would have replaced them with. Sometimes, the small things could really make a difference in your experience and what could make it better. When you’re about to travel, so many things run through your mind, so you might forget something, and that’s ok.