Backpacking Archives - Tinytrekkers travel the world with kids.

Go stingy but be efficient.

I get people asking me “where would you buy clothes from” and my response is “a clothes shop”.

It might sound obvious but many people think that only the Western world has shops that sell stuff. In actual fact I genuinely can’t think of anything you can’t buy and that isn’t readily available in most countries we’ve been to.

Of course not everyone wants to take an empty bag and then go shopping in situ, and so we always take everything we need, topping up or replacing items as we go.

I should also point out that you can get laundry done at most budget hotels/hostels and independently all over the world and the general cost is around $1 per kg.

What you pack you carry, it’s that simple.

Clothes

Generally we pack for about a week, with enough underwear to last a week, but with my daughter I have learned she finds it almost impossible to keep her dress/t shirt clean for more than one day and so I take her a few more things so she is clean every day.

An obvious point to note is that when a dress is dirty the whole thing needs washing, but with shorts and a t-Shirt only one would require the laundry.

My raincoat is Gor-Tex and so is 100% waterproof (believe me it has been put to the test many times) so that when we are caught in the rain, all the important items are protected.

Additionally many religious sites require females to have their heads/shoulders/legs covered and for men to wear trousers. Requirements for children tend to be relaxed. For women a sarong is very versatile and so it’s worth picking one up.

Additionally my son and I always get bitten by mosquitoes on our ankles and so now I tend to wear trousers. I wear thin Nozi Life Craghopper trousers.

I won’t patronise you by listing the clothes you should take, but generally I take 3 bottoms, 2 shorts and 6 T shirts. Climate should be kept in mind and whether to bring cold weather clothing.

First Aid Kit

There isn’t a time I have gone away and not needed the first aid kit. I carry quite a comprehensive kit suited to our needs and my capabilities. I am first aid trained and so have confidence in my abilities and know that there are times when medical aid in situ carried out by myself will be safer than taking the kids to a local hospital. I would urge any family traveling to have at least basic first aid training, schools and St John Ambulance run half day courses which are often free. We all hope to never need the skills, but it is better than wishing you had them if something does go wrong.

The First Aid Kit is kept in a well marked and easily accessible bag.

Paracetamol

Bandages assorted sizes

Vitamins

Ibuprofen

Plasters Assorted sizes

Bite Relief

Rehydration Salts

Eye Wash & Ear Buds

Sunburn Relief

Antiseptic Spray

Anti Malarials (if required)

Safety Pins & Scissors

Antiseptic Cream & Sudocrem

Antihistamine

Butterfly stitches

Spray Plaster

Hand Wash

Skin Glue

Documents & Money

As a single dad traveling with kids there are some requirements that I am told you need to adhere to. In practice though I have never been questioned at immigration, other than when returning to the UK. I have never needed to provide any proof of custody or needed letters of consent. That said, my children have my surname and so I expect this is the likely reason. Still, I carry documents with me just in case.

On the issue of money, what I have in the list bellow is the minimum I have with me at any one time. I ensure that I have enough to get out of wherever I am whenever I should need to. I carry my day to day cash in a wallet, but my emergency credit card in a safe, well hidden place – And not an obvious money belt!

Documents Money

Passports Debit Card

Letters of Consent

Fair Fx (currency card)

Proof of custody

$200 USD Cash (mixture of denominations)

Itinerary

Driving License

Flight Tickets

Hotel Confirmations

Passport Photographs

Equipment & Miscellaneous

I take various pieces of equipment with us when traveling. Some I would consider essential, such as a mobile phone, but others are things that can make life easier for kids. We aren’t by any means a techy family, but I ask a lot from my kids and sometimes, for my sanity and theirs a good movie watched on their tablet is enough to keep everyone happy on the long journeys.

In terms of the miscellaneous items we take, these are usually to keep us going for the first couple of weeks. I know you might read and wonder about hair conditioner, but the heat absolutely hammers Abi’s hair, it really dries it out and leaves it looking like straw. Conditioner helps keep her looking and feeling female!

Additionally I pack a laundry bag so we can put our dirty clothes together and then get them laundered easily.

Bathroom bag with all needed amenities

My Phone/Charger

Camera/Batteries/Charger/USB

Ipad/Charger/Sleeve/USB Connector Shampoo & Conditioner

2 x Universal adapters

Shaver/Charger

Bungees

Wrist bands (with my mobile number on)

Bags

A good quality bag is essential. I take an Osprey Aether 70, whilst the kids carry a bag suitable for them. For example the teens have 35L bags, the others have 20L and just so my 4 year doesn’t feel left out, he has a little 10L. bag./

Boots

We each take a pair of good quality, waterproof boots. You don’t need these if you don’t plan on going trekking, but believe me trekking in sandals is tough and carries obvious risks.

Also, when it is raining feet tend to slip about in sandals and you run the risk of infection if your feet are cut and then submerged in the dirty water.

Putting your boots on for the first time at the foot of a volcano and heading off for a 2 day trek is not the time to find out if your boots fit. As with sandals, ensure all footwear fits properly and is suitably worn in.

A final note:

Obviously this is what we take, it must be adapted to suit the individual or family. Remember, there is unlikely to be many things that you want that you cannot buy once abroad.

Always ensure you have waterproofing available for your most important contents. I take a few plastic bags, but the reason for this isn’t in case we get caught in the rain, because there will almost always be some kind of shelter available. My reason is that sometimes you bail to shelter and then realise the rain might continue for hours. At this point I spend five minutes waterproofing our stuff, donning rain coats and then heading out into the rain knowing our things are protected.

For info on what to pack for young children and babies click here.

Usually when we plan summer, it is done so about 8 weeks in advance. The reason is more-often than not an indecision of where to go and what to do. So, when Christmas 2015 rolled around my wife and spoke about what the year ahead would hold for us. Inevitably summer 2016 came up and we discussed heading back to the United States, possibly camping, hiking, but mainly holidaying. We remained undecided. A day or two later I was browsing twitter and secretflying (an account dedicated to finding error fares and unusually cheap flights) showed up return flights from Prague to Dubai, with Aeroflot for about £90 each. I checked flight prices to Prague (about £20 each return) and realised that we could be in Dubai, for the whole summer for about £110. Nothing is ever that simple, and there was just three seats available, we booked them for Gemma and our two eldest children, we would worry about the remainder of us later.

A week or so went by and secretflying came up with flights from Madrid to Mumbai, India for an incredible price with Iberia and British Airways. And that was that, we would all spend a summer in India and the planning began.

Now, I love India, it is easily one of my favourite countries, but it is very hard to travel. The heat, constant sweat, food issues, sanitation, and impossible bureaucracy make India an exhausting place. Nothing makes sense and procedures are a myriad of illogical confusion combined with a country where time is irrelevant. A perfect example; Flying out of Delhi a couple of years back I was ushered into a queue just prior to security. Indians hate to queue, and so it was organised chaos. Added to the fact women and men must queue separately I was trying to keep an eye on my young daughter who wasn’t allowed in my queue. Twenty minutes’ pass, and at the front of the queue a guy looks at my hand luggage and gives me a tag. I am then sent to another queue. Turns out, that first queue is to ensure you are allowed to actually queue for security… Baffling, pointless and completely illogical.

My wife had travelled India previously and we both agreed, 6 weeks in India was too much. After a lot of discussion, we decided that we would head to India for a few weeks, go hiking in Nepal and then have a week in Dubai. Simple.

Not so. Anyone that travels with kids will know and agree that making the decision of where to go is a single percent of the overall effort of a summer away. Weeks of planning turned into months, every element meticulously pored over, our youngest is just 4 years old, we had to get this right and having spent the last three years in the United States, felt like we had forgotten how to backpack. Piece by piece things came together, and, after the longest time spent planning any summer trip, it was finalised.

Summer 2016

The summer looks like this:

Gemma, Charlie and Megan fly to Mumbai via Prague, Moscow and Abu Dhabi. I fly to Mumbai with Abi, Jack and Toby via Madrid and London. We all meet in Mumbai (we land within 2 hours of each other). We then all fly up to Udaipur together where we have a house reserved for a few days to catch up with ourselves and time changes. We then travel north taking in some of our favourite places such as Jaipur, Agra and Amritsar. The trip then splits, Gemma takes the youngest three to a wonderful Alpine like paradise called Manali (and one of my favourite places in the country), whilst I fly to the far northern city of Leh at the foothills of the Indian Himalaya with the two eldest. Gemma will spend time in Manali paragliding, cycling and hiking, whilst we will hike high passes, cycle the highest road on earth, bungee jump and white water-raft (amongst other things). We will then all meet up back in Delhi for some respite before Gemma flies with Charlie to Kathmandu, on to Lukla and then begins the three passes hike, a spectacular high altitude trek through the Everest Region taking in Everest Base Camp and three of the highest passes on earth. Meanwhile, with the remainder of the kids I will travel up to Rishikesh, Haridwar and then make our way across northern India to the land border crossing with Nepal at Sunauli. We will then wind our way up towards the gorgeous lakeside retreat of Pokhara, before setting out on either the Annapurna Sanctuary trek, or Poon Hill. I say either, not because we are undecided, but the Annapurna region (like much of Nepal) is still recovering from the massive earthquake that hit the tiny land locked country in April 2015. Once in Pokhara I will know better, whether Annapurna is safe for hiking with kids.

Gemma and Charlie will make their way to Pokhara after finishing the Three Passes trek and we will head there from Annapurna. After a few days relaxation we then fly to Dubai where we have a car hired and a gorgeous apartment for a week of travelling the Emirates and having some hard-core beach time.

A lot of people might wonder what the point of going away as a family, but spending parts of it divided. We wanted this year to tailor the trip to all the kids, whilst the younger ones want to play in rivers and paraglide, the older ones want to sky dive and go rafting. Whilst Gemma and Charlie want to hike the Three Passes, the others would rather a less intense hike. Will it work? I am confident, there has been so much planning gone into this, but we have also left a lot of room for manoeuvre allowing the trip to remain dynamic.

This opening post is an insight into what should be an amazing summer. 19 flights, 8 long distance trains, 6 countries, 200 miles of Himalayan trekking, 5 kids, my wife and I, and a whole lot of hope.

Here’s to returning to backpacking, to travel and to each other.

Let’s do this 🙂