A month through Asia with hand baggage

I did it!!! After many attempts to leave home my wardrobe closet and pounds of cosmetic products when I leave by plane, I have exceeded my expectations and traveled a month through Asia with only hand baggage. Towards the end of the holiday I did not resist and bought 2 trolleys I filled 🙂 It was not at all easy, I’ll tell you right away. Meanwhile, watch this trolley funny that I ordered and can not wait to get it, I’ll write about how it can be personalized a little later 🙂

How I decided to go with hand baggage only

The story began with the first long flight, three years ago, when we left for the first time in Thailand. I was very excited and I wanted absolutely nothing to miss. I browsed the internet, I got to know everything I needed to have, I made my priority list, but on the day of my departure I had two big trolleys at the door, plus hand baggage. Which I left with 🙂 Although I had 4 months to prepare my baggage and not to take unnecessary stuff with me, nothing had any effect. I turned the closet upside down and concluded that I would need some more fancy dresses because it would be hot, so I bought some dresses. But if it rains, what will I do? So I took a coat in the luggage+ jeans + shirts. But if we were attacked by the Asian mosquitoes? I also bought insect lotions that I obviously did not use, because Asian mosquitoes only recognize local products 🙂

On the cosmetic chapter, another story. I knew that in Asia the humidity was very high, but believe me, that did not stopped me from buying mascaras, foundations and waterproof lips and eye pencils. After making sure the cosmetics kit was complete with makeup brushes, makeup and other stuff, another dilemma created my strong insomnia: should I take my hair plate or the hairdryer? Hard, very hard I decided and granted all the advantages of the hair plate. The strongest of them was the fact that my hair is naturally curled, and at high humidity it wrinkles hard and turns me into a broom with a hair thrown in all directions.

The outcome?!? It was terribly hard to carry two trolleys and hand luggage filled with stuff we did not use! The hair plate was totally unnecessary, I could have had the straightest hair in the world, as soon as I was out of the room it was all curled up. I never used my foundation or makeup because it all flowed on me. Jackets, jeans and other clothes stayed in the hotel room in Bangkok, because I bought many bottles of coconut oil on the weekend market and had to place them in my baggage.

Through Asia only with the backpack

And this is how my mind came to my senses, and at the beginning of this year, when I left for a month in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, I took with me only a hand bag, plus a small backpack in which I put the camera. This time it was even harder! The cabin baggage should not exceed 7kg, and if I add that only empty it weighed 2kg, I think you understand what I’m saying 🙂 I will still stick to the idea that for men things are much simpler 🙂

But most of all I was glad I had only hand baggage when I reached the beaches of South Cambodia where it was very warm and barely wearing my shirt, I do not know what I would do if I had to run a trolley on the sand even at a distance of 10 meters.

So I had to drastically reduce the number of things that I put in my backpack and took with me only the very important stuff I could not have stayed in Asia without or I was not so sure about that I can find them in local shops.

What I put in my hand baggage

1. • 4 shirts
   • a thinner jacket I wore on the plane
   • 2 pairs of shorts
   • glasses
   • 2 pairs of sandals and a pair of flip-flops
   • 2 very thin dresses
   • some intimate products
   • sunscreen face cream
   • phone + charger + headset
   • power adapter
   • external battery
   • some cosmetics in travel size
   • cold pills and digestion pills
   • xerox copies of all documents (passport, ID card, insurance)

What I did not take with me, though I should have

• nail kit – I suffered enormously that I did not have it, but I had no choice because it is not allowed to get nail kits in my hand luggage. I bought a piece from each country where I arrived, and left them at the hotel room every time we left:-)
• swimsuit – I strongly believed that the shops at Cambodia’s beaches are full of swimsuits, but I was mistaken

What I bought from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia

• Because we did not make any vaccine when we left the country, as soon as we arrived in Laos, we bought mosquito solutions that we used every day. There were a lot of mosquitoes, especially as Luang Prabang is crossed by the Mekong River, and any ride on the waterfront could have had ugly consequences.
• Long trousers with elephants I wore in the evenings when it was cooler
• Nail clippers kits
• Body cream with sunscreen
• Phone cards
• Jewelry

I would have wanted to buy a lot, but I could not exceed the limit allowed by airlines. The beautiful part was that for the other airlines I flew with, I had no limit of 7 kg, which allowed me to buy from Vietnam a bigger backpack 🙂

How I came back from Bangkok with 2 trolleys

After Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, Thailand  followed, where we only stayed for 4 days. And because we did not have enough time to go to the islands or the North, we chose to stay for 4 days in Bangkok, walk around and shop. That’s how I spent a whole weekend on the weekend market where I bought everything that went through my head: clothes, coconut oil, body creams, shoes, souvenirs. All of this filled 2 trolleys plus hand luggage

Another kind of trolley

Also searching for various models of trolleys on the internet, I found this copy that can be imprinted with your face, your beloved / girlfriend or whatever goes through your mind. I want to say that to me it seems a funny idea to have a trolley that you can not easily confuse with another and be different. If you are fun enough and print your face on the trolley, recovering your luggage at the airport is not a risk for someone to cry over for having accidentally taken their trolley 🙂 Plus I find it interesting as a gift idea for people who adore to travel 🙂 If you like the idea, find this type of trolley here.

With or without luggage, travels are part of our lives. I wish you many beautiful excursions and I would love to know if you would like to cross the world with such a trolley.