Packing list

It’s been a while, but I’m pretty proud of my packing skills, so I’m moved to blog again. I remind myself somewhat of a truly annoying American I once shared a Sicilian train carriage with, who ground up his soap flakes in a blender and sawed off the end of his toothbrush to save space. He was one of the most boring people I’ve ever met, and the journey was long and excruciatingly slow, but I still remember him over 20 years later, so I’m sure there’s a lesson in that somewhere.

So, packing.  On Thursday we’re off to Greece for four weeks, yes, I know, we’re jammy, and yes, Steve is able to get that long off work, one of the advantages of never getting pay rises. We’re flying Ryanair, as they’re £500 cheaper than Easyjet, which translates into an extra week in Greece.  But I’ve not heard great things about Ryanair and losing luggage, and they charge through the nose for check-in bags, and the queues for check-in at the airport are ridiculous, so we’ve decided to go hand luggage only.  It’s not as mad as it sounds, last year we flew hand luggage only to Switzerland by mistake after a fire alarm meant we almost missed our flight and had to hastily re-pack our bags and sprint straight through security. The kids are old enough to carry a decent sized bag; the boys have age appropriate kids’ backpacks and Eve is using my daypack. Steve and I have our trusty RTW backpacks, which we’ve taken the back support out of to make them shorter (I’ve obsessively measured everything about three times) and I’ve packed them very lightly so they’ll squash into the bag measurer. Then when we reach Greece we’ll re-pack so the kids aren’t carrying much and our bags are full.

Here’s what we are taking:

• 1 fleece each
• 1 hat each
• 1 swimming outfit each (kids have rash vests as well as bottoms)
• 2 swimming towels
• 1 pair of flip flops and 1 pair of trainers for me
• 1 pair of crocs for kids
• 1 pair of hideous but practical trekking sandals purchased in Broome, Australia for Steve
• 1 pair of PJs for adults and Eve and 2 pairs each for boys
• 2 pairs shorts/skirts each for adults and Eve
• 3 pairs shorts each for boys plus one pair extra
• 3 tops each for adults
• 4 t-shirts each for kids
• 1 pair of trousers each
• 1 long sleeved top each
• 5 pairs of pants each and 2 bras for me
• 1 silk sleeping bag each
• travel sized shampoo, toothpaste, suncream, moisturiser etc which we’ll replace with normal sized ones in Greece
• earplugs
• sanitary protection
• packet of tissues, hand gel and packet of baby wipes
• hair brush
• flannels and ziplock bags for cooling down on the go (put wet flannel with added ice cubes in freezer before you leave the house)
• first aid kid including steri strips, gauze, piriton, paracetemol and sting stuff
• 2 inhalers and spacer
• passports, print outs of ferry tickets, insurance stuff etc
• 2 iPhones, iPad mini with apps (games, Kindle, Greek language), audio books and a couple of movies and Kindle with books for kids and adults
• travel speaker
• charger, leads adaptor, headphones and splitters
• 2 re-usable shopping bags
• 4 guide books
• 3 paper novels
• kid’s activity book and blank notebook
• felt tips and pencils
• 1,000s of loom bands
• man bites dog card game
• dice game
• inflatable beach ball

I’ve packed the fleeces, but obviously we’ll be wearing one outfit, long sleeved top, trousers, pants, and all the shoes will be worn except for my flip flops.  We plan to visit a toy shop in Athens and buy the kids a couple of souvenir toys or games.  If we buy lots of souvenirs, we’ll have to post them home to my mum, but I’ve also packed mostly really old clothes, so some stuff may stay in Greece.

That’s it! It all fits easily in the bags we’ve got and I don’t feel like we’re having to do without. There will be quite a bit of washing to do, but if you’re going away for that long, you expect it. I’m pleased that we’ll be able to hop on and off ferries with relative ease.

What have I forgotten?