Saudade (n.): A nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant; “the love that remains”
There’s no better word to describe what we are feeling. We are back from an amazing trip to Ladakh and utterly homesick for a place that is not home!
With the mantra of “Pack Light, Pack Right” in mind, in our previous blog, we had drawn up a definitive packing list for the trip. Now that we are back, as promised in that blog, we are writing this to revisit and rate our packing list. Let’s start with a quick recap of the trip itself:
– Ours was an uncomplicated first time visitor’s itinerary; intended to explore Ladakh at a leisurely pace and avoiding any arduous activities like trekking, biking, hiking or cycling
– We covered Leh city and its neighbouring sights, Nubra valley (overnight stay), Pangong Tso (overnight stay) and the Alchi-Likir route on a day trip
– The trip spanned 10 days starting second week of July; temperatures at the time varied between 7 degrees to 32 degrees
Here are the major hits and misses of our packing list. We have also rated each item on the packing list on a scale of 0-5 depending on its usefulness for our itinerary.
A special thanks to Bragpacker.com for advising us on the gear we need and ofcourse providing them. With their superlow rentals, loading up on all their gear is a no-brainer.
HITS:
Clothes
Luggage
Toiletries
Essentials
Photography Equipment
MISSES
Clothes
Toiletries
Essentials
Photography Equipment
Food
Our scores against each item on our list is updated in the table below.
Items | Usefulness Score | Comments |
Luggage | ||
Rucksack (Deuter) | 5 | Detailed review above |
Backpack/Suitcase/ Hybrid | 5 | Wheeled Deuter Helion |
Day Backpack | 5 | Detailed review above |
Transport Cover | 5 | |
Camera bag | 5 | |
Packing Cubes | 5 | |
Clothes | ||
Thermals (Upper & Lower) | 1 | |
Leggings/ Jeggings | 5 | |
Jeans | 5 | |
Full sleeve tees | 5 | |
Half sleeve tees | 0 | Don’t help with layering when cooler and it’s just too sunny to wear just half sleeves |
Knits/ Light Sweaters | 5 | |
Jacket with outer windcheater shell | 5 | |
Night Wear | 5 | |
Woollen Headband | 5 | Very useful in windy conditions and at high altitude passes |
Woollen Beanie | 3 | Limited use since it doesn’t offer any sun protection; a headband with a cap is a better bet |
Cap | 5 | Used everyday. Hat would have been better |
Woollen Gloves | 5 | |
Woollen Socks | 5 | |
Regular Socks | 5 | |
Stole/ Muffler | 5 | |
Protective Arm Sleeve | 0 | Needed only if cycling or biking |
Travel Towel | 0 | All camps and hotels do provide towels; but it’s good to have one anyway |
Photography | ||
DSLR Camera | 5 | |
Telephoto Lens | 5 | |
Prime Lens | 5 | |
Tripod/ Mini Tripod | 5 | |
Selfie Stick | 5 | |
Camera Remote | 5 | |
Travel Essentials | ||
Flashlight with spare batteries | 5 | |
Safety Alarm | 0 | |
Pepper Spray | 0 | |
Pocket Knife | 0 | |
Sunglasses | 5 | |
Photo ID – Original, Copies | 0 | |
Photo ID – Attested Copy | 0 | |
Garbage/Plastic Bags – Wet Clothes/ Trash | 0 | |
Books/ Kindle | 5 | |
Thermos | 5 | |
Car Charger/ Adaptor | 0 | |
Portable Umbrella | 1 | Used only once |
Portable Blue Tooth Speaker | 2 | Didn’t end up using much; our cab drivers had good playlists on 🙂 |
Footwear | ||
Keds | 5 | |
Slip On Sneakers | 5 | |
Flip Flops | 5 | |
Toiletries | ||
Sunscreen – SPF 50 | 5 | |
Body Lotion | 5 | |
Face Cream | 5 | |
Foot Cream/ Vaseline | 5 | |
Lip Balm – SPF | 5 | |
Shampoo & Conditioner | 5 | |
Shower Gel | 5 | |
Face Wash | 5 | |
Toilet Paper | 0 | |
Toothbrush | 5 | |
Toothpaste | 5 | |
Mouthwash | 5 | |
Wet Wipes | 5 | |
Dry Face Tissues | 5 | |
Sanitizer | 5 | |
Deodorant | 5 | |
Soap Strips | 0 | |
Cotton Wipes | 5 | |
Food/ Misc. | ||
Dried Fruit | 2 | |
Premix tea | 2 | |
Granola Bars | 3 | |
Chocolate/ Books to distribute | 5 | |
Medicines | 5 |
A few other sundry thoughts:
Our idea before this trip was to travel as light as possible and yet be well equipped. The combined weight of two check-in bags was 26.5 kgs, well within permissible limits. And despite that, we felt there was scope to optimise some more. Again, thanks to the awesome gear from Bragpacker, we were able to really save on our pre-trip shopping for this budget trip without compromising on the quality of gear that we carried.
We hope you found our two blogs useful; do feel free to post your comments and queries here.
Happy travels!
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