Vietnam & Cambodia Packing List

As I write this, I am in Wisconsin where it is 6 degrees Fahrenheit, with a windchill of -13. But last weekend I was in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where temps regularly soared into the 90's. What a difference a week makes! Over the next few weeks I'll recount every little detail of our three-week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia (with short stops in Hong Kong and Japan), but I want to start with our packing list!

The Packing Requirements

This is a packing list for two 30-something adults (one male, one female) to spend three weeks in Southeast Asia in mid-late December. Our trip would start with 5.5 days in Hanoi, where the locals think it's cold (it was 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit), while the rest would be in hot and humid Cambodia and southern Vietnam. There would also be occasions where we would leave our larger bags behind and take backpacks only for one or two nights at a time.

While we did not want to over-pack, we did have the luxury of having other people carry our bags from the moment we left our house until we returned. So, we brought more than we would have if we had been dragging these bags to buses, trains, planes, etc. Also, we intended to do a fair amount of shopping on our trip, so we left with ample room in our bags for souvenirs. 

The Packing List

This is everything we brought, ready to be packed away. 

Clothing

• Swimsuit (1 each)
• Underwear (11 each)
• Socks (7 each)
• Bras (2 regular, 1 sport - for her)
• Short-sleeve shirt (11 each)
• Undershirts (7 for him)
• Long-sleeve shirt (2 each)
• Shorts (2 each)
• Skirts (2 for her)
• Pants (2 jeans each-wear 1 on plane, 1 capri for her)
• Pajamas (1 pair of sweatpants each, 1 sleep short for him)
• Sandals (1 pair each - we wore sneakers on the plane)
• Sunglasses (1 each)
• Hat (1 for her)
• Rain jacket (1 each)
• Warmer jacket (1 for him)

We were reasonably certain we would have at least one chance mid-trip to do laundry for free, so we packed with that in mind. Also, all of our warm-weather clothing was sprayed with permethrin, to aid in keeping the mosquitos away. As much as possible, we brought "dri-fit" clothing that would handle the heat well, and had the added benefit of not wrinkling while we packed. My shorts, capris, and skirts were all from Columbia, and they worked out really well.

My clothing (female)

My husband's clothing

How'd We Do?

I was pretty happy with what I'd brought, although I could have had an extra bra and an extra pair of underwear or two. I did a bit of laundry in the sink when necessary, and that was fine. Once we hit the warm areas, we had to be a bit creative because it was definitely a two-shower-per-day climate. So, we'd shower before dinner and then wear what we intended to wear the next day. My skirts had built-in shorts/underwear, so that helped to stretch under garments. :)

Aaron didn't really need the undershirts—it was too hot to wear them. He also didn't need his second pair of jeans. And, he wished he would have brought a hat to ward off the sun (I'm not going to say I didn't suggest it...).

Toiletries

• Shower poof (I just can't travel without this!)
• Face cleanser
• Deodorant (1 each)
• Toothpaste and toothbrush (1 each)
• Razors (1 each)
• Beard trimmer (for him)
• Nail clippers and tweezers
• Floss
• Lip balm (for her)
• Hair straightener (for her)
• Hair product (1 each)
• Leave-in spray conditioner
• Hairbrush and clip
• Hand santizer (1 each)
• Baby wipes
• Eyeglass cleaning wipes
• Makeup
• Cotton swabs
• Tissues (3 packages for her, handkerchief for him)
• Sunscreen (face, body, spray)
• Mosquito repellent (1 each)
• Medications (anti-malarial, anti-diarrhea, allergy meds, asthma inhaler, pain relievers, antacid, birth control, prescribed antibiotics)
• First-aid (band-aids, disinfectant, antibiotic cream)

Whenever possible/feasible, these were travel sizes. The facial cleanser was transferred to a 3-oz bottle, my hair product was jammed into an extra contact lens case, and I brought a 4-oz bottle of leave-in spray conditioner. For me, this product was necessary to combat the humidity and to give my hair a semblance of order while I let it air dry. Once we hit Cambodia, I saw absolutely no point in blow-drying my hair.

How'd We Do?

Had we wanted to trim this list a bit, we could, but it wouldn't make a big dent in what we carried. We always had access to toothbrush and toothpaste because we flew business class and stayed in high-end hotels. The same goes for cotton swabs. We always used the provided shampoo, conditioner, and body wash/soap. I'm very glad we brought all of the medications, but I'll get into that in a later post. The packages of tissues were absolutely necessary—I was often a very popular person in the restrooms that did not provide toilet paper. The hand sanitizer came in handy for that reason as well (although we only used one small bottle). Because we were on a guided tour, we were often given cool wipes whenever we returned from a hot tour, but for independent touring the baby wipes would be absolutely necessary if you sweat like me. I still ended up using them a few times. We absolutely needed all the sunscreen, and we ended up breaking into the second bottle of mosquito repellent as well.

Document, Gadgets and Currency

• Passports (and digital copy)
• Credit cards & debit cards (and digital copies of front and back)
• Passport photos and $50 each (for Cambodia Visa On Arrival)
• Cash for Cambodia (USD - $50 in $1 bills, $100 in $5 bills, $50 in $10 bills)
• Printed confirmations
• Electrical adapters (2)
• Wall power strip (includes 2 outlets and 2 USB)
• Chargers (4 lightning, 1 micro-USB, 1 laptop, 1 camera)
• External battery pack
• Computer (13" Macbook Pro)
• Camera (DSLR) and two lenses
• Guidebooks (2)
• Journal
• Kindle
• iPad
• Watch (1 each)

We absolutely used all this stuff with the exception of the external batter pack (which we never needed), although I struggled to keep the journal updated. Next trip, I want to force myself to journal every night until I'm done - or maybe early the next morning, if I'm jet lagged.

Getting It All In Our Luggage

This part was surprisingly easy. I had purchased a variety of packing cubes from eBags, and they were incredibly helpful. My stuff was orange, and Aaron's was green. I even brought an empty cube or two for each of us to use for dirty laundry and unexpected purchases. Here's how it packed up.

His clothes and toiletries

My clothes, toiletries, and our shared toiletries

Then, we just had to put them into suitcases. We each checked one bag that was well under the size limits for even the Vietnamese airline we'd be flying. We also added a bag of school supplies that we were bringing to kids learning English.

As you can see, we still had plenty of room for purchases (especially considering we'd be getting rid of the shopping bag), and both of these suitcases expand.

The gadgets, documents, and an extra change of clothes went in our carry-on backpacks, and I have a small shoulder bag that I use as a personal item. We utilized packing cubes and travel sacks to keep this stuff organized as well.

While Aaron's backpack (the burnt orange Tom Bihn Synapse 25) was great for the plane and for quick overnights, he needed to carry it around daily to keep his camera and lenses on him. He would have preferred a smaller bag for this purpose.

Final Assessment

I felt pretty good about how we packed for this trip. There was very little that we brought that we didn't use (because of great hotels and business class flights, and the fact that our phones were always in airplane mode, we'll leave that heavy battery pack at home next time). We ended up purchasing enough souvenirs to almost pack our bags full, but if that had not been the plan we could have condensed to one checked bag. Some of the folks on our trip packed much more than us, and while I did notice that they always had a fresh outfit for dinner, I'm very happy that I didn't have to be responsible for any more luggage.

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