My Packing List: Lessons Learned and Offered

When I was preparing for Peace Corps service in lovely Namibia, reading blogs like this one, scrolling the PC Nambia site, and cruising about from medical lab to police station to PC headquarters and back to the medical lab, I came across a lot of recommended packing lists.  Gosh, they recommended a lot of stuff.  So I started making lists, which eventually coalesced as a spreadsheet, with headers like, “Work Clothes,” “Workout Clothes,” “Office Supplies,” “Hardware,” “Camping Gear,” “Personal,” and “Luxury.”  I listed everything the lists recommended, and then started my pruning.  You cannot bring everything the lists recommend; not in two suitcases, a carry-on and a personal item.

A few notes about those suitcases, that carry-on, and that personal item.  My group flew on South African Airways, ticketed through United.  They were kind about the checked bags, and overlooked a bit of overweight here and there.  However, you should try to distribute weight evenly between the two checked bags.  Several people had one seriously overweight and one underweight bag, and had to re-pack on the terminal floor.

They were pretty strict about the carry-on:  THEIR WEIGHT LIMIT FOR A CARRY-ON BAG IS EIGHT KILOGRAMS, or 17.6 pounds.  They might let you go over by a kilo, maybe even two if they’re in an especially sunny mood, but they confiscated a lot of carry-ons from my group, and checked them through.  If you want to keep a change of clothes or two, toothbrush, and your laptop and camera with you on the flight (all recommended), weigh that stuff and pack it carefully.  Also check the dimensions of your carry-on; US airlines allow slightly larger ones than many non-US airlines do.

No, you cannot bring a giant tote weighing 15kg and claim it is your purse.  But you can bring a small knapsack as a personal item, and judiciously distribute your heavier, most precious (steal-able or break-able) things between that and the official carry-on.  Good luck.

Bear in mind, too, that several of my colleagues brought just one checked bag, the carry-on and the personal item.  If they can do it, maybe you can, too?

I packed a large, wheeled suitcase and a large backpack as my checked bags.  I had my wheeled carry-on, which got confiscated for overweight and checked through at no charge.  My knapsack was the personal item, frantically stuffed with everything I most wanted from my carry-on.

I’m using everything I brought.  Here’s some of the more useful items, organized as a house tour:

Everything but the truffle salt acquired at Shop Rite.
Or maybe Spar.

A lot of the packing lists recommended bringing your favorite spices.  I didn’t, really, and it’s been fine.  So far I’ve found everything I want in the shops, and at reasonable prices.  That said, I get to shop in Swakopmund, which caters to European tastes, which are similar to North American tastes, so maybe I get an advantage in that.  But none of my colleagues have complained about not being able to find spices.  Great beers, yes; but not spices.  That said, if you have a particular taco seasoning mix or prepared curry blend that you love especially, you should consider bringing some as a special treat.  I brought a small bag of truffle salt a friend gave me (thanks, T!), thinking it might be amusing to fix myself truffle popcorn during my Peace Corps service.  I was right; it is.

I like having good knives, but they're definitely not essential.

A couple of lists also suggested bringing good kitchen knives.  Since I have a set, I brought the chef’s knife and the sandwich knife, the two I use most.  They’re not heavy and don’t take much room in the luggage, so I’m glad I did.  I could have bought good knives in Swakop, or used less-good knives from the grocery store, but either choice would have made a serious dent in my settling-in allowance, and the grocery-store knives mandate a lot of sawing.  There are, of course, worse things in life than sawing.  I did buy a bread knife (serrated) in Swakop, since I bake my own; it cost about $150, which was less than $15 US, but is 8%!! of my settling-in allowance.

You can decide for yourself (you’re welcome) what electronics you love best.  One good trick is to buy a used, unlocked smart phone on Ebay or similar; then you can just get a sim card for it in country and you should be ready to roll.  iPhones are way expensive here, so they’re definitely theft-magnets; Samsungs are much more common and so excite less interest.

 

You will need a power adaptor, which you can buy in Johannesburg Airport easily and not expensively.  (I forget what they cost, actually.)  The Namibian outlets, like the South African, are a triangular configuration of one large and two smaller round holes.  The brilliance of the adaptor is that it’s configured to accept a jillion different devices, including US two- and three-prongs, and the European plugs on the cheapo dumb phone you’ll probably buy here.  Brilliant!

 

I bought the multi-device plug device in the US to bring with me.  I plug it into the adaptor when US friends visit, and everyone can charge at once.  It’s great.  You should have one if you’re a multi-device kind of person.  It also has two USB plugs at the top.

The black cord is for my phone.

cozy!

I did not bring a sleeping bag with me, as I did not own a good one.  So I waited for PST shopping day at the Maerua Mall in Windhoek (Cape Union Mart, I think; you can hold out for Cymot if you want the Namibian chain), and got this super-fab one for less than $900, or about US$ 70.  That’s a great deal versus what I’d have paid at REI, although maybe you can get a good used one for less.  It’s rated for freezing temps, which is sufficient for any part of Namibia, and I use it as my comforter/blanket whatever at home, as well as for bedding when I visit other PCVs and on my one camping trip for work.

 

I brought my Camelback and its bladder – empty, of course, for the TSA.  If I’m going to be traveling or hiking I fill the bladder the night before and put it in the freezer if one’s available.  The ice melts all the next day, and if I’m just driving around like on a trip north, it will last two days or a bit more, and stay cold for a lot of that.  Weather depending, of course.  Ice water.  Yum.  I also brought the big backpack, which is great for longer trips as it’s much easier to transport than a wheelie suitcase in most towns and villages, where road and sidewalk surfaces may be a bit rough.  The red duffel bag collapses to very small, and it’s light.  For shorter trips, I use that – the sleeping bag at one end and clothes for three or four days at the other.  I magically look less like a tourist with a duffel bag than with a backpack.

 

Toiletries are cheap here compared to the US.  Do not stock up on generic shampoos or lotions at 

Piz Buin is the PC sunscreen.  Instant ice packs are handy
if you have them, but not worth a special purchase unless
you bang yourself up a lot.  Fisherman's Friend is the best
cough drop in the world.  Tastes horrible (unless you like
licorice), but highly effective.  Practically anaesthetic. 

Costco; you’ll find something just as good and a lot lower priced in Namibia.  Of course, if you absolutely must have the special-brand curl tamer with night-blooming jasmine juice or whatever, you probably won’t find it here.  That said, it’s pretty dry in most of Namibia, so your curls may tame naturally...  I brought spray sunscreen because there was a big sale at CVS and it’s the best way to protect my back and shoulders from sunburn.  I also picked up some of the special face-sunscreen, so my eyes don't sting.  Peace Corps will provide you with lotion sunscreen, dental floss, eye-wetting drops, lip balm, aspirin and all its many relatives, throat lozenges and a malaria self-test kit.  They don’t provide aloe for when you do sunburn yourself.  They should.  I’m going to mention it again.

I brought a big terrycloth towel.  I wouldn’t do that again.  It takes up too much room, and since line-drying is a given, even if you’re one of the few lucky enough to get an automatic washer (I don’t know whether any of us have one, actually), the towel won’t stay soft and fluffy.  Friends gave me a travel towel, and that’s much better.  (Thanks, C&K!)  It’s light, compact, absorbent, and quick to dry.  It’s good to have a spare towel when friends visit, but pfui on friends who didn’t bring their own gosh-darn travel towel.  Maybe you could bring two travel towels if you have generous US friends.

Gardening gloves!  I use them at the garden and for picking up trash in my yard.  The wind is strong here, and everybody's garbage blows through my yard.  I'm not big on dirty diapers at the best of times, and when I don't know whose they are, they somehow seem especially icky.  I am so glad I brought my gardening gloves!

I did not bring my yoga mat, since it's a very awkward shape to pack.  Instead I bought a mat at Totalsport in Maerua Mall.  I think that was the only place anyone ever found an exercise mat.  It cost $280; about US$25.  That's high, right?  Since then I've heard of travel yoga mats -- I'd look into that if I were doing it over again. 

Family and friend photos, in hard copy!  Most PCVs decorate with these in some way.  Thanks to everyone who donated to the collection (K&K, R, M, J, another J, L).








Along the lines of the truffle salt, I brought a lovely tea set that used to soothe my workday afternoons at the office.  Now it's a treasured trifle that makes me smile even when I don't have time to brew a proper cup of tea in it.  Thanks, C!

 

That's a lot of posting, right?  I'll do a separate one about my work wardrobe.