Travel Series: Packing Tips for India

Hi Bellas,

One of my greatest loves is traveling.  So in addition to the beauty content I have featured on this blog, I will also have a new travel series.  My first post is a video with international packing tips.  I recently traveled to India and did a lot of research on what to bring.  Hopefully this helps some of you who have upcoming travel plans.  Check it out!


Check out the video!

I went to India during mid April with a tour group.  I had one carry on and one check in luggage.  My packing tips may be a bit different if you plan on traveling lighter i.e. backpacking.  However, I think I packed pretty adequately especially as a woman traveling in a conservative country.


Clothing

  • Packed in Flight 001 Packing Cube
  • Try to avoid skimpy tops that show your shoulders or too much cleavage, and avoid bottoms that show your knees and thighs
  • Black and white tank to layer underneath clothing
  • Scarf - one to two, great for blankets on cold flights and bus rides to to cover your legs and shoulders for religious site visits
  • Try to pack clothing in material that you can easily mix and match, wicks away sweat, is lightweight and doesn't show stains (i.e. prints and darker colors)
  • Various short sleeve cotton tops in various colors
  • Long sleeve button ups to layer - i.e. denim chambray top, traveler's white button up with vents
  • Capri pants - alternative to wearing shorts, purchased on eBay
  • Linen pants - great for hot weather, purchased on eBay
  • Printed Jogger pants - purchased on eBay
  • Convertible hiking pants, can be unzipped into shorts, purchase on eBay
  • Harem pants - purchased on www.harempants.com they look like local Indian pants
  • Not mentioned in video - bathing suit (for hotel pools)
  • Hat
  • Bras, Socks, Underwear
Purse
  • Cross body bags are great for security and so you can be hands free
  • Travel tissues
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Wet ones
  • Travel toilet paper roll (they often don't have toilet paper in bathrooms)
  • Medicines - pepto bismal
  • Sunglasses
  • Passport holder - passport, plane tickets, money, pen
  • Travel hand soap
  • Selfie Stick
  • Gum
Shoes
  • Sneakers/Walking Shoes
  • Toms - slip on shoes great for taking on and off at religious sites, i.e. Taj Mahal
  • Black Flip flops - great for shower, walking around
  • Dressy sandals - you can dress up your outfit with these and mine wrap around the foot so they're a bit more sturdy than regular flip flops

Carry-On Bag (Backpack)

  • Earbuds
  • Chargers
  • Toothbrush/toothpaste if you're on a long plane ride
  • Socks for cold feet on plane rides
  • Sheet face mask - great to pamper/moisturize your skin
  • Medicines - airborne and tummy medicine
  • Sleeping Eye Mask
  • Ear plugs
  • Quart bag with liquids - hand lotion, hand sanitizer, lip moisturizer, eye drops, allergy meds, sleep aid pills, travel lysol, travel pepperment oil (many great users for travel)
  • Paperwork and documents - travel print outs, visas, copies of passports and credit cards, empty envelopes and note pads for leaving notes and tips
  • Guide book
  • Kindle
  • Eyeglasses/extra contacts
  • Large Scarf (great for a blanket on your train ride)
  • Umbrella (for rain and also to protect you from scorching sun rays)
  • Water bags with carabener clips (easy to clip on bags instead of holding a water bottle)
  • Travel luggage weight
  • Snacks - granola bars, protein bars, candy
  • Neck pillow - Cabeau Evolution pillow, just got it and it's awesome


Other

  • Empty grocery bags/ziplocks
  • Travel Converter - India uses UK plugs
  • Duct tape
  • Mini travel backpack (my husband wore this when we walked around)
  • Expandable travel duffel (great for bringing souveniers back home)
  • Medicine bag - first aid kit, emergen-c, cough drops, allergy meds, immodium AD, pepto bismal, vicks, antibiotics, headache medicine, alka seltzer, hydrocortisone cream
  • Travel Clorox Wipes
  • Chargers - I recommend bringing a surge protector so you can get multiple sockets out of one travel converter
  • Sunscreen for face and body
  • Bug Spray and Bug Bite Cream
  • Febreze to go
  • Laundry detergent packets with clothesline and drain stopper (purchased as a pack on Amazon)
  • Wash cloths or loofah (they didn't have any in our hotels)
  • Toiletry bag with whatever toiletries you use
  • Hair supplies - hairbrush, hairties, headbands, leave in conditioner, bobby pins, dry shampoo - I brought a flat iron with me but didn't even use it
Makeup
  • Travel powder brush
  • Travel eyeshadow blender blush - Sedona Lace EB09
  • CoverFX Powder Foundation
  • Make Up For Ever Sculpting Brow Pencil and Senna Cosmetics Brow Gel
  • Senna Eyeshadow/Blush palette
  • Make Up For Ever Aqua XL eyeliner in black and brown
  • Mascara (I didn't even wear any)
  • Undereye Concealer
  • Travel Makeup Setting Spray
  • Aquaphor lip moisturizer
Travel Tips
I know that if you travel to India, you'll most likely visit the Taj Mahal.  Here are some of my tips
  • Go early in the morning to beat the heat and crowds.  We were there around 7am and it was perfect.
  • You can't bring a lot of things inside with you.  They have metal detectors and bag checkers.  Some items prohibited include:  cosmetics, gum, food, flashes
  • Once you get into the mausoleum, you need to take your shoes off or buy shoe covers.  So heads up in case you want to wear socks.  You also can't take pictures inside the mausoleum but you can get plenty of great shots outside.  There are a lot of pro photographers who will try to take your picture and sell you prints.
  • The locals can get pretty aggressive with selling their wares so heads up!