A Day of Packing

Tomorrow we head to Dar on the first leg out our holiday (vacation) to South Central Africa. A journey that will hopefully take us to Malawi, Zambia and Botswana. We’re going to be traveling by Boat, Train, Coach and Plane and if you are interested you can follow our journey on a dedicated blog Victoria to Victoria.

Today has been a day of packing and as we are planning to save costs by camping, we need to squeeze in our recently purchased tent along with the clothes.

It’s probably a good thing as it limits the clothes we will take (I am never good at choosing what to take!). Once in Dar we’ll re-jig  for our onward journey, but planes have rules and needs must.

Almost a year ago we were packing in a much bigger way as we were approaching moving day and leaving England for Tanzania – time has flown fast.

A Month to Go

A month to day it will be Christmas and in 5 weeks time the year will be done. Where has all the time gone?

Things We Wish We’d Brought

The other day we received two packages from the UK. One of these contained a much needed and forgotten item Oven Gloves – something we had regretted not bringing from the UK. Another contained a Memory Foam Pillow for my daughter (again left behind in England). Thanks to Mum and Sister-in-Law!

This got me thinking about all those things we didn’t bring to Tanzania that I wish we had have done! Most are not major but little items that are difficult/impossible to find here. Here they are in no particular order.

Memory foam Pillows
I wish we had packed all the pillows- unfortunately three still remain in the UK. They were really comfortable.

Coffee Maker / Cafetière
Although I have one cafetière here I really need two – one for home and one for work. The work coffee is not too good and although I drink it O miss my real coffee – especially since I picked up some proper coffee beans in Serengeti.

Potato Masher
They don’t make such things here and though a fork will do it’s not quite the same

Saucepans
I wanted to bring saucepans, but in the end there wasn’t enough space in our cases. The saucepans here have handles which heat up making them unable to be held (except for oven gloves 🙂 )

Wok
Frying pans are fine but a Wok is much deeper and better in cooking. We certainly miss our old wok and they are reasonably pricey here.

Lamp
We brought one – I wish we’d brought more. The less harsh light they provide would be superior to ceiling lights.

Whistling Kettle
Although we have bought an electric kettle a gas kettle with a whistle would be better – especially during power cuts.

AV Connectors
We brought our Blu-Ray player but there’s no way to connect it to our agony TV. I had a Scart to AV connector which wold have been perfect.

Secateurs & Trowel
We have a lovely garden but access to basic tools like Secateurs and a Trowel would have been helpful. As we plant new things in the garden.

Hammer
I very nearly brought a hammer and screwdrivers – weight was a deterrent – just for things like putting up pictures and minor DIY.

Tent
If only we had not deflected from our original plan of brining a tent. Camping here has been good and would allow us more freedom to explore. We have borrowed this far but at some point we will look to getting one. We thought that hear would be a problem – but you don’t spend a day in the tent and nights are pleasantly warm. Of course we would also need other camping para

Camping Chairs
Not just for camping but good put up chairs for whenever you need them. Really useful and wouldn’t quite fit in.

Juicer
Something we will have to get – so much fruit and veg here and an option to juice would be great.

Wine Glasses
We didn’t realise quite what a rarity these would be over here. Drinking out of a straight glass isn’t quite the thing.

Printer/Scanner
Another item we would have liked to bring though completely impractical . Apparently you can get them here but for now we do without.

Overtime we may be able to pick up all these things. For now we do without and life goes on.

All Packed Up!

T Minus 2
Late last night we finally completed our packing (barring a couple of last minute things). It was a mammoth job and in the end we’ve “bitten the bullet” and bust our weight allowance. As we’re moving to Tanzania rather than going on Safari we are comfortable with this and prepared for the added costs. There is still a tidy up to do – we couldn’t face that at midnight but we’re done.

Today we sell the car and hire one for the last two days. It’s an Estate Car and we’re gonna need it! Then hopefully an afternoon where we can chill and actually spend some time with our hosts.:-)

Back To Pack – Back To Reality

T Minus 4

The title says it all, we have returned to Abingdon, where we left two weeks ago to go on holiday.

After two weeks away we must face the reality. When we left our house in MK we weren’t quite ready. The last few hours involved dumping everything else into bags, boxes and cases with very little time to sort. We have purchased things in Newquay and Lincoln which we need to take and need to be more ruthless with that we still possess.

So today we embark on the task of resorting, repacking and dumping the remainder (and it’s still a big remainder!).

We are almost certainly going to exceed our limit – but we need to reduce this to a minimum. We have electronic weighing scales and we need to get to as as close as 2x 23kg per person each as possible.

This is an early post ’cause there’s still lots to do, so we’d better get on with it!

Here’s a video of a song from the early ’90s based on my blog entry (not).

Shopping for Tanzania

T Minus 9

Today has been a shopping day in preparation for Tanzania. Traffic in Lincoln was as bad as ever so it took much longer than expected.
Even so our spree resulted in shoes for all (2 pairs each) ;school uniform for our kids; a work suit for me (linen – for the hotter climes – not sure if I’ll need a jacket but useful even so); a mini camera and an iPad Air (our iPad 1 being on it’s last legs) to add to our collection of electronics – we feel this important and necessary in our transition and will provide some semblance of normality along with the laptops for work etc.
We have also plumped for trekking towels – I found that these worked excellently in Vietnam /Cambodia last summer and are do much less bulky than the traditional material. It’s a bit like drying with a chamois leather but very effective and they dry so quickly.
I really don’t know how all this is squeezing into the luggage, but needs must.

T Minus 10

T Minus 10

Time is flying fast and although much has been done, there still seems a number of things we need to do before we go and time is ticking.
We realised last night was our last in the UK as a foursome as we sat round the campfire at Petruth Paddocks in Cheddar
Son goes off to Soul Survivor (a youth camp) for 5 days whilst we three head for Lincoln. We regroup for the last frantic days of packing and repacking at Anita’s parents Abingdon but there we will be six.
Not until Tanzania will we have an evening together alone as a four.

Temporary Tennants

T Minus 23

So here we are – temporary tenants in our old home. Yesterday we exchanged, however, our buyer is content for us to remain in situ until the weekend. So begins the last three days in MK and the final clear and pack. It’s a big job, but we’re glad to have Anita’s parents down to help out. Time is definitely against us and do much is now being tipped or given to charity including stuff we’d rather have sold but such is the way of things.
Difficult decisions lie ahead there is no way I can take all the clothing I want too!