Keep your Rucksack safe !! and other Nepal Packing List Tips

Luggage And Bags: If you are travelling Anywhere and using a Rucksack / Backpack as your luggage then I would Strongly recommend that you use some form of Rucksack / Backpack Pro-tector !!
This tip is from my own personal experience, as I have had Big Problems having my Rucksack damaged or even destroyed by airlines, particularly on Airport Carousels,
What can happen is that one of the straps can drop in-between the lats on the moving Carousel and then as your Rucksack goes around a corner, the strap gets ripped off, I lost the entire back and carrying system from one of my rucksacks !!
I have tried many of the Rucksack / Backpack Protectors that are available on the market and was disappointed with how they performed, So after having many problems with these decided to design and manufacture my own.
Full details of how this came about are written up on my Nepal page.
So, Obviously my own recommendation would be to get your Rucksack / Backpack Protector from Pro-Tector.




Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: Also, after successfully designing, producing and selling the Rucksack Pro-tector for several years, I have now introduced some new lines such as a Pro-Tector Travel Wallet and a Pro-Tector Document / Valuables Travel Pouch.
If you think that any of the above would be of benefit for yourself on your own travels then please take a look at my web-site at Pro-Tector.

Miscellaneous: The photo here is from this year, March 2007 and shows Nina retrieving her rucksack, safely packed away inside its Rucksack Pro-tector from the carrousel at Kathmandu Tribuvan Airport

I used a rucksack pro-tector again on my 2008 trip and am pleased to report that it Pro-Tected my rucksack well, Both on the journey out, as well as the journey back home again :-)

You can now see a video clip of my Rucksack inside a Rucksack Protector safely arriving at an airport by clicking
Here

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Luggage And Bags: For the journey out there

Day Sack
Pouch
Money
Travelers Cheques
Passport
Air-Tickets
Train Tickets
Insurance
Flight Sweets
Address book
Visa application form (Dowloaded and filled in with photo stuck in place)


Wear
Boots
Thurlo socks
Walking Trousers
T shirt
Fleece





Miscellaneous: Nepal Kit List (Trekking)
Rucksack and Pro-Tector
Good Sleeping Bag (Buy or Hire)
Fleece Liner / Cotton Liner (Depending on Season/ Trek)
Down Jacket (Buy or Hire)
Boots (Well broken in)
Thurlo x 3
Inner sock x2
Evening sock x 1
Outer Gloves
Inner Gloves
Head-band
Snood
Sun-hat
Waterproof / Windproof Jacket
Walking Trousers
Long Sleeved thermal T-shirt x 1
Short Sleeved thermal T-shirt x 2
Trekking Boxers x 3
Long Johns
Towel
Wash Gear (compact)
Sun Block
Sandals / Trainers
Shorts x 1
Fleece jumper
First Aid pack + Any extra medication
Glasses
Sun Glasses
Digital Camera + extra batteries + charger & leads
35 mm Camera + Films & Spare battery
Battery charger
Water Bottle (Sigg / Metal Type)
Water Purifier
Powdered flavouring agent for drinking water (Vitamin C)
Pocket knife
Head Torch
Trekking Pole(s)
Guidebook / Maps
Snacks

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Miscellaneous: Insurance is Very Important in Nepal, You need to have a policy that includes High Altitude Trekking (Obviously if you don’t intend trekking then this does not apply) and make sure that it covers “Casivac” (Casualty Evacuation).
Then once in Nepal you have to register your insurance, either with your Embassy or with your trekking agent
If you don’t do this then the Himalayan Rescue Association require a payment of around $3.000 BEFORE they will send a helicopter to rescue you !!

Some people buy there insurance in Kathmandu, fo details on how bets to do this visit
http://www.himalayanrescue.org/hra/heli_rescue.php

Personally, I have used “Columbus Direct” (08708940005) for my last 2 trips to Nepal and they cover high altitude trekking on recognised paths as well as the usual lost baggage and cancellation clauses etc
My last annual policy with a 60 day trip limit was £99 so not so expensive either.

Prior to using Columbus I was with Direct Travel Insurance and they badly let me down on my 2006 trip to Nepal when the British Government put a warning to travellers out on Nepal.
I rang Direct Travel Insurance to see how my cover was and they said if I chose to go in spite of the British Government put a warning to travellers then I wasn’t covered, They also said that I wasn’t covered if I cancelled my trip because If I cancelled then I was doing so of my own volition and hence no cover – So basically I wasn’t insured if I went and I wasn’t insured if I didn’t go – talk about the Best of both worlds, For the Insurance company that is

Good Luck
Rob

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Phone: 0870 894 0005
Website: http://www.columbusdirect.com/

Miscellaneous: In Nepal it is never a good idea to rely entirely on ATM’s as apart form the load-shedding (16 hours a day in January 2009) they aren’t readily available apart from in Kathmandu and Pokhara (also1 in Jomsom and 1 in Namche last I heard) and the few that they are can be out of order.
So, Personally I always take a wedge of travellers cheques backed up with a small amount of cash.
As to which currency, Take a small amount of US $’s, these are handy to use buying your Visa (I know that theoretically you can buy this with any exchangeable currency, but $’s are the one that the immigration officials are most used to dealing in and you probably get the best deal using them) Buying snacks en-route to Nepal, using for emergency hard cash in Nepal and then you have the possibility to use up any remainder buying duty-free at the end of your trip.
For a little extra back-up / emergency cash, Living in UK, I always take a few £’s, If you live I the US then take $’sand if you live in the Euro-Zone take a few Euros along, In fact most “Hard” currencies can easily be exchanged in Kathmandu.
As for travellers Cheques, I would your home country’s currency where you can, why pay two lots of exchange commission, Unless you can get a better deal in your home country buying $’s / Euro’s that is !!

Good Luck
Rob

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Miscellaneous: Some people ask what they can take to Nepal to Help the people there --- well pens are Always a good Idea -- maybe it isn't such a Good idea to hand them out to children along the way as this encourages begging so what I do is save up all the free pens that are sent through the post and pop them into my rucksack when I go trekking and when I get to a particularly remote school go in and give them to the headmaster -- I Always get a Good reception and something that otherwise would probably be thrown away and end up as land-fill Really Does help the Local Children trying to gain an education !! and it also gives me a good feeling knowing that I have at least tried to do that little something to help !!

2006 -- With All the Strikes and political problems that Nepal has had recently this tip probably has More value now that when I wrote it in 2004 -- Happy Travels in Nepal -- Rob

I took another batch of pens with me again on my 2008 trip and distributed them to schools in Upper Mustang, Again they were well received and I still think that this is a good idea !!

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Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: There are a Lot of things that you can buy Very Cheaply in Kathmandu for your trek, Down Sleeping Bags and Down Jackets, Adequate fleeces, Windstoppers, Waterproof Jackets (They say “Gortex” on the label and invariably aren’t – But they keep you dry enough but don’t expect them to breath !!), Trekking socks and trekking trousers.




Miscellaneous: But
Personally I would buy the following before you set off from Home
Trekking Boots (Make sure that you have broken them in)
Rucksacks, You can buy Rucksacks at a fraction of the price in Nepal to what one with a similar label would cost you at home, The problem is however that All these rucksacks tend to be fakes and often fall apart quickly. Also the carrying systems aren’t nearly as good as the genuine item. If you are doing a trek as a one off, then with careful buying then you can get away with a fake (Make sure that the stitching is good and give a good old Hard Tug on the carrying system) But if you are going to be using your rucksack a lot then Personally I buy mine at home !!
Technical underwear (2 ways to go and down to personal preference, Natural Fibres such as Angora or Technical, Such as Dry-Flow, Polar Tech etc (Both work well, I usually opt for the latter simply because it dries quicker)
I have listed my own personal favourite trekking gear shop under Shopping Tips and have posted my own Nepal Kit List under Packing list tips – Both might be worth a glance.

Happy Trekking
Rob

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Photo Equipment: .

Charging Batteries whist trekking ??

This is now an often asked question, The answer is yes, there are facilities for charging batteries but the problems are two-fold.
1) If you are trekking in the height of season then you will often be competing with Lots of other trekkers for these limited facilities
2) The charges made by some lodge owners can be somewhat outrageous.

So – You should take Lots of extra batteries / Power-packs with you, try and keep them as warm as possible and then have a mass charge up whenever possible



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