Op trip to thailand? A surcharge for a suitcase or hand luggage that is too heavy is easy to avoid. In addition, an overfull suitcase is only annoying. You have to lug it around and it's a fight every time to get it closed.
In any case, make sure you leave the 10 items below at home when you go on holiday to Thailand.
1. Toiletries
Think about how much you need of each toiletry item - shampoo, conditioner, cleansing milk, after sun - and put it in small 100 ml plastic bottles. Leave the big bottles at home. Please note: you may only take such packaging in a transparent plastic bag with you in your hand luggage. By the way, they also sell shampoo in Thailand.
2. Holiday Books
We're not even talking about the '50 Shades of Gray trilogy. A paperback also means weight in your travel luggage and it also takes up the necessary space. Of course, you can only take one book with you and once you reach the "and they live happily ever after" swap the book with another traveler. An obvious solution is to buy an e-reader instead of a paper work.
3. Clothes
Of course you should bring some clothes, even if you go to the scorching hot Thailand but be ruthless when it comes to clothing. Put everything on before you leave. It is possible that you have gone too far in the sale so that the trendy raincoat is actually an unnecessary luxury and takes up too much space in your suitcase. Only go for clothes that are comfortable. No one in Phuket will see you wearing it for the 234th time.
4. Peanut butter
Are you afraid that you will miss a brown sandwich with (peanut) cheese? So what? Everything is different when you travel. That's the nice thing about vacation! Surrender yourself to another culture, get to know it with all its fun and strange customs. Forget the peanut butter and sprinkles. Enjoy a Pad Thai or a Tom yam kung in the shade under an umbrella on Koh Samui.
5. Hair dryers and curling irons
For many women, a hair dryer or a curling iron are indispensable. Just like mascara, which should always be on the eyes. Leave it at home for once. Imagine the freedom of not having to get up in time to shape your hair into the right style. Go for a just-out-of-bed look or a nice-tousled-beach hair. Show that you just came from the waves of the Amandan sea, not from the saloon.
6. Valuables
Even if your hotel room has a safety deposit box and the accommodation has 24 hour security, there are still many possibilities to lose your beloved belongings. Just because you're extra careful on the shadowy streets of dark Bangkok doesn't mean you can forget about your Rolex. Leave items of economic and emotional value at home. There's no point in taking them with you.
7. Towels
All hotels in thailand provide you with towels, so leave them at home. If you go for a light pack, bring thin microfiber travel towels or hammam towels that absorb moisture quickly, dry quickly and are light. A beach towel would be possible, but usually these can also be obtained in your hotel (for a deposit). If not, you can still buy them in Thailand, often dirt cheap too.
8. Travel Guides
Great to read in advance and to be inspired which temple you should definitely see in Chiang Mai. But a travel guide as thick as a telephone book is not useful. Take any travel guides with you on your e-reader. Or, if you really want to take them with you, copy the most relevant pages and discard any read pages.
9. Shirts
It is of course possible that you have to wear a shirt and tie during your holiday, for example when dining on a roof terrace of the luxurious five-star hotel'lebua at State Towerin Bangkok. But it is almost always impossible to get an ironed shirt out of the suitcase wrinkle-free after a long journey. Buy it on the spot or look for a 'laundry service', where your shirts will be ironed for a small fee.
10. Fireworks
…and other prohibited items such as: baseball bats, party poppers and household knives. They are not allowed on the plane.
Additional tips.
1. I would even advise you to take little or nothing with you and to go to the first 7-Eleven you find.
2. Holiday books. In Bangkok and Chiangmai, among others, there are many second-hand bookstores where you can find reading material for next to nothing. Many in English, yes, but usually also a Dutch-language selection.
3. Clothing. You can also buy on the spot at markets. Many 2nd hand offers too. Don't take too much with you. On the street you will find many laundries where you can have the laundry done for 1 euro, and you will get it back ironed! Just make sure that the laundry is not mixed with that of other backpackers 😉
4. Also try the 'soup kitchens', restaurants with plastic chairs with large silver pans in the front where you can point to your favorite dish.
5. Hair dryers and curling irons. You can go to the hairdresser in Thailand for next to nothing. Men even only for 1 euro!
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8. Also ideal for travel information. It really is full of internet cafes in Thailand. For sometimes even less than 50 cents per hour. High speeds often, relaxed seats. Printing is also possible.
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Dear Editor,
Just a small addition to the tips: There are a lot of book shops / markets in Thailand with second-hand Dutch books. So here too you can buy a reading book for little. Peanut butter is also for sale in the Big C, so if you do want to enjoy a peanut butter sandwich, this is possible and you want to take it with you from the Netherlands, you can also buy it in travel packaging such as small packs of peanut butter, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate spread, etc., but almost everything is available in the Big C. And telling a woman (woman herself) to walk with a holiday coupe without your trusted hair stuff is not a good idea for everyone!!! But I regularly go to the hairdresser in Thailand to wash, cut and blow dry for 200 baht and in almost every hotel room there is a hair dryer and hair straighteners can also be bought for little on the market.
Don't buy an e-reader! Just trade your book with others! Your horizons become much wider that way. You come across writers you would normally never read and you learn what you like or don't like…
I even have two: one for the day and one for the night when I can't sleep. Just got off a long train journey from Butterworth to Hua Hin and was delighted with it. No heavy books, but a super light e-reader. And as far as authors are concerned: there are so many books available on the internet, you won't find them in any store in Thailand. I have never read so much and varied since I own an ebook reader!!!
supplement;
Many travel guides can be downloaded. Both for Android and Apple.
Bring your smartphone, ereader or tablet.
Immediately saves kilos of luggage.
You can also leave the books at home. Just read digitally.
If you use Wi-Fi:
Read the article before using WiFi.
http://Www.computeridee.nl
Take clothes with you as little as possible.
European foodstuffs are increasingly available in tesco lotus or bigC extra
As far as clothing is concerned: don't take too much with you to Thailand, then you have enough space to take the clothes, which you can buy there for next to nothing, back to the Netherlands.
Many medicines are available in Thailand and many times cheaper. So is the anti-mosquito spray with deet and the sun cream.
I never forget my piece of Sunlight soap. That piece of soap replaces bubble bath, shampoo and detergent for small laundry. I limit photo equipment to a digital device the size of a pack of cigarettes, photos remember what people forget, so take it with you! My necessary luggage weighs no more than a few kilos and I have never been short of anything. Everything, absolutely everything, is for sale in Thailand at reasonable prices! And yet I take the maximum allowed weight of luggage with me. My bags, suitcases never use, are filled with worn clothes from my children and people from my environment. Just give those clothes away, people will thank you for it.
regarding valuables: scan everything - travel documents, passport, credit cards, etc. - and save it in The Cloud or send it all to yourself by email just before you travel, so don't collect this email at home!!!!
If something is lost on holiday, you can always retrieve all the necessary data about the missing thing by logging in with your provider or in YOUR Cloud!!!
As for clothing: bring at least one pair of long pants that are not intended for winter if you plan to visit temples. Because you can't go in there with shorts. Nice idea to buy clothes on the spot… and although a lot can be made there, the ready-made clothes are more made for the average Thai (in terms of length and width) than the average Dutch or Belgian. So if you are already taller or wider than the average Dutch or Belgian: take just a little more clothing with you. The rest of us can indeed succeed there… but just to be on the safe side: one long pair of trousers for the temple visit.
This Paul of 192 cm (and believe me with the corresponding large long pants size), buys his pants and XXL shirts in Thailand, but usually at shopping centers in tourist areas. (eg in Bangkok at Central Chidlom and Tokyo.) Only Thai sizes are available at the same Central stores in suburbs (often much larger in area than on Chidlom). There is also a market for large sizes here (I have not been there myself but I have noted it): Thursday morning at the market in Srinakharinwirot University in Sukhumwit at the end of soi 21 and 23.
Have a nice trip!
Paul, same story, I'm 1.90m all the clothes I need in Thailand are just for sale there, except Converse All Stars that only go up to size 45 and believe me I've searched all the big stores between Bangkok and Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Had Yai but larger than 45 really nowhere to be found, so if you know an address for that; please, I am recommended.
Regards,
Lex K.
All great tips! As a novice 16-year-old traveler 26 years ago, lessons were soon learned. You will be amazed at how many useless things you take with you, even if it is just too much clothing. You notice that when you leave, stuffing your suitcase with unworn things, shoes you didn't need, etc.
In Thailand you can get everything you may have forgotten.
Good tip, already mentioned above, the toiletries: buy them locally. They do sell your brand, and it's cheaper than at home.
But in my case, the biggest problem with being overweight was invariably on the trip. You buy souvenirs, t-shirts, real or fake Levi's pants, and what else… Be homo economicus AND homo logician here too. Only buy that souvenir for the one person who asked about it. You often give souvenirs to friends, those gadgets are nice but often end up quickly in some drawer or storage room; how are you yourself?
If you buy new clothes, good quality at a low price is really worth it here, you can leave your worn things somewhere (temple?) or leave it in the room.
Whatever is possible, sending packages by boat. Takes a long time, but it arrives and costs no money. Have done it many times and never missed anything. Think of clothing, Thai formica crockery, that original rice cooker for your Thai knowledge at home, pok-pok, small household goods, paintings (have them boxed in wood), sofa cushions with elephants in gold thread (;-) in short, everything that does not really need to be in your luggage .
Good trip!
Five years ago I got an e-reader for my birthday and it is the most beautiful and most used gift I have ever received.
It saves a lot of weight in the suitcase (and I can leave my reading glasses at home!)
When I go on vacation now I don't have to choose which books I want to take with me.
I now just put about 150 on my reader and see on the spot which book I'm in the mood for.
Do take with you: (hand luggage of the Dutch (partner)).
1. Passport
2. bank card with cirrus/maestro etc and possibly 1 extra as a reserve to be requested from the bank.
3. credit card.
4. medicine passport
5. then also the medicines.
6. in between (changeover) clothing if you have a stopover of more than 4 hours somewhere.
7. washing and shaving equipment for 2 times (stopover and on arrival in bkk).
8. telephone/smartphone or something for making ……….
9. about 100 euros pocket money (maybe less) but if you have cash you can do something.
10 things to read on the go.
11. face mask, earplugs, neck pillow, support (elastic) stockings (counteracts swollen feet),
We also have clothes in my wife's house and with her parents. So we don't need that. can buy everything else locally and since it is so cheap at markets, etc. why would you take more.
My wife's luggage (Thai).
Just about everything that is available in terms of clothing, food and possibly gifts.
The clothes I want to throw away (humanitas) are neatly packed and taken away for everyone who encounters them.
That also applies to that old kettle, sandwich maker, electric knife, iron, pressure cooker, waffle iron, what was in the Christmas packages,
Of course you have to bring canned pineapple, don't forget chocolate (usually a soggy mash when you unpack it, but still). Candies, salty peanut shelled peanuts, cheese (chopped, of course). smoked sausage, schincken (smoked german ham). salt sticks, beer, wine(s), and spirits, etc etc.
Wine and spirits for father, brother-in-law, uncles, cousins etc.
Always make me laugh. Mine is 1.53 and at the airport she disappears behind the boxes that contain everything.
Oh yes Moving boxes are light and go into the hold as special luggage. Outside the normal bands. Chance of missing on arrival half less than suitcases. Tape it off well or wrap it with plastic if necessary.
For people who have too much weight a tip send it with fedex, dhl, nedloyd etc. and pick it up in Thailand itself. Do not have it delivered (saves costs).
Hi Lisa,
After having visited Thailand and other Asian countries several times, I can assure you that this will not work. I have a normal size 38 by 1.73m.
A beach (smock) dress and sometimes a t-shirt maybe.
I still prefer the Italian and/or French fit. Literally and figuratively; a world of difference!
I now travel to Thailand the 57 times and enjoy every time what people take with them.
ok I also have my own Senseo in my house and I take the coffee with me from the Netherlands, but you don't have to take much with you.
All European shower cleaning products can be purchased in Thailand and are often cheaper than here.
what is not or sporadically for sale are cleaning agents for oral hygiene.
For example, steradent for teeth is almost impossible to get in Thailand and Pyralvex for blisters in the mouth has been removed from the shelves.
I recommend taking the latter with you to Thailand because mouth blisters are very annoying and you can get them quickly with the manual dishwashers in the kitchen.
A kilo of cheese in your luggage is also delicious at 29 degrees by the pool with a beer.
bring three wallets and distribute cash over your body when you visit the famous markets in Bangkok.
you can lose at most a third of your holiday money if you are not careful. if someone runs into you immediately watch out behind you because at the same time you have lost your money from a second perpetrator.
otherwise a wonderful country where I want to live for good in a year and hope never to have to return to the Netherlands. What is also important is never to put hand luggage in the trunk of a taxi.
you're screwed at the first traffic light if you have the wrong one.
write down the taxi registration number at all times.
wwer written enough and deviated from the theme.
I hope to have contributed something useful and wish everyone a nice holiday or stay