Kitting out

Fifty days on the road

When one starts to travel one acquires new priorities and needs new ‘kit’. Here’s what I have acquired in that time (from top to bottom, left to right).

BUCKET (almost out of view): excellent for soaking laundry and as an emergency ‘fridge’ for keeping drinks cool. Cost > 2 Euro. Source: Spanish family ironmonger. Good Value

THERMOS FLASK: I dropped my old one on  a tiled floor, cracked the lid and it became leaky L. Excellent for keeping a supply of cold water to hand while travelling (or hot coffee should the need arise). Cost almost 20 Euro, source Spanish family ironmonger. Rather more than I would like to have paid.

AIR MATTRESS AND PUMP. I didn’t have time to buy an air mattress before leaving Brussels.  Found one on the ‘swap table’ at the Permaculture International Convergence, to my inordinate gratitude,  I had a comfortable weeks’ camping.  My neighbour had an air pump that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket in car.  I thought I want one of those.  Cost 12 Euro: Sources, Permaculture swap table and Leclerc. 

WATER BOILER: for those days when you are in a hotel and just want a cup of tea before getting dressed to go downstairs for breakfast. Cost almost 20 Euro, source a French ironmonger. Shame they only had the pink packaging!

MINIRIG!  A true indulgence, a powerful speaker that plugs into your laptop/tablet. It doesn’t need an external power supply and is so powerful that it can keep a barn full of people dancing night long (damn where’s that volume down switch!). I‘d got tired of hotel rooms with just one power point, and/or the task of untangling wires of conventional 20 Euro plug-in speakers. Ollie, who catered for the first few days at the Keveral PDC had one of these, that he uses regularly at his catering events to keep his kitchen crew and diners in a good mood.  My first and only thought was ‘I WANT ONE’.  I’m not a guy who is into techno gadgets but this speaker is amazing.   Bought online from http://minirigs.co.uk/shop: cost £139.99. Not cheap but I’ve used it almost every day so a good investment.

ALCOOLPROOF: A mandatory requirement when driving in France.  A breathalyzer test kit: mine were out of date. Bought on the ferry, about 7 Euro.

COMPASS: sometimes the fog comes in and you don’t know your left from your right. My old one had long given up the ghost. Can’t remember when I last used one. Pleasingly only 8 Euro from LeClerc.

MOBILE CHARGER:  Have you ever been travelling and wanted to call your friend/ accommodation and found that your mobile’s out of charge?  Never again!  Recharge your mobile / tablet while on the road (why can’t I find one for laptops??).  I bought this from a Belgian chain (forget which one) on my way out of Brussels. Sadly it was overpriced at about 15 Euro.

BASQUE KNIFE – I have an Opinel but I don’t like them: they rust too easily and lose their edge too quickly. I had a superb Corsican knife with a stainless steel blade from 2003 – that I sadly lost going through airport security in - I forget where.  Here’s a replacement, shiny steel one, the quality is as good as the Corsican one. Now I just must remember to not to pack this into my cabin luggage the next time I fly. Source: French ironmonger. Cost 10 Euro. YEA

I’m kitted out for the next few weeks!