The packing essentials

As any travelling international tv journalist will tell you: we don’t travel light. Checking in at the airport with less than, say, eight bags would be an insult to any travelling tv journalist…

There’s the personal suitcases, the camera, the tripod, the lights, the Bgan (mini sat dish) the Aviwest (another mini sat dish), the computers, the auto cue, the vision mixer. The list goes on and on.

Here’s most of our stuff checking out of the hotel in southern Thailand a few years back after some live broadcasts on the insurgency.

Lining up at checkin

Ooh, don’t remember my hair being that blonde…

All that stuff weighed about 1000kg. I don’t remember how much we got stung for overweight but it was my job to pay for it…

And now there’s travelling when disabled…

Not quite so much stuff, but they’re can’t do withouts. There’s my wheelchair (actually my travel chair – it’s a bit smaller than the average to squeeze into those narrower than normal corridors, loos, doorways taxis etc)

My walking stick – not that I’m doing much walking (I wish 🙂 )More for pushing my trainers off at the end of the day.

My yoga mat. Again not for my sun salutations or downward dogs (hate that position ) But for stopping me slipping on that deep-pile hotel carpet when getting out of bed and being unable to get back up again. (Carpets = another pet hate 😉 ).

The black V-shaped thing is a new purchase getting road tested this weekend in Singapore. It’s a mobile bed rail – the right hand bit of which just goes between the bed base and the mattress.

I bought it through these people in the UK. http://www.essentialaids.com   They don’t ship… (thanks Mum 🙂 )

I’ll let you know if it’s a hit or miss after the weekend…