A corollary to the Padulike post below is I’m off on one of those mad trips where something like the Kindle would be a godsend. I don’t leave until next Tuesday 9th (Kindle delivery date is claimed to be sometime between the 4th and the 8th) but then I have six countries in twenty days – a return visit to do a follow-up consultancy on the British Council Access English project. Looking forward to re-visiting a few places, and discovering a couple of new ones (Malaysia and Taiwan), but sad that in the end I’m not going back to Vietnam, where I had the best clams I’ve ever had last year. Though it does save me a trip to Madrid to try to get a visa!
Got a bit of a clothes conundrum too: everywhere is nice and warm (mid-twenties and above) apart from Seoul, which today has a windchill-factored temperature of -17. Don’t want to drag a winter coat around the region just for those two days, but…
The route map looks like this:
For more on the Access English project, see here: http://bit.ly/dtAUVp
Oh yes you do want to bring a coat to Seoul! I had two jumpers, two pairs of trousers, a hat and a coat with a hood on when I walked to work this morning, and I was still freezing. Thermal undies aren’t really an option, because most places inside are freezing
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Was just in Seoul a few days ago, and unless you want to buy a down jacket as a souvenir, you really need to take one with you. Can you use one of those space-saving bag thingies to squish it up small for the rest of your trip?
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Alex,
Yes, I can see the wisdom of a coat at those temperatures – the only thing is it means dragging it around five other countries for two weeks and I don’t know if I can be bothered. This time last year I got by in Seoul without one, though I seem to remember being a bit chilly most of the time!
Gavin
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Barbara,
The problem I always find is that winter jackets are big, by nature – unless you spend hundreds on some kind of space-age mountain climbing thing…
I’ll have to take a look at what I’ve got and see if I can find space, but I suspect I’m already full since it’s a long trip. If you’re going on holiday you don’t need so much in the way of clothes, but when it’s work, and meetings, etc., then the clothes become more important.
Gavin
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A pith helment always comes in handy in the tropics, regardless of the season.
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Ian,
How right you are – perfect for the sundowners on the verandah…
Gavin
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DHL the coat and jumpers to your contact in Seoul, asking them to bring them to the airport. Make sure you have one warm item in your suitcase (e.g. sweatshirt) for the trip from plane to airport. At the end of your stay, DHL them back to Spain.
Mama
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Karenne,
A plan as devastatingly effective as it is simple. Now all I’d have to do would be organised enough to actually pull it off. But it’s an excellent idea.
Gavin
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I should really write a book called “Things I learned along the roads of life”… was a backpacker for 18mths when I was younger and you quickly realize you can’t carry much more than a couple of shirts, 1 pair of slacks and a formal item for temples – it works (but yes, ya gotta actually put stuff in a box and call the DHL man)!
Good luck,
K
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More possibilities:
- Buy some of those heated pads or spray you use when you have achy muscles and put it all over you
- Hide a hot water bottle under your shirt
- Stuff other insulating materials under your shirt, such as old newspapers
- Buy an electronic item with a dodgy overheating battery and use that as a personal heater wherever you go
- Take a fresh long sleeved T shirt for every day of your trip and then wear all 14 of them when you get to Seoul
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Alcohol. That’s my tip.
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Whilst Alex makes soem eminently sensible suggestions in his comment above, I think Darren really shows the way forward with a simple, portable and cheap option for keeping warm…
Or appearing to keep warm…
Or not caring whether you’re warm or not…
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You can sweat it all out when you get back to the tropics.
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