My Hi-Jinni-c Back Pack!

You must be wondering at my own version of the spelling of ‘hygienic’ but it’s the role my back pack assumes (Jinni) whenever I pack it with all the stuff I need on a road trip with our daughters.

The Hi- Jinni-c Backpack

I am a changed person now when it comes to travelling and packing. Whether we are going on a family trip or that once in while solo trip I can almost quite easily and quickly pack stuff. Travel is a great teacher.

Our girls, who are now 10 and 8 years old make for a very interesting company on all our travels but given that they are so young I help them with their packing. This is the best time to teach them how to travel light (which unfortunately I learnt very late in life) and safe.

Let’s concentrate on the safe bit for now. Safe, here means hygiene in the larger sense of the term. Here are 5 things that you will find in my back pack when we are travelling with my daughters.

1. Toilet Seat Sanitizer

   

   Just spray on the toilet seat and you are safe

I remember my first hiccup whenever we would plan our travels would be about clean loos. We would look for Indian toilets on our travels as they are a lot safer than the western ones when one is travelling. But now I have found Pee Safe which is a toilet seat sanitizer spray and comes in handy packaging that fits easily in my backpack. All I have to do is spray it on the toilet seat before using and wait for 5 seconds for it to evaporate and voila the seat is 99.9% protected against germs. It also removes foul odor.

I always make it a point to leave the loo clean not only for the next person to use but this essential gesture also shows what kind of a person you are. And don’t forget, this could be your small but great effort in helping the ‘Swach Bharat Abhiyaan’.

2. Wet Wipes

   

   Clean and fresh in a jiffy

This is a must when you are travelling with kids.  Wet Wipes come in handy to wipe your kids’ face and hands after a meal or whenever your face and hands feel not so clean and you can feel the pollution in the air playing havoc, just draw a wipe and cleanse your face and hands and you feel so fresh and clean the next moment.

3. Sun Screen

   

   Best protection against the sun for sensitive skin

Sunscreen is unavoidable when you are travelling with kids. Kids, as it is have a sensitive and delicate skin and if you are travelling in summers rather any time of the year, either the sun is harsh or you have those invisible UV rays that you have to protect your kids’ skin. Sunscreen is the first step and one should also make good use of sunglasses, hats and caps and umbrellas.

As my skin is sensitive so after a lot of research I picked up Biotique’s Bio Carrot with 40+ SPF UVA/UVB sunscreen lotion. I like to use products that are herbal or Ayurvedic in nature and I also try and keep it that way for my kids. Generally, the sunscreens that I have come across feel heavy and oily after you apply them but Bio Carrot is something that I don’t leave my home without. It’s so light and non-greasy that you don’t feel the ‘weight’ of a sunscreen and the best part, it’s Ayurvedic in nature which is good for me and kids’ sensitive skin.

4. Travel Pillow

   

   Sleep well and travel more

Let me confess, I never realized the importance of a travel pillow unless I used it.  Until sometime back I had pressing cervical issues with my neck hence wherever I would travel I would go with my prescribed cervical pillow which is rectangular in shape and although lightweight the space that it eats up in the luggage does bother. However, my neck condition has improved considerably with exercise and now I may or may not carry it depending on the place I am headed to. But this pillow is used for a good night’s sleep.

Sleeping while on road trips would also bother people with cervical and though I am not much of a sleeper on road trips, a nap would be quite refreshing albeit it’s a good one.

It was only when my 10 year old daughter was travelling to USA on a solo trip that I realized that she has an awfully long flight (about 9-10 hours) and hence a travel pillow was a necessity. What I picked up as a habit very late in my life I am glad my daughters think it is a way of life and adapting to new things and habits comes easily to them. She used the travel pillow on this long haul flight and slept like a baby.  Though flight travel is still easy considering that you get travel pillow, blanket and other stuff but then she also has long road trips in the USA hence carrying an inflatable one in the backpack was certainly a good idea.

5. Sanitizer

   

   Clean hands means happy meals

This one is a no brainer. When you are travelling, a sanitizer is your only defence against diseases that can be passed on if you eat without washing your hands. And people, you would agree when I say that kids who travel as much as our kids do know how to enjoy, whether it’s the scenery outside or experimenting with local food or just digging into that packet of chips.

But every time they eat they sanitize their hands so that the fun factor continues on and even after the journey. After all, health is wealth.

So the next time you are travelling with your little ones don’t forget to pack all this stuff.

P.S. Each and every time we travel we make it a point to keep all the used wet wipes and empty packets of chips and biscuits and other to-throw- away stuff in a packet which we dump only and only in a dustbin when we get out of our car.