What’s in your Suitcase?: A Family Trip to Kathmandu

Kathmandu is one of those places that always ends up  in ‘places to visit before you die’ lists. I  for one have been fantasizing about Kathmandu for decades (!). These fantasies have a soundtrack,  too:  Will Ackerman’s “A Happy Home in Kathmandu” (from the album The Opening of Doors, 1992), a song that I have loved for years. But–  that is not the point of this post hahaha!  This is:

We have been featuring suitcases for almost a year now.  We have featured travel bloggers, a single mom and recently, a lawyer! But this is the first time a doctor is showing us his suitcase. So without further ado, meet Doc Gelo Santos who recently had a wonderful family trip to Nepal, particularly my dream destination, Kathmandu.

Tell us about yourself:

I’m Gelo Santos, 37, a licensed Filipino General Physician by profession and a medical lecturer by work. (I’ve been contemplating to become a rockstar soon! hehehe!) I taught for 9 years in medical university and colleges in Malaysia and the Philippines and have been blogging in between since 2007. I’m also the big daddy to my 9-year-old son. I just came back last October 2013 to Manila after living and working in Penang for 3 years.

Where were you headed :

My wife, our son and I went to Nepal from Penang last August 5-10, 2013 that intentionally coincided with our forced leave from work during the end the month-long fasting season, the Eid. Our return tickets were generously sponsored by Malaysia Airlines! And we spent 5 short but incredibly memorable days in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Patan and Nagarkot.

What’s in your suitcase?:

Admittedly, I have no talent and skills in traveling lightly so it was my wife who prepared and packed our luggages.

Our 7-kg-carry-on luggage had:

1. Lagu blanket
2. a small pillow
3. some pairs of clothes

My backpack contained my:

1. DSLR,
2. laptop,
3. travel documents,
4. wallet, mobile phone, ballpens, scratch papers, and
5. travel guide book

Our 30-kg-check-in-luggage had :

1. clothes for 6 days (we had 10-hour layover at KLIA en route KTM, after an hour trip via MAS from PEN-KUL)
2. jackets
3. toiletries
4. meds like paracetamol, analgesics, antihistamine, anti-diarrheals
5. band-aid strips,
6. wet wipes

Luckily, none of us needed to take any meds that we brought so we really enjoyed exploring Kathmandu and nearby sights for the first time.

You can follow Doc Gelo’s  Nepal Series at docgelo.com.

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“What’s in Your Suitcase”  is a monthly post featuring how travel bloggers and travel enthusiasts pack. If you’re interested to contribute, send me a photo of your suitcase, a short description of who you are, what you do, where you’re headed and what’s in your suitcase, and email me at polmangilog@yahoo.com.