World Travellers

Janice Tham our expert of the day, writes:

When you go for any vacation, tranvel light. Here’s what you need to bring for yourself if youare holidaying in a hot, humid climate.

Clothes wise, stick to a color scheme and you’ll be fine. Bright colors look fabulous in the bright light you get in the tropics. Pick 3 neutral colors and 1 bright color, or 2 brights and 2 neutrals. For example, if you look great in blues in pinks, build your travel wardrobe around bright blue, a cheerful pink gray and white. If you look better in warm earthy colors, go for orange, yellow, brown and cream. Of you prefer something more classic, try red, navy, white and black.

Even though the climate is hot, air conditioning in the hotel and in the coach (if you are going in a tour group) can get very cold, so bring along a light sweater and jeans for times like these.

Whether you are going for a 4 day trip or a 4 week trip, you need just one suitcase. For longer trips, bring along an airtight container of soap powder to wash your clothes with. Hotel bathrooms have clothes lines on which you can hang your clothes to dry.

Bring along a swimsuit or bikini. Actually, a bikini is very handy as it can double up as a bra and panty set. In any case, even if you don’t intend to go to the beach, the hotel probably has a wonderful swimming pool you might want to check out, so the swimsuit could well come in handy. You could get decent exercise swimming laps across the pool. Bring along slippers and a sarong or caftan as a cover up. A hat would help protect you from the heat when you go out in the hot sun. Sunglasses protect your eyes and make you look movie star glamorous.

Pack light. When you go to the tropics, the weather allows you to go out in camisoles and shorts which take up little space. Throw in a skirt for dinners and a pair of sleek black pants (or pants in the darkest neutral in your color scheme). 4 camisoles and 4 shorts, 1 in each of your chosen colors, 1 skirt that goes with all your chosen colors and an extra pretty top or two would go a long way in letting you dress up or down throughout your holidays. Mix an match the pieces as you please. For a longer vacation, throw in a pretty dress or two that has spandex in the fabric, as such fabrics don’t crease so easily, yet look wonderful when you wear them. These go into your suitcase.

Wear the chunkier items when you leave your home. Your jeans, a smart white shirt and track shoes and socks (don’t forget to pack in a few extra pairs) would take you to your destination in style. You can mix and match these with the rest of your wardrobe when you get to your destination.

For your personal care items, sunblock tops the list. I like nivea sun lotion. That milky lotion is light enough to use on the face as a day cream and it does not clog the pores. At least my pimple prone, easily irritated skin actually liked that lotion enough for me to use it as a day cream as well as a sunblock lotion all over.

Remember to bring your toothpaste, tooth brush, dental floss, cleanser, toner, moisturizer, shower gel, shampoo and body lotion. Foam bath is a wonderful luxury you can use in the hotel bath tub. Try to get these in travel sizes as travel sets take up far less space than the regular sized version, plus, when you use up the contents, you can refill the handy bottles for your next holiday.

Finally, bring along minimal makeup. Lipstick, mascara and eye liner should be enough.