As previously mentioned, preparations for the trip started months in advance, literally, not like the trips that I am used to i.e. sometimes, the most notice I'd get is 24 hours... we are talking about a three month planning period for this particular trip. Needless to say, there was a mad rush to organised equipment as "D day" approached.

So, when preparing for a trip, one must bear in mind the nature of the trip and the destination. In this case, we were going to a fairly remote island in Indonesia, where the diving is top notch... so this is a diving-type holiday, hence dive and the appropriate water gear is required. As the BF is a dive nut (I mean, who, WHO, WHO has BOTH a PADI AND NAUI instructor's diving license??!!) he had most of the required dive gear, times two. However, as he is bigger than me, the stuff that needs to fit, well we had to go hunt them down. I bought myself my first wet suit and pair of booties . I borrowed a set of dive fins and BCD from a friend of mine. We were set. Oh we could rent equipment at the island but the rates were rather expensive... all in US dollars. Now, when you convert that into our pathetic Malaysian ringgit, the cost can get rather high, enough to buy a couple of wet suits I think. So, scrummage around I did. I know a fair few divers but surprisingly, NONE of them own their own gear, except for this one particular girl. I thought that this was the norm till I met the OTHER divers on the trip... these ones, they ALL OWN THEIR OWN COMPLETE SET of equipment!! Geez...

It was predecided that we would be sharing his big ala back packers back pack. How this was decided, I don't remember but I suspect that it was HIS idea. As we would be leaving early from his place to the airport, again, it was predecided that I would spend the night there. Now, prior to this trip, I thought that I was a fairly light traveler i.e. I don't need five pairs of shoes, hair dryer, different sets of clothing etc. I pack the essentials and one extra set of clothes (for the just in case situations). Clothes I don't pack a whole lot but do NOT get in the way of me and my toiletries. A girl NEEDS her toiletries.

So, I had two, TWO normal sized toiletries bag to his one and this apparently is was a BIG deal. Apparently, I had packed the kitchen sink!! Grrrr... now it is a known fact that women use more toiletries than men. Whether we NEED them or not is a separate issue but we don't feel good without them and if you honestly love your partner, you do NOT want them to feel not good. It is the norm for a "man's man" to have one bottle (and it is one of those 500ml bottles) of moisturising cream that may be used for every part of the body.

They don't use things like eye creams, SPF moisturisers for the face, deep creams for the night etc. So I had (according to HIM), 5 bottles to his one! Can I help it if I don't want to end up with skin that feels like a crocodile's back side??!! I NEED my

body buffer and bath gloves

SPF 35 sun block!! Suffice to say, I do pack a lot of toiletries... as a traveling buddy of mine once said, I am a very good person to have around. Why? Well, if you forget or need anything, I will most probably have it. I travel smart. I travel with the basic medical necessities like paracetamol, band aids, antiseptic cream etc. I travel with tweezers (you never know when you need to extract that bit of coral out of your foot), nail clippers, insect repellant, soap, shampoo, conditioner (all neatly poured into small, travel size pump bottles) and that oh, ever so important, "body buffer". As I am almost blind, I travel with my prescription glasses, my contact lens solution (always the little travel packs), contact lens container etc. Then of course, you need your razor (bikini lines, under arms, legs etc), hand cream (salt water does wreck havoc on your skin and nails) and anti prespirant.

Oh we debated about what I could and could not pack. Did I say anything about HIS electric toothbrush? "It is a RESORT" he says, "hundreds of ringgit a night" he says, "of COURSE they'll have soap!!" he bellows. In all fairness, he just returned from NZ and doesn't have extensive tropical island experience like I do. So quietly, I pack two travel size bottles of soap. Naturally, we needed it . "Resort" or not, I pack soap when I travel... many "resorts" in Malaysia don't have soap, if they do, it is so harsh, like dish washing liquid that my skin just breaks out in a rash. So I always, ALWAYS travel with soap. Moving on... It's amazing how freakish some males can be when it comes to packing. Did I say anything about HIS NEED to bring along two different types of adapter heads for HIS electric toothbrush (which I used as well ... I WAS going to bring along my manual toothbrush but he said no and packed a spare toothbrush head for me), his NEED to bring no less than 2 dive knives, 2 underwater torch lights, strobes, spare parts for his diving gear, extra batteries etc etc. Why anyone needs to dive with two knives is totally beyond me... this must be a male macho thing. He had one knife strapped to his thigh, another one in his BCD... quite a sexy look I might add .

I am rambling here... to cut a long story short, whenever possible, don't, DON'T, DON'T share a bag with your traveling partner. There will almost always be squabbles for space in the said bag. Then, there are the squabbles about the packing of the said bag. Males don't have the respect females have for underwired, perhaps padded mammary support garments (padded bras for those of you who are linguistically challenged). One does NOT just stuff it in the bag and punch these garments in, hoping that they would fit.

BCD

regulator... the hosey thingys that pipe air into your face and should contain an air gauge to tell you how much air you have left. Is attached to your air tank and then, your face.

So we had two bags between us, one for our clothes and toiletries, the other, this HUGE bag which held enough dive gear for two. Now, divers don't travel light. No way. The equipment that they carry... my lord, it isn't possible for them to fly commercially without having to pay excess luggage I can tell you. We are talking about BCDs (Buoyancy Control Devices), each weighing at least 5 kilos, fins, mask and snorkel, wet suits, regulators (heavy little suckers these are), knives, strobes and gawd knows what else he had tucked and hidden in the bag. Our dive bag alone weighed no less than 20 kilos and that was minus the regulators (we hand carried these ones). So no, divers do NOT travel light. It just isn't possible!! Not only is the equipment heavy, it is also bulky!! I swear, I could probably fit into the diving bag we had to lug around... no kidding!! Thank gawd for the invention of those teeny, tiny, amazingly strong wheels that come attached to bags!! Thank gawd he didn't get it into his head that he wanted to bring along his super dooper strong, can-hold-a-lot-of-air, titanium coated, lycra encased, pink air tank !!

As I would find out later, the BF has this "thing"... we were packed and ready to go by 2300 when our flight was at 0945 the next day!

The Journey

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