Ethiopia - travel accessories

I have just returned from a successful 2 week trip to Ethiopia.  I landed in Addis Ababa, then took Ethiopian Airlines to Bahar Dar, onto Lalibela, then Axum, then returned to Addis Ababa. I had planned to fly then to Gondar but had developed a summer cold and stayed in Addis instead. I was advised that Gondar was safe if flown to but discouraged to travel their by roads because of some civil unrest.

I found Ethiopia safe.  I took precautions with Ben’s Deet 30% for mosquitos, using Atovaquone Antimalaria pill daily as recommended by the Vancouver Coastal Health Travel Clinic.  Locals did not consider malaria a concern in Gondar, Lallibela, Addis or Aksum because of the higher altitude.  Certainly Bahar Dar and Lake Tana were a concern. It was only in Lake Tana that my hotel room had mosquito netting.

I had arranged my flight through Shannon Nagle, at the Lougheed Mall FLIGHT CENTRE.  I had excellent connection and very enjoyable Lufthansa flights there and back with stop over in Frankfurt.  

Arriving I stayed at Best Western Plus, as I try to always arrange to have a hotel I’m going to first arrive at for the first night or two when I’m jet lagged and at risk.  After that I can arrange hotels as I go.  I returned and stayed at Best Western because it really was such a great hotel with great staff and services.

I was again very appreciative of certain accessories that I travel with as well as some new additions.  

First and foremost I continue to love my EAGLE CREEK wheeled travel bag and combined knapsack.  These attach together but separate each having shoulder straps.  Hence it can be towed together or one on top of another or separated and carried each in one hand or the two together can be back packed. One bag fits well in overhead and the other under the seat in front of me on the plane. When I arrive I leave the main bag and use the back pack. The back pack is perfect for lap top and has well thought out pockets. 

The second item I again loved was the TRAVELON passport and money folder. I first bought this years ago at Wanderlust Travel Store in Vancouver at 4th.  It hangs around the neck, has a protected spot for passport and a slot for the boarding pass. In addition it has a long zippered pocket for money.  It’s a god send travelling. It’s only downside is that in pictures, hanging inside the shirt,  it conceals my 6 pack abs. 

The new addition to my travel accessories was a SPIbelt (SPIbelt.com) personal item belt. The centre part expanded to the size of my passport but I used it to carry my credit cards, drivers license and a roll of money. Previously I had used a money belt but this was way superior.  I bought this one at MEC, Mountain Equipment Coop.

It’s so easy to become dehydrated in dry hot climates especially with all the tripping about one does. I was pleased to have brought along Pristine Water Purification Tabs. One tab purifies a litre of water in 30 minutes.I liked my Contigo Water Bottle too.  It’s superior to my old solution of simply using a drop of iodine. They were light and convenient, no taste and tremendous security, superior to even bottled water offered locally. I bought both Tabs and Bottle at MEC, Vancouver.

My TILLEY Safari Jacket turned out to be just great, warm for evening, cool in the day with two inner zippered pockets and six pockets on the outside which snapped down.  I loved it.  I’ve  Tilley Hats and Jackets for some 30 plus years of travelling and always appreciated the thoughtfulness. In the picture you can see how the money money belt and travelecon conceal my 6 pack abs.  

TRAVEl CLUB - electric plug adaptor - this light, little box comes with the plugs inside. All that one could need as adaptators for the world over in this little package. I love it. Can’t remember where I got it but it’s compact engineering design beats out everything else I’ve seen.

 
Foot wear is critical travelling and this trip I did really well.  Make sure your shoes are well worn in.  I had these great Roumanian Hiking Boots with Gortex that are incredibly sturdy and comfortable. I also brought along closed toe Keen Sandals which were perfect.  Open toed shoes are not a good idea hiking and travelling given the importance of feet, risk of cuts and risk of nasty little bugs that love to get under toenails and travel through the body. 

I always carry a light.  This trip I brought a PETZYL Tikka Headlamp from Mountain Equipment Coop. It was perfect, lightweight, tiny and very powerful. 

In the past travelling I’ve brought a packsack’s full of Nikon camera and lens.  Today I was satisfied with the IPhone X and took 95% of my pictures with this. I had the Panasonic Lumix camera for back up and it was great but the Iphone alone would have been sufficient with it’s 10x inbuilt zoom camera for my travel needs.  KISS.  

I had 2 pair of jeans, 5 pairs of socks and underwear, 2 shirts with double pockets, a couple of long sleeve T-shirt’s, one pair of sweats.  I washed my underwear and socks hanging them overnight to dry in the bathroom.  I had room service do launder my shirts and jeans once. I normally just buy a T-shirt of the place I’m visitting so don’t bother bringing them. Clothing is cheap and if you need something it’s no big deal to buy it and leave it. I also had a togue since evening heat loss is mostly through the head and a netted sun hat with flaps which served to block out flies and mosquitoes as well as sun. I had 30 spf sunscreen which I had to use.   I never needed more clothing for Ethiopia in the spring. 

My iPad Pro with keyboard would have been sufficient but I had my Mac laptop along and it was indeed a nuisance since all I used it for was the downloading of photos from the Panasonic.  Done again I might just take my iPhone and Ipad and leave the Mac at home. I could have just left the Ipad at home as I have on other trips but I really like the iPad as a kindle reader.  It’s lighter and smaller.  BlogTouch Pro app worked great for blogging. 

I really felt like I’d got it right with the luggage and equipment this trip. It’s been pretty good for years now but it’s comforting when one gets it just right. This is my hotel and day hiking travel equipment. I have other approaches to back packing hiking and camping,  cycling touring,  motorcycle camping  and blue water sailing. I’m pleased with them as well.  

I regretted not having a paper map. I forgot my GPS with it’s maps.  I would have liked that tech.  I didn’t take my satellite phone but didn’t miss it.  Ethiopia has great cellular coverage. I  had cellular with a roaming package. It’s essential to turn off all the cellular background as my weather channel and such ate up a whole lot of roaming package before I could find what was using up my data.  I used up a lot of cellular data trying to show taxi drivers where I wanted to go with my iPhone map.  Hence the benefit of a paper map.

Ethiopia was a great trip, safe, exciting, wondrous sights, extraordinary churches and monasteries, friendly helpful people. I never felt personally unsafe but I didn’t go out much at night.  I don’t drink or do drugs either.  I felt I had to be cautious against pick pockets and avoided strangers.  It really was a wonderful experience and I’m thankful to have had the right equipment and help.   I arranged guides every two or three days through the hotels I stayed at , Best Western Plus Hotel,  Addis Ababa; Addis Amba Hotel,Bahir Dar; Mountain View  Hotel,Lalibela; Sabean International Hotel, Aksum. The hotels were all extremely helpful with staff that spoke English.