modern girl’s minimalist beach survival kit

I remember when I was little and my family would head for a holiday to Greece or some other warm location and my mom would start packing several days ahead of the trip and we would carry these large suitcases to our hot destination filled with way too many items we never needed. It was painful packing up on the way back as we always ended up buying a lot of clothing as it was so cheap and different than at home.

When our family included just miss Anaïs I would just take my Louis Vuitton handbag, or rather a shoulder knapsack on the road if our trip was less than a week. I would fit there clothing, nappies, toys, cosmetics, reading for me and some snacks. Go figure how they all fit in but they did very well.

When this family of five headed for out 7-week European tour, I decided that all we needed were 2 soft sports bags type check-in plus a few carry-ons for all the laptops ands gadgets. In went stuff for hot, cold and rainy weather plus some presents for people in different countries. And I have already realised that we could have much less, but at least there is some variety now.

So here goes my essentials for my beach survival kit. As I forgot my hat (miss C. kindly took it back to where it normally sits without be noticing it…) my t-shirt will double up as a hat depending how hot it is. And still my kit has 3 optional items depending if the trip to the beach includes just relaxing,  or also lots of exercising in the form of walking hours on the beach (my new exercise plan as I am not really supposed to run).

The very essential kit includes (in a sort-of order of importance):

– bikinis ( we have encountered on the remote beaches those who prefer to leave their swimwear home, but that isn’t really me)

– water (the more the better, but normally on European beaches one can always buy more)

– sunglasses

– flip-flops or other kind of beach shoes (as sand gets burning hot!)

– sun lotion, especially for the face (getting older has made me religiously apply this on my face as i don’t want to look like an old dry prune when few years from now)

– towel

And the not so essential ones:

– camera, as I am always snapping – digital photos are so easy and great and don’t cost anything (husband would argue this point as there is the cost of back-up drives and what-not to my 10K pictures)

– nice magazine(s)

– Kindle loaded with juicy summer reading (yes, you know what kind of books I mean – chick-flicks and stuff)

– iPod, if the sound of the waves is not enough

 

As an afterthought this obviously is a kit to take when kids are with their grandparents, as otherwise there would be the mandatory hats, snacks, toys and times 4 everything else described already!