What Should You Pack for Rainy Season Travel?
Are you planning to travel during rainy season? Don’t worry! As someone who has lived in Thailand throughout the rainy season, I can tell you that rainy season travel is still possible!
Sure, you may have a few days spent indoors due to the rain, but on those days where the weather does stay dry, you’ll get to experience the country’s best sights with fewer crowds.
Remember to budget some extra travel time in case you do get rained off a few times, and most importantly, make sure you have the right essentials to get you through the rainy weather. After having experienced a couple of rainy seasons myself, this is my list of must-have items for anyone planning to travel during these months.
Related Posts: Everything You Should Know About Rainy Season in Thailand
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Everything You’ll Need for Rainy Season Travel:
1. Quick-Dry Clothing
Wearing the wrong type of clothes during rainy season will leave you getting soaked in fabrics that don’t dry easily. Not only will you feel extremely uncomfortable and cold, but being in wet clothes does actually pose risks to your health, so you need clothes are going to dry fast.
Quick-dry clothing is often made up of fabrics like nylon or polyester so are lightweight and dry much faster than fabrics like cotton. Personally, I have found cotton T-shirts to be the worst thing to wear during rainy season.
You’ll find that often your gym clothes (if you go to the gym) will be quick-dry so packing some extra gym gear will be your best bet!
2. Microfiber Towel
When a sudden downpour does hit, it’s handy to have a towel with you so that you can dry yourself and/or your belongings. Microfiber towels are much smaller and lighter than your average towel so you can easily carry it with you in your everyday bag or keep it in your vehicle.
From personal experience, if you are driving a scooter or motorbike during these months, I would say it’s absolutely essential you keep a towel with you during rainy season. If your bike does get rained on and you need to drive it somewhere, you’ll need something to wipe the handles, mirrors and seat down so keeping a microfiber towel in your bike will be super handy.
3. Waterproof Jacket
Trust me, these monsoon showers are no joke. The showers can be extremely heavy sometimes and often times, it’ll catch you off guard.
Depending on the area, you may also have the problem of pollution rain on your hands so having a waterproof jacket will be like your protective shield against the rain.
If you do get caught in the rain without one, you’ll find that you can purchase rain ponchos very cheaply in most convenience stores, like 7-11. However, these rain ponchos aren’t as easy to dry so the amount of times you can use them is limited.
My preference is to have a rain jacket that can fit in my everyday bag, that way I always have it ready to use and I’m not producing unnecessary plastic waste.
4. Umbrella
Rainy weather and umbrellas go hand-in-hand, so there’s not much explaining to do on this point. However, if you are travelling, I would recommend finding an umbrella designed to be travelled with as these ones will be lighter and more compact.
5. Sliders/Crocs
Now this one is a personal take, but I always choose to wear sliders during rainy season. Some may feel uncomfortable with their feet being wet but for me, I would rather have wet feet than my feet in wet shoes.
Sliders are one option, but crocs might be even better. Both sets of shoes are water resistant so will dry fast after the rain stops, but with the sports mode feature on crocs, you’ll definitely have better grip in those.
6. Waterproof Shoes
If you are the type of person that prefers a closed shoe, then you’ll be able to find waterproof trainers fairly easily. These shoes I can’t speak too heavily on as I’ve never tried them myself and thus, don’t know how effective they are, but I have seen they are available.
Another alternative would be to buy disposable shoe covers like you wear at the pool, this way you can wear any shoe you like without the worry of your shoes, nor your feet getting wet.
7. Plastic Bags
Keeping a plastic bag with you in your everyday bag is a smart move during rainy season. When the rain hits, you can quickly throw your bag and your belongings in the plastic bag and keep them away from the rain, and away from potential damage.
8. Dry Bag
In some instances, the plastic bag might not be sufficient at keeping your items dry so an even better choice would be to invest in a dry bag. These bags are purposefully designed to stop water from getting in so your belongings will be most secure in one of these!
Many times I’ve seen inexperienced travellers with their belongings (including passports in a couple of instances) soaked because they didn’t have anywhere dry to keep them. Having a dry bag is the most effective way of preventing this from happening to you.
9. Waterproof Phone Case
Even though most phones are waterproof these days, if you do have an older phone, or a phone with a lot of cracks in it, you might consider getting yourself a waterproof phone case.
Rainy season is a great time for phone repair shops, they fix a lot of water-damaged phones in these months so if your phone isn’t waterproof, then you’ll need a case like this to protect it.
10. Hard-Shelled Suitcase
Imagine you’re travelling from A to B with all your belongings and the rain hits! There’s no guarantee of that happening of course, but I don’t take chances with that so my suitcase is hard-shelled.
Having a hard-shelled suitcase means that even if you are unfortunate enough to be caught in the rain with it, at least your belongings will be safe and dry.
11. Waterproof Backpack Cover
If you are backpacking, a hard-shelled suitcase might not be suitable for you since it’s a lot bulkier. In that case, you’ll need to get yourself a waterproof backpack cover.
Do be warned that it won’t offer you complete protection against the rain, but it will be largely effective in keeping your bag dry and thus, worthwhile investing in.
12. Mosquito Repellent
Mosquitos love puddles, and in rainy season, there’s a lot of them. Mosquitos like to breed in stagnant water so the increased amount of it during rainy season, along with the warm and humid climate, means these are increased numbers of mosquitos in the air.
Preventing mosquito bites is important because not only are the bites horrible and itchy, but they could also carry diseases and have a severe impact on your health.
If you are travelling to Thailand specifically during the rainy season, I highly recommend picking up this mosquito repellent. You can buy it in any 7-11, pharmacy or drugstore. All the locals use it and it’s highly effective at keeping the mosquitos away.
13. Tiger Balm
If you are unfortunate enough to get bitten by a mosquito during the rainy season, the best antidote to bites is tiger balm. With tiger balm I’ve found that not only does it stop the itching, but the bite goes down extremely fast and usually doesn’t bother me again. My personal recommendation is to keep applying the tiger balm until the itchiness fades (which it will!).
If you are in Thailand, it’s widely available across 7-11s, pharmacies and drugstores.
Travelling during the rainy season can offer a unique travel experience to those that are willing to do it. Don’t forget to factor in some extra travel time and get stocked up on all the essentials you need to make the most of your rainy season travel!
Char Aldred 