In one of the recent posts, I wrote about your clothing and footwear packing list for a trip overseas. Here are a few small, but essential things that I highly recommend you don’t forget to take with you:
Earplugs. Super useful item to have, whether for those noisy party hostels or for night bus rides when a old American B-rated movies play non-stop all night long. They may or may not be available in pharmacies wherever you are staying, but they are usually remembered and needed late at night when nothing is open, and then you are stuck.
Sunglasses – I advise you pick up an inexpensive but reliable pair back home. Any European or American department store will have sunglasses for under $25 that will have a proper UV protection. In most third world countries, sunglasses stands and sellers are on every corner, but you have no idea of the quality of the product, and it might cost you as much as a cheap ones at home without any guarantee of any actual protection for your eyes. And be sure to keep them in a case. Most lenses these days are made of plastic and scratch super easily.
Condoms – guys, bring some with you, to spare an embarrassing attempt to describe them to a non-English speaking pharmacist or a store clerk. Women, you as well – don’t take chances and don’t just rely on a guy to have one. Of course, don’t go overboard with the quantity. I’ve known some American guys who went to Brazil and brought literally dozens of condoms with them hoping to have a non-stop orgy. As it happened, all of the condoms returned home intact and unused – nobody got any action. Still, you never know, but it’s better to be prepared.
Nail clipper – you can buy them anywhere, for sure, but for me personally, it is always one item I don’t have when I need it, so I prefer to keep spare ones in my toiletry bag.
If you are a swimmer or plan to engage in any watersports, make sure to pack swimming goggles. That’s a surprisingly difficult item to find in some third world countries. Their benefit over a snorkel is their compactness. Again, the ones you buy in your home country is more likely to have a proper UV protection for your eyes than something you buy from a dusty corner of a village store in Mexico.
Good quality earphones, preferably with a back-up pair. This item is very useful for those long bus, train and plane journeys, yet it’s one of the easiest things to leave behind or simply break while untangling those pesky cords. Yes, I’m old school and still use the ones with the cable, but by all means, bring your wireless ones. Just don’t lose a pair.
Pocket multitool knife – Swiss Army or otherwise. Most of the tools you would need on it are a regular blade and a beer opener, but it’s always better to be prepared for any situation. One thing a Swiss Army knife is not good for is self-defense, but as a smart traveller, you should know how to avoid such situations. We will talk more about travel safety in one of the future posts.
Finally, if you are a light sleeper like me, I strongly suggest bringing a small travel pillow. It should be filled with down or soft memory foam and easily compress to fit into your daypack. Unless you really do not care about head rest or are a super good sleeper, you will find most hotel and hostel pillows to be pretty stiff and uncomfortable, so a comfy pillow from home can go a long way in making your sleep better. Also, it’s great for those bus or train journeys when you have a window seat and just want to rest your head.
There are a few more things that you will need on every trip, but you can find them easily in almost every country: sunblock, toothpaste, any kind of over the counter medicine (and cheaper than in the US, for example), flip-flops, hats, t-shirts, phone chargers and charging cables, photo memory cards, and most of your toiletry or sanitary supplies.
So that’s about it, if you are a guy, that is. I’m sure women need a ton more stuff to bring with them to be comfortable, but fortunately for them, there are a tons of travel blogs by women and for women, such as A Passport and A Passion.
Sleeping bag or no sleeping bag?
Well, that depends on your style of travelling and what you are planning to do. If your trip revolves around trekking, then you would need not only a sleeping bag, but all sorts of gadgets available in your local camping store. Generally speaking, I do not recommend taking a sleeping bad unless you plan to do rather extreme trekking somewhere quite remote. It is bulky, it will occupy a lot of space in your backpack, and you can usually rent one for those occasions when you actually need it. It might be better to pack a light blanket that is much more compact and that can keep you warm on those high-elevation nights. One exception is an extremely light sleeping bag, made of silk or other durable, easy-to-wash material for the situations where you just don’t trust a sheet on your hotel bed (or it’s missing altogether). As a budget scenario, you can just carry a simple, twin-size sheet with you for such cases.
And remember – during every minute of your trip, you should always know where your 3 main essentials are: your wallet, your passport, and your mobile phone. Those are they key things you absolutely don’t want to lose. Just about anything else is replaceable (well, those three are replaceable, too, but at a much higher cost).