19 Oddball Things To Bring Travel Tips For The Minimalist Smart Traveler

It's vacation season!  As you pack your luggage for destinations yonder, you'll want to consider my tried-and-true list of oddball things to include.  However, a warning to you...for airplane travel, I am admittedly the quintessential minimalist traveler, strictly adhering to the Rule of One:  one carry-on and zip a lot of.  It doesn't matter if I'm going to San Diego for a weekend or Europe for three weeks; I never bring additional than one bag tiny enough to stash in the overhead.

A strategic layering of clothing worn on travel days, together with a judicious selection of items and colors packed away within the bag, can expand your vacation attire dramatically with a minimum of bulk.  But beyond a fastidiously contemplated wardrobe, there are some items you'll be stunned to search out in my otherwise edited backpack.  Despite my strictly followed minimalist packing philosophy, here may be a list of 19 oddball, but essential, things to bring:

1.  Money belt - the foremost important item to bring.  Keep all huge money, all credit and ATM cards, passport, plane tickets, cheat sheet (see #two) within.  Wear it continuously.

2.  A "cheat sheet" that you simply typed up at home listing your itinerary and every one hotel information (name, location, phone, directions).  If you forget where you are staying or where you would like to go tomorrow, simply check your cheat sheet.  It is also a smart reference to point out taxi drivers when you do not speak the language.  You'll conjointly leave a replica for those at home.

3.  Day bag - for your guidebook, "day" cash (therefore you do not fish around in your money belt in public), your small notepad (see #seven), phrase book (see #eight), camera.

4.  Yellow highlighter (to use on maps)

5.  Little magnifying glass (to read teensy map print)

6.  Tiny sticky notes (to flag things in your guidebook, leave a message, etc.)

7.  Little notepad (to put in writing rather than speak notably exhausting foreign words).  I actually have used little notepads to haggle on paper for the worth of a hand-crafted Greek tablecloth, make sure with a French price ticket clerk concerning the departure time of a specific train, and record the numerous flavors of gelato I consumed that day.

8.  Tiny foreign language dictionary/phrase book

9.  Compass (especially helpful in Venice!)

10. Little, lightweight flashlight (for once-dark map reading, finding the bathroom down the hallway, exploring dark medieval tunnels, Etruscan tombs, etc.)

11. Moleskin (for blisters from all that walking)

12. Earplugs (for noisy planes and/or hotels) Essential!

thirteen. Safety pins of varied sizes (they can fix a mess of things)

14. Scotch tape (for taping notes on doors, fixing things, mailing things - bring a small 0.5-used roll removed from its plastic dispenser)

15. Giant, fibrous (unrippable) envelopes - realize them at an office offer store (great for mailing home books and alternative flat items.  Pre-address the envelopes at home and cover the address with transparent tape to stop smearing.  I actually have mailed home tablecloths in these envelopes.)

16. One thin terry-cloth washcloth (several European hotels do not offer washcloths in the least, or they are of a slick linen material instead of absorbent terry-cloth)

17. Varied sizes of baggies:  use for double-bagging your miniature-sized toiletries and keeping garments contained and orderly.  Clothing will be grouped:  underwear in one bag, blouses in one bag, socks in one bag, etc.  Kneel on every bag to squeeze out all air, then seal.  This "vacuum-packs" it and reduces size, leaving more area for all those Italian ceramic pieces you inevitably will be bringing home!  Airport Security will conjointly like you.

18. Line the bottom of your bag with a robust however non-bulky cloth tote bag.  On the trip home, you'll stash all of your fastidiously chosen treasures within the tote and store it beneath your seat.  The tote qualifies as a "purse" or "briefcase" that is allowed   in addition to your regular carry-on containing your clothes.  In extreme cases (an abundance of breakables), I even have (on the come trip SOLELY) packed my clothes and checked them (sometimes against my rules), carrying on solely my treasures.  Once, on my last day in Spain, I bought a massive box at the post workplace, packed it with each sew of clothing except for my travel garments for the following day, and mailed it home.  This left everything of my regular pack AND tote free for things I had collected over the course of 3 weeks.  These flew home with me within the overhead and beneath my seat.  My box of clothing arrived totally intact 3 weeks later.  It was price the postage.

19. $fifty in US money (for minor airport purchases to and from your destination).

TIP:   Do not hassle obtaining European currently before you allow home.  Just decide up your foreign currency at the airport ATM upon arrival in Europe.  It's quick, easy, and low-cost.  If I happen to possess a short layover in one European city, I use the time to drag Euros from the ATM whereas I'm watching for my next flight.  That approach, I'm prepared with "bank" when I arrive at my final destination (assuming you're travelling to another Euro-using country).

Another TIP:  Make positive your PIN has solely 4 digits and you've got memorized them as numbers instead of letters.  BE CERTAIN to notify your bank that you may be using your card in Europe and to not freeze your account after they see European transactions.

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