My Must Haves for an International Trip

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I LOVE traveling internationally, and wish I could do it more.  That whole pesky having a job to make money keeps getting in the way 😉  Such a catch 22…gotta work it to pay for the trips.  Sigh…
Anyways, here are my must haves for traveling abroad.

 

1)  Journal

You can call me a nerd if you want, but I really enjoyed this.  Actual pen and paper journaling helped me recall exactly what we did during each day of our trip.  Or what I took a picture of.  Sometimes it was a pain to do it everynight, but I was so glad I had it at the end of each trip. I was lucky on my  trip that my travel companions were also big journal writers.  And it really helped relive memories when I am getting my thoughts together for writing the recap blog post. Plus you can get a cute journal to make it more fun.  I purchased mine at Barnes at Noble.

2)  Addresses for Postcards

Nothing is better than receiving a good ole postcard in the mail from a friend or family member.  I wrote mine down on address labels to bring with me.  Just make sure when you buy the postage, that it will actually mail it all the way back to your home country : ) (Yep, sadly that happened to me…oopsies!)

3) Filtering Water Bottle

A lot of places in Europe charge for water, so it is nice to have a water bottle on hand that you can fill up and not worry about it.  I use the Brita squeezable water filter bottle.  This wasn’t as much as an issue in Japan, but even in Japan it was nice to have it around in the hotel room.

4) Tablet/E-Reader for Book Lovers

I’m still personally warming up to E-readers, but if you’re going to be traveling on trains or commuting between towns a lot, this is a must.  I use a Kindle Fire, but I know you can also download a Kindle App on most tablets/phones.  I make sure to buy my books when I have Wifi so I don’t risk not having something to read.  Having all of my books in one place is a plus for me because I carry everything on my back when I travel, and the lighter the load the better!

5) Special Charger/Surge Protector

Make sure you have the correct plug-ins for whatever country you are visiting.  On my first trip to Germany the outlet fried my favorite Chi straightener EVER.  Sad day.  Bringing a surge protector lets you be able to plug in multiple chargers at once which is always helpful.

6)  Consider taking a Backpack rather than rolling luggage

I’ve seen the rollers on luggage break.  Also, hand-carrying luggage can be a pain in the you know what.  I carry this backpack which also keeps how much I bring in check.

What else is on your “Must Have” lists for travel abroad?

Thanks for stopping by!
Jess

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