TRAVEL FEES: WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU ON YOUR TRIP

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A master class on travel preparations - we share years of accumulated wisdom and personal life hacks! We determine what to take with you on a vacation trip in order to travel light, but at the same time have all the essentials at hand. We make a list of necessary things and think over options for difficult situations (for example, loss of documents). Separately, we tell you what to take your child on a trip.

Since we travel often, we have already gotten the hang of collecting backpacks so that later we do not regret the extra pounds behind our backs. In this article, we will give the minimum of things that we take with us on vacation - regardless of whether you are planning a long trip or a short one. We will also tell you about some life hacks and give advice on how best to pack and not forget anything before the trip.

See also: What you need to take on the train >>

Preparing for the trip

No matter how experienced traveler you are, don't leave everything for the last day - start preparing for your vacation trip in advance. Sometimes it is better to do this much in advance, if the trip is not planned for a week, but for a much longer period. Choosing insurance, developing a route, applying for visas, booking accommodation, studying information about the country (prices, food, transport, and so on), buying currency and resolving issues with bank cards - all this will take a lot of time.

We also recommend compiling a list of things for the trip in advance: take a sheet of paper, divide it into categories and write down everything that comes to mind. Write down everything that you remember for one or two days - so you will definitely not forget a single little thing. Checked! You can use dedicated smartphone apps, but we prefer a regular notebook. Once the list is compiled, you can subsequently use it many times, taking it as a basis - only minor details will change.

What to take with you on vacation?

Cards, money, documents

The first and most important thing to take with you on a trip is documents and money. This is the most important thing in the journey - keep it close to your heart. It is better to have a small handbag or backpack, which you will always carry with you and take in your hand luggage when flying.

So, what to take with you on vacation:

International passports and their copies. In general, keep copies of all documents on your phone, flash drive, cloud storage / virtual disk or email - but it's better to play it safe and choose several options at once. You may need these copies if the originals are lost.
Printouts and electronic versions hotel / apartment reservations.
Printouts and electronic versions air tickets.
Printouts and electronic versions insurance... Do not forget the certificate of vaccination, if required (for example, a number of African countries will not be allowed to enter without the original certificate of vaccination against yellow fever).
Bank cards (it is better to have several cards and accounts of different banks). Life hack: keep money in accounts, not on cards, and use the Internet bank to transfer money immediately before withdrawing (preferably using a VPN, we will talk about this below). In this case, if the card is stolen, it will be empty, since all the money will be kept in the account.
Some cash. Cash should always be at hand - and in the currency of the country where you are located. For example, during our trip to Morocco, we twice forgot to exchange our euros for local dirhams in advance, because of this, at the right time, we had to dodge to exchange currency - once late in the evening in Casablanca, the street money changers through the mediation of the police, the second - also in the evening, only this time in the Sahara near the Algerian border with the inhabitants of the village in which we were supposed to spend the night.
Small format notebook with your notes and notes, pen and pencil... It can be used for communication and bargaining.
It will not hurt and phrasebook.
Download to your mobile phone or tablet programs with offline mapse.g. OSMAnd or Maps.Me. Find out what other mobile apps can be useful when traveling.
International driving license and license (power of attorney), and car documents, "green card", technical passport and technical inspection coupon, etc. when traveling in your own car.

Hotels with discounts search on the Rumguru service.

First aid kit

A first aid kit is perhaps the most important thing on a trip. Forgetting a first-aid kit at home is more expensive for yourself, because you will have to fork out overseas (and you simply cannot buy some medicines, since they are not sold without a prescription).

Life hack: we usually form two first-aid kits (and we advise you), in one - only the most necessary drugs that we carry with us (for example, for allergies), in the second - all the rest. This is especially true if you are going to the jungle or other unsafe places.

List of medicines that you need to take with you on your trip:

pain relievers;
remedies for diarrhea;
antipyretic;
cold remedies;
antiallergic drugs;
antibiotics;
individual medicines for chronic diseases;
remedies for injuries;
remedies for motion sickness;
medicines for snake and insect bites;
sunscreens.

For more information about what kind of drugs we take with us on a trip and what to do with snake and bee bites, read the article on the tourist's first-aid kit.

Travel insurance it is convenient to choose and buy on the Sravn.Ru website - it compares the prices of different insurance companies.

Technics

Everything is individual here: someone does not take anything except a mobile phone and a camera, and someone stuffs a backpack to the eyeballs with equipment.

What, in our opinion, is worth taking:

laptop, if you need it for work;
mobile phone;
player;
a camera (preferably not a bulky DSLR with several large lenses; if you wish, you can replace it with a mobile phone with a good camera, if you are not a professional photographer);
e-book.

We also take an external hard drive, USB flash drive and small speakers. We usually don't buy a SIM card - you can chat for free via Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and similar applications.

Check out: 17 essential travel essentials >>

If you are driving, a navigator comes in handy.

Life hack 1: for all wires (chargers, USB cords) we have a special bag so that they do not get lost - very convenient. We always take all gadgets together with a bag for wires into the cockpit - if the luggage is lost, the equipment will stay with us.

Life hack 2: do not connect to an insecure public network, for this it is better to use VPN... All public networks in hotels, hostels, cafes, shopping centers, etc. should be considered unsafe.

List of personal care and cosmetic items

As for personal hygiene and cosmetics, the list of things on the trip can be infinitely long, if you do not stop yourself in time in an effort to take with you the entire arsenal of decorative cosmetics and other cosmetic tricks. Believe me, the minimum set is enough - new impressions of the trip, tanning and sunglasses will replace your cosmetics.

List of things to take with you on vacation:

toothpaste and brush;
shaving accessories;
nail scissors / nail clippers, whoever is more comfortable;
hairbrush;
deodorant (preferably solid);
wet wipes;
disposable handkerchiefs;
shampoo (2 in 1) in probes or a small tube;
some toilet paper and paper napkins;
a roll of disposable plastic bags is an extremely useful thing for a trip, it will always come in handy on the road;
paper bags if you are sick.

Additionally for women:

some cotton swabs and discs, sponge;
pocket mirror;
moisturizing cream;
Eyebrow Tweezers;
decorative cosmetics (hygienic lipstick and lip gloss, pencil / eyeliner, mascara, foundation);
makeup remover;
feminine hygiene products;
pumice stone for keratinized skin of the legs (especially important in southern countries).

For those who wear contact lenses, a container and solution for lenses will come in handy, for those who wear glasses - grab a spare just in case (glasses break and get lost - we have already encountered this more than once). Don't forget your sunglasses.

Here, perhaps, is the minimum of things that you can take with you on a trip. It is better to pour make-up remover and shampoo into special tubes of 100 ml - you can buy the so-called travel kit. It will come in handy if you are going on an independent trip, because not all hotels offer free toiletries. But already abroad it is easy to buy something that will run out or not taken - for example, a body and face scrub, shower gel, and so on.

Be careful with liquids carried into the cockpit - the volume of one tube with liquid should not exceed 100 ml, and the total volume - 1 liter. All liquids must be packed in a transparent plastic bag. In general, we recommend that you put almost all hygiene items in your luggage, except for wet wipes, a comb, a mirror, hygienic lipstick, toilet paper, paper and plastic bags - they can come in handy. Feel free to check everything else in your luggage - you are unlikely to need shampoo during the flight, right?

Clothes and footwear

The choice of clothing and footwear during travel should be approached with all responsibility. Think carefully about your wardrobe so that you don't end up with nothing to wear your shoes or dress with.

In general, the list of things for a trip is individual, but there are general recommendations. First, dress for the season and carefully read the weather forecast and the climate of the country you are traveling to. In case of rainy and cold weather (or if this is a feature of the country / region / season), you should take waterproof shoes and a raincoat.

Secondly, you should not pack a lot of clothes and shoes - practice shows that almost half of the things taken on a trip are not worn (especially in southern countries). You will bitterly regret that you have taken a dozen dresses and as many pairs of high-heeled shoes, only if you are not going to attend social events every evening. In addition, on vacation, most likely, you will not resist buying clothes - leave a place for it in your suitcase.

Third, try to take only those things that can be combined. Why do you need a thing on a trip if it does not fit anything?

Fourthly, choose only those clothes in which you will feel comfortable, which do not constrain, do not press or rub. Do not take unworn shoes - there will be calluses. We take old shoes, which in case of something we don't mind throwing away, and on the trip we change them for new ones if the old one is torn.

Do not forget to wear a hat if you are going to hot and sunny countries. Better to take a cap, as hats wrinkle a lot. Or purchase a hat locally.

What clothes you need to take with you on a trip:

trousers / jeans (in hot countries, light and light are suitable, trousers are especially relevant in Muslim countries);
breeches / shorts;
a pair of T-shirts and / or T-shirts;
a pair of shirts;
blouse;
windbreaker;
light sneakers / sneakers (it's better to go in no way);
shoes / sandals / ballet flats;
slippers;
swimming trunks / swimsuit, if you go to the sea;
several changes of underwear;
several pairs of socks.

What else to take with you on vacation?

The list can also include such necessary and useful things for travel as:

Swiss knife;
corkscrew;
lighter and matches;
fumigator;
thread and needle;
pins;
small flashlight;
an adapter for various types of outlets, as well as a tee or a compact extension cord (important for those who leave for a long time and take a lot of equipment with them);
a cloth napkin (or a microfiber towel that absorbs moisture well);
toothpicks;
scotch tape or cling film for wrapping a backpack at the airport and so on - in general, something that can make life much easier.

The things listed in this list, although not necessarily taken on a trip, are still very desirable - at the right time they will help out a lot.

In addition to all of the above, we always have two plastic mugs and forks, a teaspoon, a camping kettle and a coffee pot - thanks to these items, you can save on drinks and prepare them at any time.

Despite the impressive list of things for a trip, with the right packing, all this (and even more) can easily fit into a backpack with a volume of 45 liters (for each person). It is better to put things in a suitcase and a backpack with rollers, so they will not wrinkle much, and some of the things can be shoved into shoes and fill the voids with them.

Don't forget to take food for the trip - something nutritious like dried fruits and nuts, as well as water. It is also helpful to have a couple of tea bags, coffee and sugar on the first night at the hotel.

What to take on a trip with a child

If you go on a trip with children, the amount of necessary travel items will increase significantly. Here you will not get off with a small suitcase: you need to take care of what to do with the child on the plane and on vacation, pick up clothes for all occasions, and if the child is small - decide the issue of nutrition, and so on.

So, what should you take on a trip with your child?

Documentation: the child's photo must be pasted into the parent's passport, or he must have his own passport, a visa and medical insurance must be issued for him. If the child is traveling with only one parent, have a travel permit from the other parent.
Clothes: choose clothes in such a way that there is always a change if the child gets dirty or tears the clothes. It is better to have light and warm sweaters for emergencies.
First aid kit (all the same medications as described above, plus individual medications for the child if there are chronic diseases).
Toys: Think about what you can take your child on a trip to organize his leisure time - for example, take a tablet with downloaded movies and games, a coloring book, a few favorite toys.
Food: biscuits, sliced fruit, water and juice.
For small children It is worth taking on a trip absorbent diapers, antibacterial wipes, tissue paper, a small blanket and spare diapers, a light blouse (air conditioning is often on the plane), a kangaroo backpack or a folding stroller. Prepare baby food for the first time, until you get used to a new place and find a supermarket.

What not to take with you on your trip

We understand that we want to take a lot of necessary and useful things with us on a trip, without which, it seems, all the pleasure of traveling will disappear. But you need to look at things soberly and ruthlessly cross off from the list what you can easily do without or that can be replaced with something on the spot.

Hair dryer

Girls will understand how difficult it is without him. However, remember that many hotels have one. If you are going on a budget independent trip, it makes sense to cut your hair so that the hairstyle does not require styling, or you can put your hair in a ponytail / braid / and so on. Well, in the event that it is essential for you to have a hairdryer, take a travel one.

Iron

A travel iron is a very convenient thing when traveling, but you can easily do without it. Firstly, let your wardrobe contain things made of not very wrinkled materials. If the item is wrinkled, hang it in the bathroom while you shower - the steam will smooth it a little. You can also sprinkle it with water and hang it on a hanger to dry. In many hotels, an iron can be borrowed from the reception.

Books

Books are heavy and take up a lot of space. It's much easier to grab an e-book, tablet, or read from a mobile phone (which is what I do when traveling).Of course, there are not enough paper books - you can take a small paperback book or buy a convenient flipbook, or you can visit a bookstore abroad (it is unlikely there will be books in Russian, but what is not a reason to tighten up forgettable English?).