What to Pack?
When you are about to travel, whether its for vacation or business trip or anything else, what always left you wondering is the packing phase. You have your bag ready, if you think everything is needed, it will be overloaded, but if you don’t you might regret after reaching your destination. Dilemma Dilemma! So here’s a list of what you might wanna pack:-
Essentials
- Address list and list of important contacts or numbers
- Backpack, suitcase, sports bag (something to pack everything in)
- Paper or Notebook
- Passport (check validity!)
- Pencils, Pens
- Tickets and itinerary (airline, train, bus, accommodation bookings etc.)
- Visa
- Travel Insurance (and why you need it!)
Finances
- ATM card (Maestro or Cirrus logos on the back are most widely accepted)
- Calculator or currency converter
- Cash in the local currency of your arrival destination
- Credit card (Visa or Mastercard are most widely accepted)
- Money belt (You can’t be too safe in some places)
- Sufficient Travellers’ cheques (and receipts for travellers’ cheques)
Clothes
- Boots
- Bra (sports and regular)
- Dress shirts
- Dresses
- Jacket
- Jeans
- Jumper, sweater or fleece
- Light jacket
- Long or thermal underwear
- Long sleeve shirts
- Pants or trousers
- Pyjamas/Sleepwear (Member’s tip)
- Sandals, shower shoes, thongs or jandals
- Sarong or Lava lava
- Shoes
- Shorts
- Ski clothes
- Skirts
- Sneakers
- Socks
- Suits
- Swimming gear
- T-shirts, singlets
- Underwear
Clothes Accessories
- A good hat
- Bandana
- Belt
- Cotton handkerchief or tissues
- Eye-mask
- Gloves or mittens
- Jewelry
- Knitted (woollen) hat
- Raincoat or poncho
- Safety pins
- Scarf
- Sewing kit
- Ski glasses
- Suit bag
- Sunglasses
- Ties
Toiletries
- Anti-bacterial cream
- Comb or brush
- Condoms and/or contraceptive pills
- Contact lens equipment or glasses
- Cotton buds
- Q-tips
- Dental floss (also great for fixing things!)
- Deodorant
- Earplugs
- Fingernail clippers
- Hair products (gel, spray etc.)
- Lip balm
- Make-up
- Mirror
- Moisturiser (face and body)
- Nail file
- Razors
- Shampoo and conditioner
- Shaving cream
- Sleeping pills
- Soap
- Sunscreen and after sun cream
- Talcum/baby powder – Useful against prickly heat, in shoes, on sticky zippers and more (Member’s tip)
- Tampons and pads
- Toothbrush, toothpaste
First Aid Kit
- Band aids
- Compression bandages
- Diarrhoea tablets
- Gazes
- Insect and/or mosquito repellent
- Iodine/hydrogen peroxide
- Medicines/prescription Drugs (Member’s tip)
- Motion sickness tablets
- Paracetemol, Tylenol etc.
- Replacement/rehydration salts sachets
- Small scissors
- Tweezers
- Vitamin pills
- Water purifying tablets
- Yellow Fever certificate or International Certificate of Vaccination (Member’s tip)
Other Items
- Backpack rain cover
- Batteries
- Binoculars (Member’s tip)
- Books/Ebooks with a reader
- Bottled water
- Camera, film and batteries – Spare flash cards or memory for digital
- Carbohydrate snacks
- Chewing gum or mints – Especially if you are flying chewing something will help your ears
- Combo or key locks
- Compass
- Cup
- Diary or organiser
- Duct tape – Fixes everything! (Member’s tip)
- Eating utensils
- Electrical adapter and plug converter
- Fishing line – Strongest string in the world! (Member’s tip)
- Flashlight or torch – Don’t forget the batteries
- Frisbee, hackey sack, ball, pack of cards or other recreational items
- Gifts are always appreciated while travelling (Member’s tip)
- Guidebooks, or print outs from our online travel guide
- GPS (Member’s tip)
- Inflatable travel pillow
- International driving license – If driving overseas, have your driving license translated
- International Student Identification Card – For discounts worldwide
- iPod, MP3 player, Discman etc. – Including music and batteries
- Laptop – Especially for the business travellers
- Laundry detergent
- Maps (incl. small map of the world to show where you are from) (Member’s tip)
- Mini camera tripod – Big is better if you have the space!
- Mobile phone or SIM card
- Mosquito net
- Passport photos
- Phone card – Both for local and international calls
- Photocopies of important documents in case they are stolen (Member’s tip)
- Phrase books or dictionaries
- Pillow or pillowcase to stuff with clothes
- Plastic bags
- Power cords and chargers for all your electrical items – Save some money on batteries
- Resume and work references – Don’t forget these if you are planning to work while travelling
- Skis, ski shoes, ski poles or a snowboard – If you are planning a winter holiday, you want to remember these!
- Sleep sheet
- Sleeping bag
- Sleeping mat
- Speakers for iPod etc.
- Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool – Don’t keep in your carry on as it will be removed
- Toilet paper (Member’s tip)
- Towels, beach and otherwise – the quick drying versions are very handy!
- Travel alarm clock
- Universal sink plug – Squash ball can double as one (Member’s tip)
- Umbrella (Member’s tip)
- Watch
- Wet wipes/Baby wipes – Handy for cleaning hands or washing yourself in absense of a shower (Member’s tip)
- Ziplock bags – The freezer ones are usually the best
You don’t have to bring everything listed in here other than the essentials. Hope it helps you deciding which is more important over the others. Some items listed are type of trip dependent. So neglect them if you don’t need them.
