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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 3, 2015 - 02:36pm PT
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These boots?
Yeah, I now believe it's almost impossible to travel too light. My new clothing rack is:
 2 ea socks, underwear, cotton t shirts, long sleeve shirts
1 ea pants, shoes, rain jacket, down jacket, board shorts, sun hat, beanie
pretty much gets you through everything, can all be easily washed in hotel sink
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crankster
Trad climber
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pack rain cover
Kuhl Kontra Air Pants
La Sportiva Wildcat shoe
Packing cubes (I prefer over stuff stacks)
Copy of car insurance
Ear plugs
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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fip-flops for walking on beaches and/or showering in skanky places
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Passport (and then Driver's License).
I'd change the fleece and down jackets to a single Patagucci Nanopuff, depending on where and when you're going.
Headphones...make mine Sennheiser and get the full meal deal. Over the ears with cool white noise for the best sleep.
Laptop: buy a "disposable" model. Smallest with full keyboard and ditch the optical drive. Cheap (ie, one you'd not care if broken or stolen). Toss in a thumb drive to share pics.
Shirts: the one I wear on the plane and/or for travel has a front chest pocket. Not for a pocket protector, but, super handy for quick access to passport and boarding pass.
Foot powder: for long flights. Not just for your feet...if you catch my drift.
Sleeping aids: whatever works. For me, half an ambien, a flexoril, and a split of wine. If I wake up, I'll be reasonably rested. Ha ha.
Eye cover and ear plugs.
Neck pillow. Mandatory if there's not a chiropractor where you're travelling. If you're taking sleep aids...this item should be mandatory.
I sleep in my synthetic lightweight jacket with a hood. Use the airline pillow for a lumbar support. And the blanket for my legs.
Tums and ibuprofin.
Cipro for tummy bugs. 1 gram and done.
Caffeine. Enerjets from my pharmacy. When that single wake up tiny cup of coffee as the flight is landing isn't enough.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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I'm morbidly curious but also afraid to ask. Curiosity won out:
Foot powder: for long flights. Not just for your feet...if you catch my drift.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Just watch No Reservations, an episode shot recently made me very interested in Tehran. The way he exposes the cultures of these different areas, we typically only see glimpses of structures or places of historical significance that the personality of the land can get lost.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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I prefer my ipad to a laptop for international travel - much smaller and lighter but way easier to do on the spot research with...
Yet another vote for carrying a good first aid kit.
Chris we wouldn't be good travel partners, as my travel motto is "Pack heavy". I like having everything with me! Minimum four pairs of shoes...I even bring my own 28 OZ mug with me to brew tea.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Small portable water filter.
Copy of your passport in every bag.
Swiss army knife or like multi function knife/tool.
Merino wool underwear.
Buff multipurpose bandana or similar
Lightweight liner type gloves.
Sleep sack/liner...preferably silk.
Some chocolate.
Portable, long lasting USB charger.
Stuff sack style sil nylon backpack.
Lots more I can think of but plenty of good ideas already.
Susan
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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Booking reservations:
unless you are touring with a company, you'll probably be doing some of your own booking.
My personal experience is that booking through sites like Hotels.com or Travelocity, etc. are hit and miss in the third world. I prefer booking through the hotel websites, keeping a screenshot of the transaction, and then emailing the hotel with some innocuous question or mentioning when you expect to check in and mentioning the reservation). Getting a response is pretty good evidence things are in order.
If there is no site just call. Pennytalk makes it pretty cheap.
monetary transactions:
Maybe it was just me, but I got nervous about giving credit card numbers on unsecure sites ( pretty common). I usually deal with that with a phone call. I must not have been the only one, since I'm booking a trip now and I see HTTPS booking sites are more common.
Countefiting is a plague. Lean how to identify local real money and especially US Dollars.
i.e. What watermarks, stripes, paper, etc should be on the bill. Bleaching and overprinting with larger denominations is common. There are sites for many countries that have the problems. A small UV flashlight will eliminate most fakes.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=375+nm+uv&tag=googhydr-20&index=tools&hvadid=28511799626&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8080908065806353282&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=t&ref=pd_sl_6oazsbzred_b
just buy a 375 nanometer UV LED and a battery if you can't find one. Many foreign bills and dollars have UV ink or stripes that glow in diferent colors for diferent denominations. Check even money you get from Banks and ATM's
In Latin America, even small bills are faked. Tourists seem to be the only folks who fall for them.
A rooky mistake is getting change from a cabbie. Carry small bills and Just round up as part of the tip. They are vectors for fake money. For that matter, consider using coins where possible.
And you might want to put a security freeze on your credit info. It makes it just a bit harder for somebody to mess with your credit accounts, even if they get your wallet.
( does anybody carry a fake wallet?)
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Quo One forty-five caliber automatic
Two boxes of ammunition
Four days' concentrated emergency rations
One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
One hundred dollars in rubles
One hundred dollars in gold
Nine packs of chewing gum
One issue of prophylactics
Three lipsticks
Three pair of nylon stockingste Here
Hell, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that!
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JOEY.F
Gym climber
It's not rocket surgery
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Name tags!
On the large and small of value to you.
Those sticky freebies from the Sierra club or some such put email and/or phone number on them.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Kindle
Steri Pen with rechargeable batteries/charger
Headlamp-duh
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Passwordsafe program, loaded with at least your email password, on a thumbdrive, if you ever use internet cafe computers. It defeats keystroke recorders and a lot of malware - don't be typing in your passwords by hand on an untrusted machine, use copy and paste instead.
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/dok.shtml
The preferred method is to use your own device, and https
edit: also http://www.keepassx.org/ - multi platform,
Passwordsafe is more Windows friendly
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WBraun
climber
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I always carried 2 bottles of extra strength liquid Pepto Bismal.
I coats your stomach so that bacteria can't cling.
When you're in the most remote of a turd world countries areas and constantly moving thru them you need all the help you can get,
From getting dysentery ...
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/expert-advice/travel-checklist
6 months ahead of time check on immunization requirements and get them done.
Multiple credit cards = multiple ways to get cash.
International health insurance is a good idea.
Why do you need head phones and headphone splitter? I've been to 40 countries and have NEVER needed either.
A laptop is not required either.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Why do you need head phones and headphone splitter? I've been to 40 countries and have NEVER needed either.
Yeah, headphones are a drag-too big too bulky (though some fold pretty small these days).
I just go for a nice pair of earbuds with noise canceling. I use to carry a splitter butt I've never actually used it.
An ipod with all yer tunes and a couple audio books along with the Kindle go along way when you want to disengaged from reality...and it all fits easily in a pocket.
No you don't need a computer either, but it's nice to have these days if you have connectivity ability.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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When you leave home, make sure the kitty is fed. Check!
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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It's a very sad sign of the times when technology items (like headphones and a laptop) make up 7 of the 20 essential travel items in a checklist.
I went all the way around the world in 180 days and did not have a laptop, phone, ear buds or any other technology devices.
And I survived just fine.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Yeah I hear ya.
Butt it's a different world out there...sort of.
Guys like you and me weren't raised with the technology that many of the folks these list were/are made for. That's just the way it goes.
Folks were probably saying that about us as we boarded planes instead of the old steam tramp.
Though, I will say, having some tunes is nice and not having to shlep around a few books is pretty sweet too.
Those old blue fold up airmail letters that one received weeks later were kind of a drag to. I like being able to check in with my daughters when they or I travel for longer periods.
And I DO like my steri pen (I don't do plastic bottles) so neener neener:-)
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