You are planning on traveling internationally, but aside from the things that I mentioned in past travel guides, I’m going to add a new section titled “Travel Essentials” (Must Bring Items) for International Travel.
These are by no means a listing by priority but a listing of what I consider are things worth bringing.
1. Back-up Towels
Your hotel often will have 3-4 towels already but I always find comfort in carrying one major towel in my second check-in luggage, a wash towel in my carry-on bag and a small handtowel also in my carry-on bag.
The full-sized towel, I have used whenever I took a shower late at night (used up the hotel’s towels) and then had my full-size as a back-up. Going to a foreign country, communication of towels sometimes is not a perfect thing. So, I always come prepared, just in case.
Also, if you are there during the summer or during times of hot weather or heavy rain and you need to wipe yourself, you know you have small towel in your bag. I’ve also had to use my wash towel as backup whenever I’m in line for a restaurant (which takes hours to get in), I need something to sit on, always can count on a towel.
I don’t bring anything to heavy or expensive. In fact, I bring towels that I can easily disregard if I wanted to.
2. Band-Aids and Mole Skin
A lot of people are unaware how much walking they have to do on a trip. This is probably something I read from people who traveled, including friends of how they have to stay in the hotel because their feet hurt and got blisters.
I’ve always wrote about bringing comfortable shoes and socks on travel. Especially using Darn Tough socks.
But for me, I walk possibly over a hundred miles for my trips. No matter how hard I prepare, I often get blisters. But each time, I’m protected thanks to Moleskin. I pretty much get a roll, cut them in one inch squares and put them in my backpack. I also bring bandaids. These are inexpensive and while the moleskin will protect your worse blisters, the band aids are great for the toes that blister or if you accidentally cut your finger or something that needs a bandaid. As always, stay prepared.
3. Battery Back-Ups
I can’t emphasize how important battery back-ups are for traveling internationally. I would bring about two (I bring three). I don’t know how many times I have had to recharge my portable devices on a trip. Also, it’s important to prepare just in case there is a national disaster. I’ve known people who have traveled and an earthquake happened. Trains were shut down, they were in the middle of nowhere and the only way they can communicate with family and friends or online forum help sites was through their phone or tablet.
I am a heavy user of Google Maps and there are times when Google Maps eaten my battery power that I was often saved by plugging my device into a battery back-up.
If you are planning on purchasing a battery back-up, remember to get one with a high mAh.
4. Cables to Charge Your Electronic Devices
If you are bringing battery back-ups, you will want to bring back-up cables. May it be USB 2.0 Cables, USB Type-C, Lightning Cable for newer Apple products, etc. I also bring a USB adapter for faster charging, as charging from a laptop may be too slow.
5. Camera Essentials
While some people are cool with taking all photos via their smart phone for everything, my needs are quite huge. I take a lot of photos and 4K video. The primary essentials for me requires an investment of SD memory cards.
What you see above is what I brought to Tokyo. Many SD memory cards, many camera batteries.
All I can say is that at first, I worried by purchasing many cards would be overkill but it turned out that I would use them all up by the end of my trip. 4K video takes a lot of space.
And last but not least, you won’t see it pictured here…I recommend a portable SSD Drive if you are a photographer. This is a precaution just in case your SD cards get lost or damaged. You know that you have them backed up in your SSD Drive.
Some people have the luxury of having a hotel with fast bandwidth and spend a lot on cloud storage, but I always bring a portable SSD Drive.
6. Laundry Bag
You can purchase super light travel laundry bags. You have to be careful because some of the ones sold on eBay are poor quality and rip. Also, they are smaller than what they advertise. I ended up finding a better alternative, especially one that is mesh for breathability and that is a mesh equipment bag. Yes, the bags they use to hold basketballs and such but have a carrying strap/shoulder strap such as this. They are very cheap and because they are used for sporting equipment, they are sturdy.
7. Luggage Locks
Protect yourself. Prepare yourself. There are shady airport security in some countries. You probably heard, they put a bullet and sneak it in your luggage. Airport screeners see something and then next thing you know, you are held, trying to defend yourself that it’s not yours. And then they tell you, “pay us this much, will forget about what happened”.
It happens to travelers…like this.
Also, let’s say if your hotel check out is 10:00 a.m. but your flight is later that night? Hotels will often have a luggage room to leave your luggage, so you can travel and come back and pick it up before you head out to the airport. But you purchased expensive goods and the last thing you want is people opening up your luggage.
That is where luggage locks are important and the versions you want to find are TSA Approved.
If you are in the US, you can purchase these inexpensively from a Marshall’s, TJ Maxx or Ross. Or also on Amazon such as these Forge luggage locks.
8. The Travel Scale
All I can say is this will save you a lot of money, it’s small enough to fit in a bag or carry-on. But if you tend to purchase a lot of things and are not sure if you are surpassing your airline’s weight limit for your bags, always have a digital scale (or a non-digital one) with you. Otherwise, you may end up paying a good amount by your airline for the extra weight.
9. Small Power Strip
Yes, I’m serious…a small power strip. Nothing too expensive but something that allows you to plug a few things.
For example, you end up at your hotel and the only available power strip, you find that the TV is connected to it and the desk lamp?
Where are you going to plug your laptop? Your devices to charge up overnight?
I bring a small power strip that are inexpensive. So I can connect the hotel’s TV, their lamp but also my Native Union Smart Hub.
I invested in a Native Union Smart HUB – 4-Port USB Wall Charger (Including One USB-C Port) with 2 x AC Outlets.
Primarily because it charges tablets/mobile phones/battery backups super quickly. Also, because I need to charge my camera batteries, plug in my laptop, this has become very useful for me!
10. Waterproof Pouch
Preparation is something I’m always prepared for. And one thing that is important to me is protecting my camera smart cards, USB card and my smart phone, your keys (especially small luggage keys). For those who intend to capture a lot of photographs and video, this is definitely worth having. You always want to be prepared for the worse, such as flooding or water dropping on your bag. Things happen, but why not be prepared just in case.
Check out my review of the Lewis N Clark Automatic Magnetic Closure Waterproof Pouch.
