Ten Travel Essentials

1) Passport & other IDs

You can’t enter the plane and leave the country without your passport. Period. So unless you have some sort of special flying powers, make sure you prepare your passport days before your flight or else hassle to the max!

Bringing an ID (student’s ID, if you have) is also advisable. Most tourist attractions and museums usually have special student rates or tourist rates. 

Tip: Photocopy your passport and leave your real passport in the hotel’s vault. No matter what happens, treat your passport as if it’s your best friend.

2) Adaptor and chargers for your gadgets

You’ll be gone for a few days so really expect your gadgets to go lowbatt. Research the adaptor they’re using in the country you’re going to, most of the time their outlet isn’t the same as ours. You can purchase international adaptors at handyman stores such as True Value.

3)Sunblock, shades or hat (especially if you’re travelling in the summer)

Unless you want to look like a crab after, please bring something to protect you from the sun’s harsh UV rays. SPF 50 would be just fine. Don’t use the SPF 70, chill ka lang, wala ka pa naman sa beach. As for hats, go ahead bring at least one! It’s kind of hard to wear hats here without getting obnoxious stares so make the most out of being in another land! Wear a floppy hat and a girly dress and no one will care.

4) Medicine

They have different medicine names in other countries so it’s better to bring medicine you’ve tried and tested. It’s dangerous to just trust the pharmacist abroad. You’ll never know you might be lost in translation and the pharmacist ends up giving you the wrong medicine. I remember travelling to Singapore and a family member suddenly had stomachache, the pharmacist gave him a black powdery substance. I’m sure that it didn’t look like good old medicine to me.

Tip: Here’s a checklist of things to put in your emergency kit when travelling:

1) Paracetamol (for fever) 2) Painkillers (for migraine or dysmenorrhea) 3) Antacids (for hyperacidity) 4) Anti-histamines (for asthma or allergy) 5) Band-aid 7) Betadine 8) Cotton Balls 9)Reydration tablets (first aid to dehydration 10) Antiseptic (for cleaning wounds)

 5)Anti-theft bags

Don’t bring bags that have large pocket on the sides. Pickpockets anywhere in the world usually target tourists.

 We would always want to believe that people are harmless but always remember the saying “there’s always a rotten apple in a barrel” so don’t expect all people to be friendly and innocent. You’ll never know, that pretty girl sitting beside you might actually be a pickpocket. I remember riding the Tram in Italy and I’m beside this overly sexy longhaired model-looking 20-ish girl. I almost yelped “Adriana Lima, is that you”?

And the next thing I knew is seeing her hand (take note: with perfectly manicured nails!) in my bag! Good thing I’ve got a huge ass water bottle in my hands and just punched her face with that. Guys, I tell you, looks can be very deceiving.

Tip: Padlock your bags. Yes, read that right – padlock. You can purchase padlocks from handyman stores as well. You can also wear belt bags under your shirts to safeguard your money

6) Walk-friendly shoes

When you travel you’re gonna do a lot of walking. Well, unless you are a billionaire and you’ve got a BMW in Italy, an Audi convertible in Germany, and not to mention your screaming red Ferrari in France (ikaw na talaga!) you can wear sky-high heels and no one soul will object.

But c’mon not all of us can be like that. For normal folks like me, make sure that your flats are not flat flat. What do I mean about flat, flat. Ballet flats might seem very comfy but trust me if you wear those all day, you’re gonna feel like your flats betrayed you. Bring slippers in your bag so you can change if your feet are really tired.

Tip: They say Fitflops are walk-friendly sandals. I really haven’t tried it but I guess it’s worth a try.

7) Itinerary

There’s nothing better than a well-planned trip so make sure all tickets, itineraries and other hotel reservation receipts are with you. Bring index cards in which you can write the destination address which you can easily show the cab driver.

Tip: If you would ride trains instead, research all the stops you’re going to hop on and hop off. You might call this OC but when we travel we usually print out the train route map. This way, we can count how many stops we have to pass through before we go down.

Another tip: When organizing your itinerary, indicate the operating hours of malls along with bus and train stations.


8) Pen

This might the simplest thing in the list. (You might say “Duh! common sense") but a lot of people still seem to forget about bringing a pen. You gotta fill a lot of forms and immigration cards when traveling so a pen is always handy.

Don’t forget that when you’re pretty much lost in translation sometimes you can play Pictionary with the locals and they will understand you better. Haha

9)Watch

Here in the Philippines, people can estimate the time by the looks of the sky but in other countries, you won’t have a clue! I remember traveling in Spain and the sun is at its brightest at 7pm. SEVEN AT NIGHT -- Incredibly different and somehow amusing. Haha But point is, always bring a watch, it would help you not miss show times and train rides and whatnot.

Tip: Kung kaya ng budget, go wear the dual time zone watch so if you want to call your loved ones in the Philippines, you'd be able to, without waking them up! Haha 

10) Camera

Memories stored in photographs are priceless. You can always say that you can always go back to that country or city but c’mon you cannot bring back time. You cannot go back looking the same so please (kahit anong camera pa yan) don’t forget to bring!
Tip: Bringing a lomo cam can be pretty cool too! Plus, lomo cams are usually inexpensive. 

Travelling has always been my second love.

Witnessing people from another side of the globe -- seeing how different and similar they can be from Filipinos -- is such an exhilarating experience for a young folk like me. Although, I must say, travelling really comes with a price so ipon ipon mode na. But you know what, I can’t imagine a trip that isn’t worth it.

Go ahead, travel, travel, travel while you still you can.

Bon Voyage, my loves!

Disclaimer: Some photos are not my own. 

Credit goes to Google Images and the respective page owners. 

XX,

Jess