Packing For Holidays

Buy Bulky Items Once You Get There 
If you're trying to pack light and want to have extra room on your way home for souveniers, consider buying bulky items like towels at your destination. Use the towel during your stay, then chuck it when you're about to leave. This works especially well with people travelling on longer trips for several weeks or months.

Pack a calling card. 
It is a lifesaver in times of need!

Cancun/Cozumel Packing Essentials
Even if you don't smoke, take a pack of cigarettes with you on your trip, carrying them at all times. Offering a cigarette has lightened up many a tense situation when dealing with the locals (no pun intended). It also may get you a better deal on a shopping purchase.

Castile Soap
Always take a small container of pure castile soap (Dr. Bronner's Peppermint). It is biodegradable, smells great, and has many uses (as the bottle will tell you), and, while it doesn't taste very good, it can even be used to brush your teeth.

Caffeine Withdrawal?
When staying in a room with a kitchenette (or even just a coffee maker), take a small tin of instant flavored coffee. It provides the needed morning pick-up without having to pay for a gourmet coffee and without having to leave the hotel room to fetch coffee before having the shower.

Essential Oils
Essential oils are versatile and so tiny they take up virtually no room!  Lavender - on insect bites, on pillow as sleep aid; lemongrass - on tissue tied onto room fan as insect repellent; eucalyptus and peppermint - on tissue shoved into car aircon vent to ease tropical heat and humidity; ginger and peppermint - on tissue and inhaled for dizziness.

Extra Extension Cord
Always pack an extension cord. Often the only accessible plug is in the bathroom.

Extra Passport Photos
Carry extra passport photos - handy if you need a visa in a hurry, or if you lose your passport.

Extra Pockets
Pack a lightweight jacket with zipper outside pockets that can be carried in your flight bag or worn under a winter coat. Create pockets on the inside with velcro to fasten them shut. Also, purchase pants that have a side zip pocket to keep small bills and change handy. Bring an old towel (that you can discard) in case the hotel towel is inadequate.

Extra Suitcase
Carry an extra nylon fold-up suitcase inside your luggage to put purchases in.

Do You Really Need It?
If you are travelling for a week the only articles of clothing you need more than one of are your underwear and socks. Pack light!!!

Don't Forget the Aloe Vera Gel
When travelling to warmer climates (or anywhere for that matter), try to take a small bottle of Aloe vera gel with you. This stuff is like having a pharmacy in a bottle! It's great for sunburn, insect bites, pimples, grazes, and rashes. It's also particularly good for normalising your skin after a long haul flight - and if you put it on before your moisturizer, it'll help the moisturizer absorb far better. Aloe vera gel is versatile, cheap, and readily available from health food stores, pharmacies, and supermarkets everywhere. ALWAYS buy the gel form, not the spray - as the spray is usually too diluted to do much.

Don't Forget These Items
When traveling be sure to carry: A knit black dress. They do not need ironing and may serve as evening wear. An extra large T-shirt in your tote bag at all times - it may serve as a towel, a blanket, a night shirt, a scarf, a skirt, a cover-up, etc. Be sure to split your valuables up - don't put all your eggs in the same basket.

Don't Forget Your Nose!
Small purse-paks of kleenex can be lifesavers! Easy to pack a few in the nooks of your suitcase, and it always seems like the bathrooms in museums and restaurants are out of toilet paper!

Double Bed Sheet
As a student staying in cheap hotels and youth hostels around the globe, I always bring a double bed sheet, folded in half and sewn halfway up the side leaving a flap at the top to cover the pillow. The idea is to create a little 'pocket' in which you can sleep comfortably under old and dirty hotel blankets and sheets without actually ever coming in contact with them. I sleep much more soundly and don't have to worry about lice, bedbugs and whatever else might be lurking under the covers ...

Dryer Sheets
Put them in the suitcase to keep clothes smelling clean all week ... it works . Never forget them - especially when you go camping.

Duct Tape
It may seem strange, but it comes in handy for many uses. Using platic water bottles and a heck of a lot of duct tape to hold them together, we were able to make a tube to bypass the broken duct and push cold air through the vents at the back of the van. It made the trip much more comfortable.

Ear Plugs
Foam ear plugs are a must for any trip. You may purchase them at any pharmacy, usually in multiple packs. They are great for the flight (to sleep). In addition to that, you never know when you will be in a hotel where other guests do not appreciate the fact that your tour leaves at 700 a.m.!

Electric Hot Plate
Pack a small electric hot plate if you are traveling for a few months and want to save money. You will also need a cheap coffeepot. It saves about 1-3 dollars per day cooking coffee, spaghetti, or rice, etc. Almost all cheap hotels have plugs. If you are creative you can buy all the electrical devices needed to unplug light bulbs, and insert a double plug and light bulb.

Electrical Conversion Plugs
Tape electrical conversion plugs to hairdryer or jug to be sure not to leave behind. It is impossible to buy them in Europe.

Certified Copies
Place an envelope in one of your checked bags containing certified copies of birth certificates and an additional photo I.D. for each member of your family traveling with you. In the event your passport is lost or stolen, these may suffice to get you back home without the cost and hassle of replacing your passport abroad. If your travels will take you to or through countries where a passport is required to continue your travel, have a copy of your passport application and two extra copies of passport photos in this envelope as well. Passport replacement abroad can be accomplished through U.S. embassies or consulate offices. Your hotel should have phone numbers for the nearest office or embassy.

Clothespins
The clothespin - one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Not only at home, but when traveling, they have a multitude of uses. Hang your clothes in the closet with them, clip your receipts together, close those plastic bags, hang up your swimsuit, close your partially-eaten chips bag, etc.

Cooler/Seat Cushion Combo?
Many hotels charge extra for a room with a small fridge. Use a collapsible cooler. When folded, it fits in the large outer pocket of my suitcase - and when opened it holds water bottles and snacks and a large amount of ice (usually found on every floor of a hotel). 

Dental Floss
Dental floss is not just for teeth. It is used to mend torn bags, sew buttons and fix broken sandal straps. It is amazingly strong. 

Detergent Tablets
Instead of using liquid washing soap for your laundry, try detergent tablets. Tide makes single use packets that include 2 tablets. You can throw them in your bag and not worry about leaking bottles and soapy clothes.