Cause, on 03 April 2018 - 01:56 PM, said:
So what does one need when travelling abroad? For the typical day to day exploring I mean.
I'm gonna take a backpack, a water bottle, light snack, Ill be taking my phone and have arranged for a local sim card (maps, gps, google translate), I want to get one of those passport/ plane ticket/ money wallets things (Apparently a passport can get you out of tax at most stores and you need to show it for trains and hotels). Anything really obvious I'm missing?
When you say backpack, I'd advise the "daypack" variety, which is smaller and just for essentials. It will mean a MUCH less sore back from carrying stuff around (and is general just a good item to have in your possession).
I have a Pacsafe shoulder bag that I've travelled with all over Europe and elsewhere with, and it's pretty much theft proof and holds MOST of my daypack style gear (I bring this when I don't need a whole daypack). My wife has one too, and we both adore them. It holds my DSLR camera, water bottle, and the little front pocket (all the pockets lock) I use to hold my my important documents like wallet, Passport ect., and other pockets for maps, and odds and ends. It's deceptively small, but I get a lot of use out of it.
Sidebar: I was on the Barcelona transit with my wife and these "street musicians" were "scamming" their way up the train cars pretending to play for people, but full on pickpocketing instead...and they saw our pacsafe bags and ignored us entirely. So even the name I think scares off the ne'erdowells.
You can get daypacks from Pacsafe too but they run up in cost to $120 or more usually...still, a great investment if you'll do a lot of travelling. You probably don't need anything north of 25Liters for a daypack (I have two Patagonia ones, and a North Face one) as anything else is going to be wasted space and add needless weight.
Figure out all the stuff you'll bring, and then decide what size of pack you'll need (as I noted, you PROBABLY won't need anything above 25L). Then hit up the best brands for quality (Patagonia, North Face, Osprey, and Fjällräven are the ones I swear by).
You've listed all the really essential stuff. I assume you'll just use your phone for photos/videos? If not, a decent compact camera (if you have one) would not go amiss. Bring your charger cord for sure, and headphones for music/video if you're ever stuck anywhere waiting...or conversely an eReader for reading (if you have one). Spare change for whatever country you're in is a good idea as not everywhere is going to take cards, so keep some handy. Have more than one snack, and each of different varieties...fruit and something crunchy like a bar or the like, just to keep energy up on anything more than average walking.
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