I make a list of the absolute items that if I forget them it would ruin the trip:
1) Passport
2) Credit card/ Debit card
3) Glasses/Contact lens
4) Prescription medication
5) Smart phone (containing all flight & trip data, hotels, GPS maps)
Anything else is replaceable and the trip goes on, I make a checklist of these items and check them off the night before we depart.
Hi Donald. Interesting. For me a modification to your list is that I keep copies of all trip data in my email or on the web somewhere; therefore losing my smartphone would be a nuisance but not a show-stopper. Usually I rent a car for part of the trip; if so driver's license would be a must-have.
To take off on Bob's comment, I look at things like this and then try to have an alternative if the worst happens.
1) Passport, keeping a copy in a separate location and know what to do if you lose it.
2) Having a second cash account and a second CC, kept separate from my primary cards.
3) My glasses are not a must have, but uncorfortable without. I suppose I could bring a second pair, but never do. If you have disposable contacts, bringing backups would be a good idea.
4) Prescriptions, again, not an issue for me, but again splitting up your supply, maybe bringing a copy or list of what you take would be a good option.
5) Bob already mentioned having copies online, even paper copies of some items work as well.
Hi,
I did lose a contact, my first trip to Ireland. I wore hard contacts that were very strong & expensive so I didn't have a backup. It was awful, saw the entire country through one eye.. I had laser surgery performed so I don't need those anymore. I do bring two pair of reading glasses.
I also bring a copy of my medical prescriptions, with their generic name. I keep a copy of all my paperwork in the cloud, including the prescriptions. My husband takes at least one different cc, that way we always have one, we split up the money.
That leaves the passport. Don't laugh but my husband accidentally picked up my expired passport. Thank God, we left tons of time that trip, he had to all the way home and get it.
Mary
I like your list and agree with all but the last.
I have never travelled with a phone.. and I travel a fair amount.. and have for many decades.. but I am old school.. I have a tablet with all stuff saved on email.. and I make paper copies and carry it in a small folder.
so for me.. its passport, atm and credit card, glasses ( but I could always pick up readers) and that's about it..
even the prescription drugs I do take I think I would just see a local doctor and get a prescription for there.
It's just passport and a way to get money for me (credit/debit cards). Everything else is a nice to have (even contacts and glasses can be replaced easily in Europe).
DJ
Nothing on the list would ruin a trip for me, and I've had to replace all/most of those items once. However, I travel for long periods of time so if something goes wrong, I can wait for replacement to catch up with me. Good to have a checklist (I would forget to fully charge batteries if it weren't on my list).
1) Passport (stolen) was replaced in an hour at a consulate (all your info is electronically filed, a paper copy is not necessary).
2) Credit/debit cards (stolen) took longer to replace, had to be fedexed to a hotel, debit card PIN was sent separately to my home but my upstairs neighbor opened the envelope (at my request) and emailed me the PIN; American Express will wire you up to $500 (maybe more depending on card type) for emergency travel funds.
3) Glasses were broken but replaced (two days).
4) Prescriptions (carried a copy) was replaced with European equivalents.
5) Never activated my cheap TIM phone on one trip, used email for contacting hotels and friends.
I can understand that the loss of these things can seriously hinder a trip of two or three weeks.
It was a trip to Italy in 1985 that changed something I carry ALL the time now:
Our group (my wife had won the trip for her performance as a store manager and, along with the other 75 or so top managers in the company, and their spouses, we were a large gang) had had a day at the Vatican and one woman had taken a spill. I didn't see it happen, but heard the whole story later. It seems she tripped and fell forward, striking her head/face on cobblestones, cutting her face up and destroying her glasses.
At dinner that night, she showed up with bandages and the ugliest eyeglass frames possible, along with a story: It seems that the Vatican guards attended to her and took her to a Roman clinic for treatment of her injuries. Then, they took her to an optician's shop -- one of the few open on a Saturday afternoon.
There, no one spoke English and she didn't speak much Italian, but she did have her glasses prescription with her. Since such prescriptions are all numbers, and apparently international, they were able to replace her lenses. The frames, well, they were, at best, serviceable.
Since that trip, I have always carried a copy of my eyeglasses prescription in my wallet -- every day and everywhere. I also keep the last pair of glasses in a hard case in my bag, even if there's been a major change in my prescription. With uncorrected 20/400 vision, I have little choice.
I'm 20/1200. Every time I get new glasses, I keep the most recent old pair, which goes with me on every trip. I also carry my current prescription, but even before I needed bi-focals no one stocked my lenses. I assume it would take about a week to get new glasses made in Europe, as it does here. I also carry one of those stretchy sports bands that keep glasses on your head in difficult conditions. I've never needed to use it, but I'll be prepared if I'm ever on a very bouncy boat ride.
We have traveled enough that nothing would break the trip except for the death of my wife.
I have to agree with Frank, I could survive most anything but if I lost my best friend, who happens to be my wife I would loose the best part of traveling!
I'm extremely nearsighted and always travel with my old pair of glasses and a current prescription, even domestically.
On a trip 6 years ago, I forgot some pills and my parents had to overnight them to Germany whch cost around $70. Ever since then, before every trip, my dad asks if I have my prescription!
In 2007 I went on the infamous trip where US Airways lost my luggage for 2 weeks. I learned very quickly that I could continue to travel with literally only the clothes I was wearing, because I had my passport and ATM card. Aside from medicine and my passport and glasses, I consider my camera and journal essential items. Clothing, shampoo, etc. can be replaced.
I'm hoping I will be as lucky as Frank and find a husband who will be my most important travel element!
Before we leave for the airport on each trip (domestic or international) my husband and I ask outloud:
1) Got your passport (ID if domestic)?
2) Got a credit card?
3) Got your contacts? (husband - CRT lenses and next to impossible to replace on short notice)
If the answer to each of those is yes we depart, knowing that literally anything else we can figure out when we get there if we have to.
The only thing that I can think of for myself that would make a trip unpleasant would be forgetting my custom night guard. But I might be more OK without it than I think. I will sometimes not pack it for a simple overnight. And I hear the OTC semi-disposable ones are getting better.
I'm also a glasses wearer and I always bring enough contact lenses for the duration of the trip plus two pairs of glasses. My prescription isn't that bad (-1.50, near sighted), so even if I didn't have them I can read and get around, but things (including road signs) further away would be blurry, especially at night. I also bring a copy of my prescription, but I'm not sure if foreign opticians would honor US prescription. Although, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to give you an exam and write up a prescription for you on the spot.
Really, only my passport and ATM card.
Figured I'd jump in since others are telling contacts/glasses stories.
In the mid '80s, I was packing for a trip to London, and at the last minute, I put in a pair of my old contact lenses (a slightly weaker prescription). It's a good thing I did, because those little machines that used to clean contact lenses? Well, mine never shut off my first night in London (I had a converter & all) and my lenses were fried to a crisp. I had to call my optometrist and order a new pair, which was ready by the time I went home. And I learned an alternative way of cleaning them: Putting them in a hard case and boiling the case in water for 10 minutes! It actually worked.
When I got home, the doc said there was a new way to clean lenses that didn't require the sterilizing machine. AOSept a/k/a Clear Care, and I've never looked back (pun intended).
