Smarter Travel – 5 Things You Should Pack For A European Vacation

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Several years back I decided to go on a tour of Western Europe to get some culture and leisure. I was a young, fresh-faced, 19-year-old recent high school graduate who had done no travelling by myself but had all the confidence in the world. Unfortunately I didn’t have all the money in the world so I was travelling on a budget.

Nonetheless I wanted to make my experience as comfortable as possible and had enough gumption to research the essentials I would need on my adventure. After booking my tickets, I had about a month to prepare for the journey and purchase several pieces of equipment I needed (and embarrassingly, several I never used).

Here are 5 essentials I came up with to make the most out of my trip:

 

 

5. A solidly constructed backpack with as many bells and whistles as can be crammed in without taking up extra space. Great for long days sightseeing or hiking excursions.

Water resistant, anti-theft features, usb charging port and plenty of room. First off, water resistant is clutch when you’re in unfamiliar climates – Plus you may not have the foresight (or language skills) to know the weather report for the day. Plenty of room means you can bring along extra pairs of socks, sweat shirts or any other essentials you may need when you’re away from your hotel/hostel for long periods of time. Anti-theft is key if you’re in a large city, especially European cities. They’re known for their pick pocketers and having side buckles provide you with an extra layer of protection to assure your valuables don’t go missing while you’re on the subway.

 

4. A comfortable sleep mask & equally neck pillow because you’ll be travelling around jet-lagged on trains and planes. Ear plugs are great to bring along as well!

 Getting that extra few hours of sleep in-transit lets you cram more activity in during your hours awake. The initial plane ride across the pond is a great time to try and catch a few extra hours of sleep, as you’ll be landing several time zones away. If you’re travelling on the cheap, you’ll be staying in hostels and some of their rooms can get crowded. It’s nice to have the sleep mask and ear plugs in just in case a wandering drunkard comes stumbling in at 3AM.

 

3. TWO Pairs of your favorite comfortable walking shoes. You never know when you’ll need that second pair – Shoot for as comfortable and light-weight as possible. And some extra pairs of socks, just in case.

God forbid one pair gets soaking wet and you don’t have enough time to dry them out before needing them again. Plus, it’s hard to find a) the pair you’d prefer in a foreign country, b) a pair of decently priced shoes in a largely touristy city, c) your correct size. Yes, shoes and socks are accessories you don’t want to take any risks on.

 

 

2. A universal travel adapter. There are several different configurations for plugging in electronics.


You really don’t want to have to purchase one of these at the airport or anywhere near a hotel. The usb portion is a great addition! I’d recommend bringing two as I had one burn out on me plugging in my laptop on a train. But this little bugger is an essential if you’re travelling with any electronic (which you more than likely are).

 

1. Travel laptop. You could bring along your own laptop, but when you bought it you didn’t buy it with travelling in mind.

Something small, lightweight and cheap. A Chromebook is a solid recommendation. It does all the essentials and you can keep an offline journal of your adventures if there’s no internet connection. Cheap, because travelling in an unfamiliar place, you always have that chance that it will be stolen and if it’s inexpensive then the end of the world has not come. Plus on your regularly used laptop you have documents, pictures, browsing data and saved passwords that make having your identity stolen a very real possibility if the PC were to go missing.

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