The Sh** You Don't Know You Need...Until...

Taking a two week vacation is different than the piddly little one week crap. If you forget something, if you need something, you'll be home in a couple days so who cares. When you leave home for an extended amount of time, you have to think a little differently. If you end up needing something, you have a couple three choices - buy (which get expensive when traveling on a budget), borrow (which can get weird), or go without (which frustratingly makes the most sense).

I'm just completing my second two week stint abroad and I thought while it's fresh in my mind, I'd list off some of the sh** I didn't know I needed until...well, until I needed it. And if you're like me and you only take one bag that you have to be able to sling onto your back for easy humping from train to hotel and back again, there are huge weight and size considerations, i.e. you can't bring the kitchen sink. Let me say it another way - when you only bring a week's worth of under garments and two pairs of shoes anything else you add in had better be pertinent. 

As with all the lists I've made in the past, there's no particular order of importance.

1. Bottle opener. You won't regret this one until you're drinking cans of Somersby hard cider in your hotel room. Sure, I could have bought a bottle and asked at the front desk for an opener, but there's a bar in the lobby so... Now I know why every other trinket souvenir key chain has one. Idea for next trip - buy one for someone as a gift and use it until I get back. Score.

2. Razor. Learned this one the hard way last year (I needed a machete when I got home). This year spring sprung and I wanted to wear running shorts so THANK GOD I brought one. That I ended up wearing running tights doesn't need to figure into the conversation.

3. Tweezers. Also learned the hard way last year. Self-explanatory.

4. Bandaids. If you're going to attempt crazy hikes up and down craggy, stone staircases on rainy mornings, you might want a small first aid kit in the luggage. I ended up not bleeding, but as I slipped and slid that one time and my life flashed before my eyes, I saw myself not packing any...and I was instantly regretful.

5. Perfume. Look, if you're not going to bring enough clothes to last the entire trip and you're going to do half-assed laundry in your hotel room (Read No Tickey, No Laundry for details), you might want to have something to....freshen things up on the fly. Just in case, I mean.

6. Lotion. All I'm going to say is blue jeans, a lot of walking, and wind burn. You'll want something soothing at the end of the day. 

7. Protein bars. They sell them over here, but none are as good or as cheap as at home (That's saying a lot because those suckers will cut you pretty good in the States).

8. Ibuprofen. A lesson from last year that I thankfully rectified at the last minute this year.

9. A portable charger. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of mine the last two trips. Especially since my electrical adapter is a big unwieldy block of bright blue plastic. It's great for remembering in hotel rooms, but sucky big in my get-around bag. 

10. Printed copy of your itinerary. When my phone took a dumper in Oslo (See With Or Without Google Maps) and I was starring down the prospect of absolute disconnectivity, you bet your ass I made sure those couple sheets of paper were still in my bag. 

There you have it. Last day of vacation advice. Some of these lessons are not pretty when learned the "hard way". Trust me. 

*** In a Top Ten List. I used to do them all the time. I know at least one reader who will be happy. I love you, too, Tonya. ***