You’ve just landed in your dream destination – one you’ve been planning for months – and as soon as you get to your hotel you realize you’ve forgotten a few key items that could be essential to enjoying your time abroad. Here are some of the most-forgotten items I’ve come across… and some possible tips on how you can avoid these from happening to you.
- Prescription medications and vitamins – while these are part of your daily routine and are rarely forgotten, they’re unfortunately sometimes overlooked by travellers when it comes to packing essentials and toiletries. If you arrive at your destination and your forgotten medication is essential, it would be best to contact your travel insurance provider—travel insurance is another good thing to have when you travel!—and see if they can assist with recommending a clinic or pharmacist for a new prescription.
- Small toiletries, especially a toothbrush or contact lens solution – you’d be surprised how common these items are forgotten. Nonetheless, visit a local grocery store or pharmacy to pick up a new tube or brush, or see if your hotel concierge can provide a travel-sized one to lend you during your stay. In cases like this, it might be best to hang onto the complimentary samples your dentist gives you and store them in your toiletries’ case, so it’s already there and ‘ready to go’ when you’re packing. An extra travel toothbrush, hair comb and contact lens solution with its lens case is good to keep here as well. There is a limit to which liquids can be brought on an airplane in your carry-on, so be sure to stay within that limit, or pack your liquids and gels in your checked luggage instead.
- Plug converters and adapters – this is a big one that is commonly forgotten. Visiting countries like Australia, New Zealand, or even Fiji, you’ll need both a plug converter and adapter to avoid frying your appliances such as a hair dryer or flat iron. Not all electronic items can adapt to every country’s voltage automatically. Newer electronics like smartphones and tablets often adjust automatically and may only require just a plug converter (always check in with your service provider or an electronic store technical staff, of course).
- Fabric reusable shopping bags – just store one or two of these bags in a small compartment in your suitcase. These bags become handy for collecting your laundry overtime (and keeping them separate from your clean clothes). A durable fabric bag is also useful as it carries any purchases or documents you may collect as you’re out and about, it can be used as a beach bag, or it can be useful for sorting out and organizing gifts and items you’re bringing back home with you.
- Copy of your passport, Travel Visa and tour details – even if you keep your tour details on your phone’s email app, roaming charges would make it hard to readily access your email to retrieve booking information and email conversation logs. It’s important to have perhaps two copies for each document including your passport; one for your carry-on and one in your luggage, in the event important travel documents become lost. Best to print out your itinerary – a Destination Specialist can put this entirely together for you, which includes key contacts and reference numbers – the moment you receive it and fold it in with your passport.
Written By: Ryan (Destination Specialist)
