5 Things to Take Travelling

Going on a long trip, then experience has taught me that the pack on your back should be no more than 40 litres in size. Combine that with a single strap 15 litres bag across your front and you have the perfectly balanced luggage combination. Easy to carry, easy to manoeuvre and enough room for all your travelling essentials.

I have scrimped on travel knives in the past and paid the price with broken corks and unopened tins of food. These days I always have at least a basic

I only have two hands and I find I usually need them both when I am climbing through a dark cave or working my way down a mountain as the sun sets.

Many a Maglight has plummeted to it death from between my teeth. The perfect torch for travel is a head torch with an adjustable strap that is lit by bright LED’s. Leaves your hands free for more important things. Like opening bottles of wine in the twilight.

The modern traveller needs at least one of these items. Perfect for keeping copies of reservations, they also remove the requirement in most countries to have a paper flight confirmation. Even better in the more technologically advanced countries they remove the need for a paper boarding pass and can be used to check in before you even get to the airport. Also keeps you in touch with those that are near and dear. You want to travel, but you don’t want to become that estranged from friends and family!

The perfect size? 5″ for a smartphone and 7-8″ for a tablet. They also replace the need to carry around a library of books, provide music and games for long journeys and finally give you somewhere to store those precious photos as a back up.

If you really need it, then take a spare. Wear glasses? Take a second pair. Copy your passport, then hide a spare copy in your pack. Have a spare credit card. Have some spare cash. Anything that you can’t easily replace should be backed up with a spare.

I even carry a spare SIM card from a world wide telecommunications carrier. Just in case!