Packing: Things we can't live without and things we'd leave behind

We had a comment to our post recently asking us about the things we packed that we simply can not do without and about the items that were misses and should have been left behind. Great question!
We put our collective minds together and after about five weeks on the road some things really stuck out in both columns.

Number one on our "can't leave home without it" list is an obvious choice but an item that truly is a traveler's tool and something that has saved our arses more than once on this trip...A quality Smartphone. With today's travel apps you can setup your smartphone to assist you in any number of travel contingents. Our iPhone7 has several apps that have been real life savers. Probably our best app has been "Google Maps". Seems like a no-brainer, but being able to plot a course from Edinburgh's Grassmarket to an antique shop in Leith that you can follow is worth it's weight in gold. Sure, you can go with the old fashioned "map" or "guidebook" route, but that's something else you have to carry and makes you an obvious target for the less scrupulous people looking to prey on tourists. (Nothing screams tourist more than two people huddled over a map at a busy intersection in Europe). Plus you don't have to stop at the metro maps and try to figure out which stops to get off and transfer to get to your destination. The apps figure it out for you. The second app we use constantly is "Citimapper".

Citymapper

This app is wonderful for plotting routes in major cities on public transportation. It gives you several choices of transportation, tells you where to go to start your journey, and then if you are taking public transportation for example, shows the stops along the route you are taking so you can follow along and have an idea when your stop is coming up. This app is especially helpful in foreign countries where the stop announcements will not be given in English. The other wonderful thing about it is that you can wander all over whatever city you are in and when you get tired just whip out the phone and use the Google Map or Citimap app and ask it how to get to your rental apartment. It will give you the nearest station to walk to and tell you which buses or subway trains to take to get there! You can also pull up reviews on restaurants, figure out when Le musée d’Orsay opens, and take great photos to boot.

Photo taken with our iPhone

To travel in this day and age without a smartphone is just foolish. It saves you from so much struggle and stress it is worth whatever it costs.

Our Eddie Bauer solar/electric charger bank for smartphones and tablets has saved us a couple of times. When your phone starts to die in critical situations it is so helpful to be able to plug it in to this super lightweight charger and get juiced up again. We bought it during Christmas sales and only paid $15 for it. It will recharge via sun, USB and plug in. This would be a great hiking charger. Just clip it on your pack and it recharges while you hike.

We use our ear plugs almost every night in major cities. It's nice to not have to stress about traffic noise or to have to listen to the two ladies yelling from across the hall.

David always says he wouldn't pack so many clothes when we're on the trip but then when he's packing for a trip he always packs too many clothes. So obviously he would say don't bring too many clothes! Wear what's comfortable for you. Don't try and reinvent yourself for London or Paris. Nobody cares! They're all wearing black anyway. It's just so boring. Whenever you see someone in a different colored outfit you cheer for them being brave enough to express their individuality. In London it seemed like everyone dressed alike so that they wouldn't be noticed which is just weird. Literally the women would dress ALL in black. Blouse, cardigan, skirt, tights, boots, purse, scarf. No color anywhere. Men wore all black as well and the pants were super slim. Almost leggings. In the major stations during peak times it was like a black ant colony.

A backpack is a must. Everyone has small backpacks in Europe and the UK. They are very necessary for day tripping in cities. They're great for carrying things like a small lunch, some groceries, an extra sweater and a camera. Sometimes you have to put them in lockers at certain exhibits but that's no big deal. Do not try and bring a small rolling luggage bag as your day bag. They are not allowed in most museums and exhibits and they will turn you away.

Speaking of bags, one item that has been worth it's weight in gold has been our "Chico Bag". These little shopping bags come crammed into their own little sewn in stuff sack are man are they da-BOMB! First of all if you are going to be staying in any self catering vacation rentals where you can cook for yourself you will be needing groceries. Well in Europe and the UK they just don't throw shopping bags at you, NO, you pay extra for these at the check stand. On top of that, try stuffing a baguette, cheese, four bottles of beer, some butter cookies, a six pack of eggs and two apples into one of these store bought plastic sacks and you can be sure you'll be picking up groceries from off the street in the not too distant future. Ah, but not if you have a handy Chico Bag!!!

The checker asks in some language that you can't understand if you need bags, and knowing that the question is coming you replay "non", a whip out your Chico Bag from inside your little back pack and yank it out of it's little stuff sack and in no time flat you're stuffing your groceries into the tough little bag and you're on your way. On top of that, it's a very green way to carry your goods.

We also wished we had brought a couple of dish towels and 2 washcloths instead of just the one we brought. None of the places we rented supplied any kind of decent dish towels and none of the places we stayed, including the hotels provided wash cloths. All you get in the way of towels is one heavily used hand towel and one bath towel per person and that is it, no matter how long your stay. And if you're lucky enough to find soap in your rental it is always liquid soap. So we're not sure how the people wash over here if they don't have wash cloths and use liquid soap. You find yourself just smearing it around your body and swearing as you do it wondering why why why and just knowing the damn stuff isn't going to rinse off, all the while knowing that you must be missing something. This can't be the way they wash?? Can anyone shed some light on this?

We wished for ziploc bags in several different sizes all the time. Easy to pack and so useful for anything from a leaking shampoo bottle, a pair of dirty socks to a half eaten sandwich.

Jerani loved having the functionality of the small Swiss-army backpack and our medium Tumi flight style roller bag. When we were traveling with all the luggage we could strap the backpack on the top of the roller bag and not have to carry it. Two large roller bags would've been too much to deal with especially since David very generously carried most of it on and off the trains and subways.
Packing for travel is very individual depending on what's important to you, the type of traveling you'll be doing and where you'll be going. Use common sense and error on the side of being conservative because you can always buy something along the way if you really decide you need it. Like now we're in Paris and it is suddenly 70 degrees and we needed short sleeve shirts. So we bought some here, and now not only do we have light shirts to wear but we have a souvenir to bring home as well. Win/win

One other note is that we are glad we didn't bring fancy clothes because the washers over here are seriously messed up. All of the rentals had washer/dryer combo machines. They are ONE machine and they don't work at all. They don't actually wash the clothes and then they just steam the shit out of them during the dry cycle and call them dry. What you end up getting after half a days wait is a lump of steaming moist clothing, and then the fun begins.

David hanging out laundry to dry after the machines 9 hour cycle is finished

Literally it can take 8 hours to do a cycle and then you still have to hang them out on the radiators, or on the shower curtain rod or off doors!! The level of dinge that has happened to our whites is truly disgusting. When we get home all of it is being thrown away and we will have to buy new. Not only that but all of our shirts have lost their elasticity and sag at the necks. How does a large family keep up on their laundry here? It's just insane.