10 on Tuesday: Things to Take on Vacation
1. Okay, you knew it was coming - Knitting! I’m particularly partial to socks for vacation knitting due to their portability and often no need to reference a pattern.
2. This one will be no surprise to you either - Books! I used to always travel with used paperbacks I was okay with leaving behind. Now, I’m traveling more with e-books instead.
3. Camera and related equipment, including lenses, flash, batteries for flash, battery charger, filters, memory cards, card reader, laptop etc. - surprised you again, didn’t I ;-)
4. Blank CDs or DVDs so you can back up any new photos taken just in case something would happen to your hard drive on the remainder of your trip and during the return. I like to make two copies and carry one set on me and put one set in my luggage or post it back home.
5. A GPS unit or phone with GPS capabilities can really make getting around in unfamiliar places much easier! Though my sister will be quick to tell you that her great friend, Greta Garmin, and I do not do well together in the long term. After a couple of days I start getting snarky and talk back to her. But I’m thankful for her help all the same and am glad that she always travels with my sister when we go on photo excursions.
6. Which brings me to good companions whose habits mesh well. A patient husband who puts up with your tendency to linger and lag behind because your shutter is clicking overtime or to stop ona dime to capture an amazing sunrise is always a great choice. Or a sister with whom you fought incessantly as an adolescent who you now find a fantastic accomplice in photo-centric travels and thankfully needs downtime on roughly the same schedule - at least once one of us admits we need it. We both require two weeks to fully recover from our vacations together, LOL!
7. A reusable water bottle. Hotels and motels can charge an arm and leg for bottled water, plus we don’t really need any more plastic in our landfills and oceans so I like to take one of my Sigg bottles with me. If you are flying, just be sure to empty it before trying to go through security!
8. A smattering of medicine cabinet contents - aspirin, tums, pepto etc. as eating strange foods and disrupting your daily reoutine can upset a system.
9. I almost always forget either this one or number 10. It seems to be a requirement of my travels. A toothbrush! Thankfully, forgetting that is pretty easily remedied (another time the GPS comes in handy - finding a drug/grocery/discount store near by).
10. Pajamas! Even if the travels are adult-centric, they make comfortable lounge wear and can prove handy if you need to answer the door.
