Planning for a road trip is either a stressful or easy endeavour, depending on how much travel you do. The inexperienced traveler may be fraught with concerns, like “did I pack enough? Am I forgetting anything?”, whereas the experienced traveler is chill and relaxed knowing they’ve got everything necessary included.
Even the experienced traveler may forget an important item though, or find themselves without something that could really get them out of a jam while far away from home. In this article, we’re going to list 7 essential things to ensure a catastrophe-free vacation – or at least as close to one as possible. You might also be interested in ways to save money on your next vacation after reading this list.
Survival protein sources
Emergencies occur on a regular basis all around the world. On any given day, someone may be forced to flee their house due to a forest fire, left without supplies after an earthquake, or faced with a prolonged power or water outage.
Where can you get survival protein sources if you’re in an emergency situation? In a worst case scenario, like being stranded out in the wilderness, you obviously can’t just waltz into the local supermarket. You’ll need to be prepared ahead of time in order to get through a catastrophe.
Tuna fish is a great source of light protein that travels well and has a long shelf life. A single serving of protein can provide nearly half of your daily requirements. Sunflower seeds, beef jerky, and nuts are also easy to transport, have a long shelf life, and are high in protein.
A cheap extra cellphone
Many individuals do not think about this, and you should not be one of them. It’s a nightmare to lose your phone (or worse, have it stolen) while on vacation. That is why you should bring a backup phone with you and leave it in your hotel room when you depart.
It might be a basic keypad phone, such as an ancient Nokia, that you use to call for help in an emergency. Even better would be a low-cost, contemporary Android (or iPhone) with your credentials attached.
So, if your main Android phone is stolen, you may use your backup phone to go into Google Account Settings and either GPS locate or remotely disable your stolen phone.
A luggage tracker
These are little GPS chips that you can insert inside your luggage, and they usually come with a companion app that you can download to your phone. So, if the airline “misplaces” your bag, you may use your phone to activate the app and literally tell the airline to find it.
They may cost anywhere from $25 to $100, but they’re well worth the money if you’re afraid about your luggage getting misplaced.
Extra shoes or sandals
As someone who enjoys visiting tropical locations, I can’t emphasize how important it is to have a backup pair of sandals. Breaking a sandal strap on a path is the worst, so I went about barefoot in Hawaii for a time, getting in touch with my inner earth-child.
Running around in unfamiliar locations barefoot is, for the most part, a poor idea. You may just purchase a pair of $3 sandals as a backup and keep them in your bag for these occasions.
Cell phone signal booster
Your mobile service may be poor if you’re traveling “off the grid” (kind of the point though, isn’t it?). You may have intended to travel off the grid for a vacation, but you still need the assurance of signal reception in case of an emergency.
Signal boosters are excellent to have, and most of them are essentially antennas that you put into your phone’s headphone socket.
A dummy wallet
A fake wallet is usually a smart thing to carry if you’re heading to a shady location where visitors should be careful. Because muggers may not flee quickly after stealing your belongings, your fake wallet should be able to pass a cursory check and give the mugger the impression that they acquired something valuable.
To make it more realistic, your dummy wallet should be old and worn, contain a modest amount of money, and include numerous items such as novelty IDs or outdated bank cards.
A pack of cigarettes
If you ever fear you could get into trouble on your vacation, I recommend bringing along a couple packs of cigarettes just in case.
There are places on the planet — and most likely on your block — where they’re worth more in social currency than the money you paid for them. They’re a gift, a bribe, and an international interpreter all rolled into one. They belong in your backpack when you’re out in the world, even if you’re not a smoker yourself.
