10 Bare Necessities Every Traveller Needs

Backpacker Edition

1. Guide Book: I recommend Lonely Planet guide books; they are precise, contain maps: street, city, and country, cheap to moderate places to eat and sleep, as well as things to do and see. I suggest you protect your travel guide with the same importance you protect your passport.

2. Back Pack: is easier to maneuver and carry than an awkward suit case or duffle bag thus, leaving your hands free at all time. You do not need as much clothing as you think, everything one needs can fit in a back pack.


Antigua, Guatemala

 3. First Aid Kit: I don't carry a typical first aid kit, mine consists of three main ingredients. A tiny bottle of iodine, ciprofloxacin, and Imodium/Loperamide capsules. Cipro is very powerful, so powerful that it is used to prevent anthrax infections. I use it to kill bacterial infections I may ingest from water or food. You should not buy any medicine until you get to your destination; especially, if you are going to a "less developed country" the medicine is always extremely cheaper there than in "developed" countries. Iodine is for topical use, if I get a cut or bruised.


First house/hostel where I stayed
in Barrio Martha Quezada

4. Recording Material: camera, laptop, journal, or video camera. My personal two recommendations are a journal and a DSLR. I favor the DSLR over the video camera because I can easily add photographs to my Facebook/blog/email to share with my family and friends while I am abroad.

Second, a journal because you are taking in a lot of new visual and auditory information and will forget details that you may want recall later. Who remembers that they stayed in and neighborhood called "Barrio Martha Quezada," a few years ago? I do because I recorded it in my journal... 

 5. Travel Towel: travel towels are made form a soft, synthetic, super, absorbent, lightweight fiber that dries ridiculously quick. I once found myself in a mountainous region of a Central American country during the rainy season, had I had a regular 'plush' towel, that would have taken days to dry.


Paris, France



 6. Water Proof Hiking Boots: Protection of your most important transportation vehicle is necessary. A friend of mine and I hiked up Mount Pacaya and she wore sandals; needless to say the tiny volcanic rock irritated her feet. Your hiking boots should be lightweight, breathable, and waterproof.

7. Photocopies of your Passport and Drivers License: Incase your passport is ever stolen; like mine was, the photocopy allows you to easily visit an embassy or consulate of your home country to obtain travel documents. I recommend having two copies of each document and keeping them in seprate places.

8. Money Belt: The money belt is carried under your clothes and hidden from pesky pick pocketers. I also recommend carrying your passport in your money belt when you cannot find a safe place to keep it.

(L-R)Euros, Guyanese Dollar,
 Guatemalian Quetzales, money belt.

 Most money belts aren't water proof so, put your passport in a zip lock bag then place it in your money belt so when you get caught in the rain your passport does not incur water damage.

Never take out your money belt in public or carry all your money in one place. Carry a visa card for emergency.

9. Willingness to Bargain: for everything! even set prices you that are listed. Always remember that there is a tourist price and a local price. The willingness to bargain, walk away if you feel you are being cheated, and shop around will save you a lot of money.

10. Positive/Adventurous/Respectful-Friendly/Security-Conscious Attitude: Your attitude is your number one and most important tool as a traveller. Having a positive and adventurous attitude make a great travel. Take for example, pick pocketers once tried to steal from me when I travelled on a bus over night, had I allowed that one experience to taint my adventures, I would be afraid to go places and have fun. Security consciousness is important; you should memorize/write down or take pics of locations, faces, places, street name etc. I carry a pocket knife but the only thing I had to use it for was to cut fruits so far. Finally, being respectful of other's people culture and being friendly, by attempting to speak their language; therefore, sub-communicating that you are aware you are in their world and they are not in yours could mean the difference between someone helping or attacking you.