During my trip, I wrote down a list of things I think are important to remember when travelling abroad.
Pack
- headlamp or flashlight (electricity goes out frequently)
- small blanket or throw for planes, the bus, napping, long cab rides
- emergency meds–airborne, zinc, echinacea to fend off illness
- journal to record itinerary, hotel and restaurant names
Things to Keep in Mind
- I don’t recommend changing money beforehand. Local ATMs are sufficient.
- Invest in a non-black, bright-colored, easily-identifiable luggage
- I can’t recall for other South American countries, but the ATMs in Peru and Bolivia keep your ATM card until you have fully completed your transaction. During our trip, at some point, the three of us each walked away from the ATM and luckily realized that we had forgotten our card at the machine.
- There are no Do Not Disturb signs.
- There are no indoor-only locks. In the future, I would probably get some kind of safety gadget for peace of mind.
- At this point in my life, I’m a proponent of the roller bags. I debated taking a backpack, but there was only one single time in my trip when I wished I had brought a backpack–and that was when I was hauling my roller bag up the hills of Copacabana to get to my hotel.
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