• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Catherine Gacad

  • About
  • Categories
    • Archives
    • Blogging
    • Burning Man
    • City Guides
    • Education & Politics
    • Favorite Books
    • Finances & Retirement
    • Parenthood
    • Relationships
    • Religion
    • San Francisco Bay Area
    • Travel
  • Hire Me
  • Subscribe
    • Feedburner
    • Bloglovin
    • Feedly
  • Search

All Posts

Don’t Forget to Pack

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.

Related

Tweet
Pin
Share
0 Shares

01.02.07

Tweet
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my site, derived from an advice column I wrote while getting my MBA. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I give helpful, opinionated advice based on my own experience and from the expertise of my extensive network. For more, click here.

Categories

  • Archives
  • Blogging
  • Burning Man
  • City Guides
  • Education & Politics
  • Favorite Books
  • Finances & Retirement
  • Parenthood
  • Relationships
  • Religion
  • San Francisco Bay Area
  • Travel

Popular Posts

  • An Exploration of World Religions: Zoroastrianism
  • A Flowchart for Choosing Your Religion
  • Why Do Guys Date Girls Who Barely Speak English?
  • Touring Sunnylands, "Camp David of the West," near Palm Springs
  • UC Berkeley English Department
  • How to Avoid Fecal Coliform Bacteria on Your Next Flight
  • What to Know About the Lair of the Golden Bear
  • Daily Interviews
  • Pre-Thanksgiving Not So Good News
  • Oysters at Cafe des Amis

Back to top

© 2025 Catherine Gacad.