Things I Am Glad I Brought

From my time in Spain, France, Panama, and Chile the past few years, I have learned a few things about what to and not to bring abroad. In no particular order, what TO bring:

1) US candy. I supposedly brought it to give to people here, but sometimes you just have to have one yourself.

2) sweatpants & sweatshirt. Doesn't matter what the climate you're traveling to is, when you just want to be comfortable at night, you gotta have your sweats (learned this the hard way in Panama)

3) pajama pants. In past years, I have opted to save space and sleep in shorts or leggings instead. pajama pants are 100% better.

4) peanut butter

5) my own shower stuff. Cheaper & nicer to bring your own shampoo/soap/etc. Plus, gives you some guaranteed extra weight room in your suitcase coming back

6) Benadryl & ibuprofen. Haven't needed the Benadryl yet here, but I make sure to bring a ton with me ever since I had bad allergies in Spain and couldn't find any good allergy medicine.

7) book(s) in English. Even with having a Kindle now, I appreciate having a real book in English to read as well. You can gift it to some other ex pat when done (another space saver!)

8) Kleenex. would have thought it would be universal, but most countries I have traveled to do not commonly have it, and the stuff in stores is expensive and sometimes weird quality.

9) ditto with Q-tips.

10) mirror. especially if sharing bathrooms, having your own mirror can make getting ready in the morning/night much easier (wish I could bring a full length one with me :P)

11) purses/bags of varying sizes, preferably zippered. traveling = a lot of walking around with stuff, so having a few bags to choose from can make your experience easier & more comfortable

That concludes my list. There are, of course, more (the obvious ones: copies of your passport, extra credit & debit cards, medical info, etc.,), but the ones above I only learned through experience.