If you know me, then you know I like to do research and buy the "necessary" items in every endeavor I partake. So once I knew we'd be going to Europe I started doing research. I read every "Mistakes not to make", "What to pack", pretty much everything related to traveling to Europe. One of the first purchases I made was a new hard side suitcase. After reading many reviews, I settled on the Samsonite Winfield 2 20" spinner.
I was able to use it a few times before Europe, so I knew how much it could carry. I really like it. It fits in all overhead bins easily which wasn't the case with my other rollerboard. That one barely fit and had to be shoved in. It was just too deep. This was perfect for Europe though rollerboard over cobble streets wasn't fun for any bag.
The next thing I bought were packing cubes. Now if you had asked me prior to this trip about the benefits of packing cubes, I would have laughed. How could they possibly help with packing? But they do help. I've tested it. You can pack in more clothes using these cubes than without. I think its because it compresses the contents, you can fit just a little bit more.
In my suitcase, I used the large cube for ALL of my clothes and the small cube for undergarments. The medium cube was used for the hubster's undergarments. I used them a few times prior to Europe and they worked like a charm each time. Highly recommend. I almost bought another set for the hubster, but opted not to. I may consider in the future for another trip.
Right after I booked the flights, I went to library and checked out a ton of travel guides for various places we were remotely interested in visiting. It was a silly thing to do. Who could read through 5-6 travel guides? I ended up returning them after a week. Didn't read a single one. As the departure date came closer, I finally decided to look at the guides again. Since we were spending the majority of time in Paris, I got the Rick Steve's version.
Everything in the book could be found online, but it was convenient to have it in one place. The quick reference charts were most helpful especially with costs of sites, French phrases, maps, and walking tours. I think I carried it once while in Paris, but we did look at it lot while in the hotel rooms.
Next on the list was tech gadgets. Of course, we would need travel adapters and one blog recommended this Belkin 3 outlet swivel plug with surge protector. With all the gadgets, we would have this would useful and would cut down on the need for multiple adapters. American hotel rooms are notorious for the lack of wall plugs, so I think this was a wise investment. Turns out it was really needed because the hotels we stayed at had a plethora of outlets. It was still useful to be able to charge multiple items by the bedside and have them at arm's length.
If you look on Amazon, there are a million travel adapters for a wide spectrum of prices. I happen to find mine while shopping at Nordstrom Rack. I liked that they were light weight and universal (different combinations for different outlets around the world). The Kikkerland universal travel adapter was a bit on the pricier side, but they served their purpose and I don't regret spending the extra money.
I did have to keep the casing with me to remember which combination worked for which continents. How long that piece of cardboard will survive is beyond me.
The next purchase is by far the best one I made and totally last minute. It was a mini tripod for a digital camera. We bought ours off ebay and picked the cheapest one with the quickest shipping time since we ordered it a week out from departure. It made it with plenty of time. Since I was so paranoid about pickpockets, I was even more paranoid about someone running off with our camera if we asked them to take out picture. Even with this, someone could just walk up to it and grab it.
Without this little guy, the hubster and I would not have had any pictures of us together if you don't count selfies. And if you've seen my pictures on Facebook, the ones we have of us together are pretty amazing.
Another last minute purchase was a front pocket wallet for the hubster. I stopped off at Kohl's to use some Kohl's cash I had from the previous week.
The last item purchased for this trip was a travel wallet. I could have opted to just carry everything around in a manilla envelope, but I kinda fell in love with the idea of a travel wallet. The one I really wanted was $500, so I got this one on super sale from Crate and Barrel. 80% off!!! SCORE!
This thing was stuffed when we left. I had printed out hotel confirmations, train tickets, airplane information, maps to the hotels, copies of our passports, and other important documents. It served its purpose and I would use it again for all future trips.
It seems like I bought a lot to prepare for this trip. A lot of them were one time purchases and now that I have the travel bug, will use every time I travel internationally. Now just to get the cost per use down...
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