Elsa's Helpful Hints

There is a lady on this cruise, traveling with her son, who has been all over the world.  She has advice for any traveling situation and shared these hints with me.  Some of them are not geared to this particular trip, but they're interesting, nonetheless;

1. shower caps can be used to shelter your camera AND they make good casserole covers, or containers for muddy shoes
2. If two people are traveling together, each should pack half of the others stuff so if one bag gets lost, at least you each have half of your stuff
3. always have your camera with you, even at breakfast. You never know when that perfect shot will appear
4. bring a collapsible cooler.  you can use it to keep sandwich fixings during the trip, and on the way home can use it to store breakables
5. carry $1000 in cash, just in case you need to leave ASAP in an emergency; credit cards don't carry weight everywhere-- cash does
6. if you have extra room in your suitcase, pack bubble wrap! It will keep clothes from slipping around, you can wrap things in it for the trip home, and it's cheap enough that you can just leave it behind if you don't need it.
7. only bring 1 nightgown and 1 extra large t-shirt for sleepwear. You can wear the t-shirt when you rinse out the gown, and you have an extra shirt if you need it
8. buy Purex packs and cut off the dryer sheet portion, cut the other part in half.  Place sheet in a baggie with hot water, agitate it with your clothing and let it set, then rinse.
9. if you spill dressing on your clothing use shampoo to wash it out. shampoo is used for things with an oily base
10. a reusable canvas or fabric bag from a place that you travel to can make an excellent hostess gift and they can use it for other things
11. if you put straps around your suitcases, put your name on the strap-- other people have straps, too!
12. put your name and address inside all your bags
13. if you do high altitude tours ask your doctor for high altitude pills
14. carry your medication with you because you don't know if the medication by that name is exactly the same in other places you travel to, or whether it is "cut" with other ingredients
15. there is a yellow tag you can purchase from Magellan that has written on it in different languages: "this is my itinerary", and you attach your itinerary so if a bag is lost, it doesn't get sent back home but can meet up with you
16. Photocopy all important documents, both front and back, and have them accessible to someone at home in case yours are lost or stolen
17. before you leave the house, take a photograph of your luggage. it beats the general "red soft-side" description
18. leave a "permission to treat" form with the person caring for your pets, in case of emergency.
19. wear cotton on the plane, no polyester.  Polyester will melt onto your body in case of fire.
20. if you go to a country like Africa, bring a unisex gift for the children. You can go to Walmart and buy bags of rings, etc, after Halloween with spiders and cool stuff that kids like.  Do NOT give candy; they don't have good dental care so giving them sugar is careless
21. if you go to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (and don't we all??) bring old T-shirts or shoes. The people there will trade them for handcrafted knick knacks.
22. bring old clothes and just leave them behind instead of packing them back home. who is going to see you and care?
23. if they take you to a school tour, carry a canvas bag with pencils and cheap books, things appropriate for young school children.
24. okay, this one is mine, but I just had to add that my Mary Kay roll-up travel bag is working so well for this trip!