Skip to content
Menu
Travel Tales from India and Abroad
Travel Tales from India and Abroad
passport-india

Essentials to Pack on a Foreign Trip

Posted on December 17, 2015November 6, 2016

My approach to packing is far from ideal! Most of the times I am in denial about it! I delay it as much as I can. I subconsciously think that if I would not look at it, somehow packing would get done on its own. Unfortunately it never happens. But as I end up taking a few foreign trips every year, I have developed a method to the madness, at least for essentials to pack on a foreign trip. This is how I go about it.

Visa, Passport, Tickets and Other Essential Documents

For me the first to tick off the list are what I call the essential documents. A valid passport is obvious, so are the flight tickets. Most of the overseas trips require advance hotel reservations. If the country has visa it needs to be done beforehand.

If it is visa on arrival (VOA) I generally jump around with joy on that trip. However, VOA requires its own list of documents- photos, hotel reservations, proof of funds etc. For me getting the essential documents right is the first step of packing for an international trip.

Travel Insurance

Travel Insurance could be mandatory to enter some countries around the world. Getting travel insurance is in any case, an extremely wise thing to do! I carry it on all my trips abroad. I have been lucky till date because I’ve never had any need to use it but I can’t think of going abroad without travel insurance. The cost of medical facilities could be prohibitive in some countries and it makes sense to buy travel insurance.

I was browsing through the Royal Sundaram Travel Insurance webpage recently. It is an extremely detailed page listing various provisions of its policies. Their multi trip insurance particularly caught my eye. It is something I need to dig in more detail! The best bit about travel insurance is that we can apply online, and the cost no longer is too high!

Foreign Currency

Deciding on the foreign currency is also a major task. I do not have a forex card yet but with every passing day it looks attractive. I often end up changing money and for that I carry either dollars or pounds if the local currency is not easily available. I also like to withdraw money from an ATM these days. Whatever you prefer, forex requires some thought and planning.

Gadgets

back-pack
All My Gadgets Go in the Backpack!

For me happiness on a trip depends on carrying the right gadgets. For me I need to check three things. I basically wish to have three chargers with me- for the cell phone, camera and the laptop. After that I make sure I have packed the three gadgets as well. I sometimes carry an e-book reader, a Nook, but it has not yet moved to my essentials. On some trips I am happy with a paper book too! But if I miss out on any of the other three, it affects my capability to enjoy the trip. I can sometimes afford to leave the laptop behind; but as mine is a lightweight, I often lug it around too. I also always carry an adapter on my trips abroad.

Clothes

packing
For Me it is Mostly Last Minute!

For clothes, the first thing I look at is the weather forecast. I need to know how cold it would be. I am someone who doesn’t like to get cold. Once I know how the weather is going to be, I can decide what clothes to pack! I almost always carry a swimsuit.

For me, the size of the suitcase depends on the number of days I am traveling for. Thailand is one exception though. I always carry a big suitcase there because I know I will fill it with shopping!

Medicine

Luckily I do not take any prescription medicines at this stage of my life. So I carry a few general medicines for fever, cold etc. Sorting this out almost completes my essential packing.

I hardly wear any accessories; just a few earrings are more than enough. Walking shoes are a must for me! If I need to attend formal functions I put in formal footwear too.

Essentials to pack for a foreign trip are not that complicated. Now if only I could start packing a little ahead of my trip and not leave it all to the last minute!

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us
PinterestSave

28 thoughts on “Essentials to Pack on a Foreign Trip”

  1. Ravish Mani says:
    December 17, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    Thanks for the useful info. πŸ™‚

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:11 pm

      Thanks Ravish.

      Reply
  2. Ami says:
    December 17, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    Agree with all. I don’t think you have missed out anything. πŸ™‚ One very essential thing for me is my contact lens solution and my sunglasses….cannot do without them πŸ˜€

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:12 pm

      I hardly wear sunglasses unless I am out whole day in sun!

      Reply
  3. Arun says:
    December 17, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    This is a perfect list for a foreign trip. Royal Sundaram Travel Insurance looks like a good option. Need to check this out.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:12 pm

      Thanks Arun!

      Reply
  4. Steps Together says:
    December 17, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    Very useful.. thnks for sharing,,

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:12 pm

      Thank you for stopping by!

      Reply
  5. Lady Fi says:
    December 17, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    I always pack my camera and Kindle! They are my essentials!

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:13 pm

      Thanks for sharing yours!

      Reply
  6. Kokila Gupta says:
    December 17, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    Pretty earrings … must packed things ! πŸ˜€

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:14 pm

      πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ So many people noticed it, particularly on FB.

      Reply
  7. Archana Kapoor says:
    December 17, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    Very useful info! For me medicines are a high priority… Rest of the documents are always ready in my ‘go to’ passport wallet ????????

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:14 pm

      Great Archana I wish I was this organized!

      Reply
  8. Sadhvi mythili says:
    December 17, 2015 at 8:26 pm

    Very useful .Though we seem to think that we know all these at times of necessity we might miss few.It is always better to consult a list like this

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:15 pm

      Sadhvi I do have another list which I use as a check list if I am particularly stressed!

      Reply
  9. rupam { xhobdo } says:
    December 18, 2015 at 8:43 am

    Thanks a lot for your post.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:16 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  10. Swati & Sam (The tales of a traveler ) says:
    December 18, 2015 at 11:32 am

    Very helpful and informative πŸ™‚ Packing clothes according to weather forecast is a lesson learnt in a hard way πŸ˜‰ But we do still struggle with finding a good travel insurance that covers everything ..

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:17 pm

      Have you tried World Nomad sometime, particularly helpful for adventure travel!

      Reply
  11. Megha Gupta says:
    December 18, 2015 at 11:52 am

    well written article

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:17 pm

      Thank you.

      Reply
  12. Yogi saraswat says:
    December 18, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    Nice post ! There are so many points one can note for his / her travel . Beneficial

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:17 pm

      Thank you Yogi!

      Reply
  13. Vinitha says:
    December 18, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    very useful post!! Thanks for sharing !!:) Also love the earrings ! πŸ˜‰

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 18, 2015 at 6:19 pm

      Many people noticed the earrings, more so on FB. πŸ˜€ They were lying around so I added them to the picture without thinking much!

      Reply
  14. Parul says:
    December 18, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    You have got it all covered Mridula. I did a similar post in October πŸ™‚

    http://happinessandfood.com/microblogmondays-travel-checklist/

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      December 19, 2015 at 8:55 am

      Thank you Parul. πŸ˜€

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me

I am Mridula Dwivedi and I started this blog in 2005. It has been an amazing ride. I have visited 33 countries till date! I have worked with many tourism boards and prominent travel companies. My blog was featured on the BBC and the Guardian.

I did my Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur. I worked full time in academics till 2015! I quit my job as a professor, thinking I will take a break for one year, which turned into five.

Subscribe to the blog!

Subscribe

* indicates required

Support provided by Credible Content Writing & Copywriting Services

©2025 Travel Tales from India and Abroad | Powered by SuperbThemes