An International Travel Packing List That Assumes You Will Do Laundry

The useful question is not what you might need. It is how many days of clothing you are prepared to carry before washing something.

Pack for seven days, plan one laundry stop, and a three-week trip fits the same bag as a one-week trip. Nearly every hotel offers laundry, most cities have a service that returns same-day, and apartment rentals usually have a machine. That single decision does more for an international travel packing list than any packing cube.

The passport rule that stops trips at the gate

Passport valid at least six months beyond your return date. This is the single most common reason travellers are refused boarding. Many countries enforce it and airlines check at the gate.

Two blank facing pages if your route includes countries that still stamp.

Visas or travel authorisations, checked for your nationality rather than generally, because requirements differ by passport and several now need applying for online before departure rather than on arrival.

Proof of onward travel, which more countries ask for than people expect.

Photograph everything and email it to yourself. A photo of a passport has resolved more lost-document situations than any other precaution.

The medication that is legal at home and not there

Carry everything prescribed in hand luggage, in the original labelled packaging, with a copy of the prescription.

Some medicines that are unremarkable at home are controlled elsewhere, certain painkillers, ADHD medication and some cold remedies among them. Check the destination country's rules before you fly rather than at the airport.

Bring more than the trip length. Replacing a prescription abroad is possible but rarely quick.

An adapter is not a converter

A universal adapter covers the plug shape. It does not convert voltage.

Most modern laptop and phone chargers handle 100 to 240 volts and need no converter, so check the small print on the brick. Hairdryers, straighteners and shavers frequently do not, and this is where things burn out.

One multi-port USB charger replaces four separate bricks. A short extension lead turns one awkwardly placed hotel socket into three.

A power bank must travel in hand luggage and never in the hold. Airlines are strict about this and it is enforced.

Seven days of clothes, whatever the trip length

Seven days of underwear and socks. Three or four tops per five days. Two pairs of trousers. One layer warmer than you expect to need, because aircraft, restaurants and evenings are colder than the forecast suggests.

One set of covered shoulders and knees if the trip includes religious sites. It is enforced at many, and it applies to everyone.

Two pairs of shoes, one of them already broken in. New shoes on day one of a walking holiday is an avoidable way to lose two days.

The small things that earn their space

A refillable water bottle, empty through security. A basic first-aid kit with rehydration sachets and anything you would rather not translate at a pharmacy. Sunscreen from home, since it is expensive and sometimes hard to find at resorts. A paper copy of your first night's address, for the arrival form and the taxi driver.

What to leave behind

Jewellery you would be upset to lose. More books than you will read. The second formal outfit for the one dinner that may not happen. Full-size toiletries, when the hotel provides most of it and the rest fits in 100ml.

The one thing an international travel packing list always forgets

Travel insurance before you go, not at the airport. Several benefits, cancellation cover in particular, only apply if the policy is bought within a window of your first deposit. Our guide to whether you need travel insurance covers the timing, and we place policies through our travel insurance service.

Call Exquisite Travel Group on (916) 757-6300 and we will tell you what your specific destination adds to this list.