TRAVELER'S TIPS - THE REST

CLOTHING

Sweatpants are not good clothing for travel. They can retain a lot of water, quickly look like crap, disintegrate quickly and so on. In America, I enjoyed wearing them due to being extremely fat.

Quick drying clothing is a solid bet. They are great when you have to do laundry in your room, get rained on, sweat profusely and so on.

For warm clothing, cotton.

Remember, modest clothing is always sensible. While you can dress how you want when you travel, you'll get in less trouble with the locals and be allowed into more sites with extremely modest clothing. For those who have no idea what that means, it is everything down to the wrists and ankles covered and a bit baggy. Dress sexy where you are more secure.

For footwear, always plan on being able to walk five kilometers or further in what you have on. The stupidest thing you can say is "I'll break these shoes in on the trip." Comfortable shoes you can walk forever in are the key. While heels may give you more height, the quality of sidewalks and roads can easily give a twisted ankle. Poor choices in footwear can make the difference between seeing amazing things or the inside of yet another hotel room.



GEAR PACKING

Any gear you don't want wet or that has any potential at all to leak (like pens - trust me on this) stick into clear plastic bags. You don't want to waste a lot of time trying to remember what color bag holds what or opening up a lot of bags to find something. Clear plastic bags will also allow various security personnel to more quickly root through your stuff without opening the bags and scattering the stuff. The gallon size zip lock heavy duty freezer bags are nice for this as well. If you're traveling long enough that those start to disintegrate, you can find clear plastic bags at many shops. Plus, for you eco friendly hippy tree huggers out there, it gives you a chance to show you 'environmentally conscious'.



ELECTRICAL GEAR

Most rooms give you one often inconveniently located power source. An extension cord and power strip can make a lot of difference in getting more juice out of those penny pinching landlords.

Be sure to turn off roaming for smart phones and such before leaving or get a huge bill surprise when you return home. Sim cards are available almost everywhere.

These days, electrical devices are made to be able to do different currents and such but you still need plug converters. Bring extra plug converters as they are small and easy to lose.



RAIN DAYS

A lot of guide books suggest museums. Another option is to ride street cars and such around to get a layout of the city. Or sit in coffee shops and talk to the locals. Or, sit in your private room and furiously masturbate. Anything to get out of going to a museum...



SECURITY POUCHES

The ones that velcro to your leg are about as secure as you can get. Unless you are in a cold climate they will make you think soiled baby diapers are a better smell.

Buy extra security pouches. I recommend the ones you wear under your clothing. They will start to stink and need to be washed - you'll need to wear different ones in the meantime.



SLEEPY TIME

I'd suggest having a couple of tracks of white (pink, whatever) noise on your MP3 player. By comparison, other countries are extremely noisy and this can make getting to sleep difficult. If that doesn't appeal, ear plugs. Remember, in most countries there is no such thing as 'zoning laws' and people think nothing of setting up a noisy 'disco' next to a hostel.