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Favorite budget travel items?

Old Jun 18, 2017, 4:17 pm
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Last edit by: EmailKid
Best items to have for Budget Traveler:

Unlocked SmartPhone with local Sim card with data (not all countries have addresses posted)

Extension cord with multiple outlets (some budget hotels have exactly ONE electrical outlet)

Free local maps that you might pick up at tourist information places (the more the better - different versions seem to list different streets depending on what printer considers important)

USB battery pack for when you are lost and mobile is running low on juice and you need Google maps
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Favorite budget travel items?

Old Dec 1, 2011, 8:54 am
  #196  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Singapore
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Originally Posted by jamesbrownontheroad
This versatile, spacious and handy travel organiser from Muji:

http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?...ub=73&PID=4101

Ł9.95; has plenty of card-sized pockets for travelcards, Oysters, frequent flyer cards, a zip up compartment where I keep my small change of Euros and space for the inevitable reams of self printed boarding passes. All my travel documents in one place.
Muji actually provides a lot of useful travelling items. I like their pillow that can be changed to a bolster.
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Old Feb 20, 2012, 6:30 am
  #197  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 70
Has to be my iPod Touch. Found many hostels I stayed in in Oz or New Zealand had free wifi but for Internet time on a desktop computer there was always a cost. Saved a small fortune
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Old Apr 10, 2012, 6:21 am
  #198  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Originally Posted by drbobguy
This is more of a tip than an item (although it requires a camera).

A tip a travelling companion pointed out to me and that I now use extensively is to take pictures of train/bus schedules posted at train/bus stations as you arrive, so you have the schedule stored on your phone/camera. Saves a few minutes planning out when you want to leave by writing down the schedule, or calling the station, or finding internet access to check the schedule.

Might be obvious to some, but I hadn't thought of it before.

The Amazon kindle or similar reader is a GREAT budget travelling companion as others have mentioned. Great battery life (over a week), you can fit hundreds of books in something that weighs less than a hardback, and there are travel guides as well.

To fill up a kindle or e-reader on the cheap check out the project gutenberg magic catalog, which has thousands of out-of-copyright ebooks you can download for free. If you save the magic guide to your kindle, you can download new books whenever you have an internet connection. See here:

http://www.freekindlebooks.org/Magic...iccatalog.html
You can also put pdf files on your Kindle. What this means is that you can add your travel information plus train/bus schedules plus whatever other stuff you might need to quickly reference while traveling.
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Old Apr 12, 2012, 4:21 pm
  #199  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 355
I find my I pod the best while traveling. I keep my laptop, cellphone, some books and sleep a lot.
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Old Jun 16, 2012, 8:24 pm
  #200  
 
Join Date: May 2008
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Originally Posted by MojaveFlyer
Irons are good to dry clothes too. They can also be used to warm bagel / bread. With patience, you can almost make toasted cheese sandwiches
Now I know why I always get a mess on my clothes from hotel irons!
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Old Jul 1, 2012, 9:46 pm
  #201  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Singapore
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Patterned scarves. I tend to travel with cheap basic tops and these scarves help to add a bit of colour. Plus er, I can wash my clothes less even in summer, because if they are stained with food of some sort, the scaves would be able to cover that spot.

And a cheap nail file. I know it's available everywhere but whenever my nail gets all snaggy (biting them does not help), I only find the most expensive sort which does not help.
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Old Aug 24, 2012, 5:38 pm
  #202  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: LAX MIA SXM
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Posts: 48
Tissue packs, sanitizer, and wipes as well as a good lock. Sometimes being a poor backpacker has you yearning a good wipey bath haha
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Old Sep 8, 2012, 11:48 pm
  #203  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Singapore
Posts: 324
Originally Posted by CoWgirrl3
Tissue packs, sanitizer, and wipes as well as a good lock. Sometimes being a poor backpacker has you yearning a good wipey bath haha
I love wet wipes but I have never been put in a situation where I can't take a shower at least once daily! I would wail very loudly if that ever happens to me, even in colder climates.

They are definitely useful in warmer climates where stepping into the sun causes your face to melt off though.
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Old Oct 4, 2012, 8:23 am
  #204  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 33
Cool

Originally Posted by wharvey
Glad to see we are not the only ones who do this.....

When we went to Egypt.... we were able to bring back about 30 handmade dress shirts.... and no extra space was needed as we threw away what we took along the way.
Does this mean that when you left home you took along the weight/volume equivalent of 30 dress shirts that you then threw away?
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Old Oct 4, 2012, 9:51 pm
  #205  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Bali, Indonesia
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My favorite money saving item is actually an app, HappyHours. It takes your location and tells you all the happy hours in your area for certain cities. New Orleans was the best - we got half-price wine, $3 drafts and $1 oysters at a 4-* resto.

My carabiner keychain bottle opener ($4) would be second.
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Old Dec 2, 2012, 5:15 pm
  #206  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: New Zealand
Programs: Asiana Silver (2012), AirNZ Jade
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My favs.

Goretex paclite.
A good daypack with expandable sides. Saves me using luggage.
Photocopied pages from a guidebook.
Other books/tapes from the library - to lean the language.
Small 50ml bottles from the $1 store for my soap and shampoo etc.
Plastic compass - yeah so you don't walk the wrong way even referring to the map.

Nokia phone - free offline GPS (doesn't need 3G Google Maps). Games and email. Music etc. Wifi for internet and Skype at the accom.

At home prior - Google Earth.
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Old Dec 2, 2012, 5:20 pm
  #207  
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Cool

Originally Posted by MojaveFlyer

Irons are good to dry clothes too. They can also be used to warm bagel / bread. With patience, you can almost make toasted cheese sandwiches
How do you know the iron hasn't just been used for some very unsanitary task, like drying out dirty socks.....
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Old Dec 12, 2012, 1:08 am
  #208  
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 20
I usually buy travel magazines when I visit countries so that I am up to date with travel destinations a country has...
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Old Dec 12, 2012, 7:26 am
  #209  
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
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Originally Posted by Doc Savage
How do you know the iron hasn't just been used for some very unsanitary task, like drying out dirty socks.....
Indeed, though I'll add, if you're in a hotel room, who the heck knows what else has been going on there. Let alone in the seat pocket of an airplane, a restaurant table, or...
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Old Dec 12, 2012, 8:13 pm
  #210  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Originally Posted by Doc Savage
How do you know the iron hasn't just been used for some very unsanitary task, like drying out dirty socks.....
I spent 9 years traveling almost weekly. Before I started, I'd worried about exposure to all the germ populations in planes and hotels.

As it turns out, I was never sick. My theory - I got exposed to so much I built up immunities to everything.

Those dirty socks must have been just the ticket....

Romelle
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