The following travel tips and advice is a public service pronouncement from a father with a teenager. In my early days of travel, you could forget the sunscreen and just pick some up wherever you arrived. Try picking up an IPOD wall charger though in Paris. You might spend TWICE what it cost just to get to a place that MIGHT have them, so it is vital you take one from home first. And then consider the possibilities of these as well.
Gotta have portable speakers as well unless only one person is listening and THEN you better remember the ear plugs. Ever get tired of holding an IPOD on a plane? Consider the IPOD tripod - it holds up a video IPOD with a suction cup and frees your hands to manipulate the dials. There's also an IPOD stand you can buy for $15 and use at home for your PDA as well. And of course you will need a universal electrical converter. They can be found online for less than $15 and work in ANY country or continent.
If you take lots of digital pictures, consider a flash drive rather than storing them on your laptop. And speaking of laptops, a security cord is vital. You can lock your laptop to a desk, bed or chair and not worry too much about it being left in the room. A camera bag is a necessity also for all your cables, batteries, flash cards etc. One of the IPOD 'holders' can also serve as a pad for mounting a small flash digital camera and then you avoid the hassle of accosting a local to take your group picture or the irritation of a family picture with you not in it.
Take rechargeable batteries, a battery re-charger, your IPOD wall charger AND laptop charger and perhaps a portable GPS device as well. They are quite the rage among foreign travelers I see daily and I have to imagine they will help navigate the 'calles' and 'rue de's' of Europe as well.
There is now available a travel bag where you don't need to take your laptop out anymore. It speeds through security because it was tested with the FAA's input and allows the security screener to get a clear X-ray of the laptop on one part of the Zip Up case. It's pricey ($100) but maybe well worth it for the frequent business traveler. Finally, with baggage weight a costly issue now, there is a portable scale available for $25. It runs on AAA batteries, is compact and only weighs 10 ounces. With overweight bags costing $50 and up, it may pay for itself with only one use.
There are more Travel Tips and Advice on my blog with details of the above if you are interested.
David is a veteran of the hotel field spanning over 30 years. He began his career when accepted into the prestigious Hotel and Restaurant program at City College of San Francisco. He began working in the hotel field in the 1970's as a night auditor and eventually worked in half a dozen hotels from Fisherman's Wharf to the airport, culminating with a stint as an Asst. Mgr. at the Mark Hopkins Hotel.
In 2004, he returned to the hotel field after years of other endeavors and discovered a strange, whole new world of travel because of the Internet. Talking to hundreds of guests revealed many were clueless about this new world of online traveling. Subsequently, he decided to share his insights and tips, particularly about how to book hotel rooms at the cheapest rate available. His blog can be located at www.bookhotelscheaper.com. His website for books and MP3's is www.cheaphotelforyou.com and www.cheaphotelforyou.com/TravelTips.htm.