In a homage to Matador Network’s recurring articles such as THIS one, I have accumulated my own packing list of the most important travel items.

Medicated chapstick.   Personally, I can’t live without it.  But generally, it’s important to have when the salt-water or powdered-snow mountains have dried out your lips.   No one wants to kiss you when you have cracked lips.  It can also be used under your nose to block out bad odors from sewers/corpses/animals and can even help clear stuffy sinuses.  

Toilet Paper.  I’ve written about this before, but I’ll write about it again.  You just never know when you will come across a tissue-less bathroom.  Or random nosebleeds.  Or random spills.   Or random guys to get phone numbers from.

Eyemask and earplugs.  Again, something I’ve written about before, but I will stress again the importance of a good night’s sleep while traveling.

Camera.   I do not have a DSLR, but I do have Canon’s most advanced point-and-shoot (Canon PowerShot SX210 IS) the best choice before moving up to a DSLR.  Extremely light and compact, it has blown me away with the quality of video and photos (especially in low-light situations).

Wine opener.  As someone who drinks a lot of wine wherever I am (I hold the belief that you never understand a culture until you’ve drank its wine), this is a necessity.  There are many uses for a wine opener:

- open your own bottle of wine.
- open someone else’s bottle of wine (surefire way to make friends).
- small knife for everything from cutting tape to cutting fruit. 
- can be used as a blunt force object in case of attack.
- can be used as a sharp object in case of attack.
- can be used to open other objects
- well damn, its about as nifty as a swiss-army knife 

(Skip this if you are only taking carry-ons as TSA will not allow the wine opener through security.)  

Without my wine opener, this nighttime picnic underneath the Eiffel Tower just wouldn’t have been much fun!

Scarf.  Again, another   I have found soooo many uses!

- scarf (as a fashion accessory or cold-weather staple)
- headband or head wrap
- impromptu eye mask
- pillow
- tourniquet
- arm sling
- mouth cover (for yellow dust or dust storms)
- makeshift bag or purse
- towel  (showers, spills, etc)
- cover-up for air-conditioned museums
- cover-up for entrances to temples/mosques/Vatican, etc. 

(makeshift eyemase/noise-blocker on the French TGV)

(impromptu cover-up for chilly underground cave exploring in Cappadocia, Turkey)

Phrase book/survival phrases.   I know this sounds cliche, but if I am traveling in a country with a foreign language, I have two options:

- buy a small phrasebook that covers the basics
- do some research beforehand and compile a list of common survival phrases that you foresee being useful.   

When me and Jensine went to Japan, I looked up some helpful phrases, especially pertaining to what we wanted to do, printed it out, and brought it along: