I spent the days and weeks before I left for Italy scouring countless blogs, Pinterest posts, and websites for any advice I could find about what to pack. Not only would I be in Italy for 3 months, but Italian weather from January to April ranges from arctic cold wind to sweltering heat. On top of that, I knew that if I forgot something that couldn’t be easily replaced in Italy, I’d have to survive without it for a quarter of the year.
Many websites listed things that nobody would even hesitate to bring to a foreign country—obvious things like adapters, converters, and even passports. Some listed such small and insignificant things that quite literally nobody needs to worry about while traveling, or items so large and cumbersome that they wouldn’t fit in any normal person’s suitcase.
To make the terrifyingly-exciting process of preparing for a study abroad slightly less terrifying and much more exciting, here are my top 6 things to pack!
1. Luggage Locks
Hostels are a fun way to live in a city while exploring the world. Staying in a hostel is an easy way to meet people from all over the world, and some hostels even have sponsored tours or dinners. It is also a good way to have stuff stolen, though, and there are plenty of horror stories of people meeting friendly travelers in a hostel room only to wake up and find all of their belongings stolen. Many hostels have lockers to store your luggage in, but in many cases these lockers come without locks—forcing you to either barter with friends or rent locks from the hostel itself. Not only does bringing your own locks with you save you a few euros, it can spare you the heartbreak of having something stolen.
I brought 2 locks with me to Europe, and when I backpacked on the weekends I would keep them latched on each compartment of my backpack. Pick-pocketing is even more likely than being robbed at a hostel, and having the peace-of-mind that nobody could grab something out of my backpack while I was exploring was absolutely invaluable. If you’re wandering around Amsterdam, it’s nice to know that someone would literally have to break through a lock to get to your laptop—and it would be pretty hard for you not to notice someone forcibly trying to open your backpack.
2. Filtering Water Bottles
One of the things that irritated me the most while I was traveling was how much money a single water bottle cost. Whether it was buying a $3 Dasani at the airport before even getting on a plane, or spending 4 Euros for water at dinner (since Italian restaurants have an issue with tap water, despite the fact that it is completely healthy to drink throughout the country), staying hydrated was expensive. Bringing my own water bottle kept me hydrated during my 6 hour lay-over in Rome, and even helped me avoid getting sick from the water in Barcelona while my friends felt terrible for days after we left. I used a $12 Brita filtering bottle from Walmart so that if I lost it or had to leave it somewhere I wouldn’t be heartbroken, and it was one of the best $12 purchases I’ve ever made.
3. Tide Sink Packets
European washers and dryers aren’t very friendly on clothes. Many students on my trip ended up with rainbow colored whites, hole-y shirts, and sweaters that shrunk four sizes after 10 minutes in the dryer. By the last month of our program most of us were washing our clothes in the sink and hanging them to dry—not the best way to ensure clean clothes, but at least they didn’t get ruined. I went to the travel section in Bed, Bath, & Beyond before I left the states and loaded up on tide to-go packets, then used those to keep my clothes clean and functional all semester. They come in packs of three for about $1.29 and are small enough to fit anywhere in a checked bag. Just grab a handful before you leave, and your clothes will have a much better chance of making it back to the states!
4. Multivitamins
It doesn’t take a genius to know that Italians love their carbs. Some of my friends who had already traveled to Italy actually clued me in to another Italian food secret before I left: the Italian diet is not the most well-rounded in terms of iron and protein. I came prepared with multivitamins that specialized in these two important things, but many of my friends didn’t. After a few weeks of eating only pasta and pizza, many of them had varying levels of anemia that made them exhausted all the time. By the time we got to spring break and all travelled to Munich together with our program, we had to eat an enormous amount of meat in Germany to make up for the lack of meat we’d been getting in Italy. Multivitamins aren’t a requirement by any means, but they were an easy way for me to combat some of the symptoms my friends experienced and helped prevent me from getting sick every other week.
5. Bluetooth Speaker
This was one of my favorite things I brought to Italy with me. Wine nights were a common occurrence (we were in Italy, after all), and being able to listen to good-quality music while we were hanging out and drinking 3 Euro bottles of wine was amazing. On that note, throwing a small travel-sized wine opener and some ping-pong balls into your checked bag isn’t a bad idea for hang-out nights either!
6. Portable Charger
You absolutely cannot travel without a portable charger. With all of the pictures you’ll take, and all of the times you’ll have to resort to using google maps to get around a city, phone batteries drain very quickly. Granted, I always downloaded the city map on Google Maps of wherever I was traveling to before I left (and if you don’t know how to download google maps to use without data or wifi, research that before you leave because it is an absolute life-saver), but even using the location ability on my phone would kill my battery in a few minutes flat. I had a cheap $5 charger that I’d passively grabbed at a checkout line in Target before I left for Italy, and it worked pretty well to combat all of the battery I used on a daily basis while traveling. In retrospect I would definitely have invested in a better quality portable charger (and plan to for my future travels), but even the cheap one I bought saved me and my friends in many instances. It’s an easy purchase that could keep you from getting lost on the way back to your hostel at 2am in a city where you don’t speak the language or know a single person besides your friends that are as confused and clueless as you—and trust me, that’s not nearly as fun as it sounds.
