Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
flip-flops to keep them nice and tidy. Hang towels from trees by securing round
one corner.
•
I tend to keep my most useful bits and pieces in a
plastic lunchbox
, just because
damp plasters/matches/Twixes aren't half as much fun as dry ones, and I have
found the box very handy for all sorts of bits and pieces. Again, it can be used for
collecting water from streams, as an ingenious receptacle for emergency cornflake
consumption or, well, as a lunchbox.
•
Lastly, and most importantly for us girls, my mum's top piece of travel advice is
only pack
very good quality chocolate
with a high cocoa content, as it doesn't
melt when it gets hot, it just bends!
There are other useful items you might want to consider: a miniature-sized room spray, for
example (Yankee Candle do a great selection): useful to give your rucksack or even your
dorm room a quick spray.
Water purifying tablets are great in an emergency, although they won't deal with all the
possible waterborne parasites. Sometimes boiling water and adding iodine are also neces-
sary. It's best to stick to bottled mineral water if available - even for brushing your teeth -
but always check that the seal is intact before you buy. That way you will be sure it's not a
mineral water bottle refilled with the local dodgy supply.
Lifesaver Systems produces a bottle that converts even the nastiest stuff into drinkable wa-
ter without the use of chemicals. It's not cheap but being ill through drinking bad water
while travelling can be expensive or even life threatening.
Remember it's easy to get dehydrated in hot countries so you should always carry a bottle
of water with you and drink frequently - up to eight litres a day. You should also take a
few sachets of rehydration salts with you. Many people suffer with diarrhoea when they're
away, and rehydration therapy such as Dioralyte is a great treatment.
