There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little. – Jackie French Koller

Reeling from the fact that I feel I've grown from a novice international budget traveler to one that can be considered more of a veteran—of nearly five-years of global travel—I've learned that just like most every single person, I still overpacked for a round the world trip (#RTW) and I wanted to take a moment and share with those that may be taking a short or long-term trip abroad by providing a list of items that I feel are extremely necessary, ONLY for those that are NOT just going to be staying at a resort in Cancun, but for light-packing travelers. There are several items that can be discarded, but of course, this all depends upon what area of the world you may be traveling to and the type of activities and climate you may experience. I feel that once I may have the opportunity to travel to Africa in December of this year, as well as also hoping to possibly make it to a few areas in the Middle East I will be able to provide a much more thorough evaluation of backpacking these new regions of the world. I've tried to keep the below list related to any type of climate you may travel to, however, of course this is just my personal list of items I felt are necessary and/or money-saving items for budget travelers.
10 MUST HAVE ITEMS FOR TRAVEL
10. COMBINATION LOCK
9. MICROFIBER TRAVEL TOWEL
8. CARGO CONVERSION PANTS
7. RETRACTABLE CABLE LOCK
6. UNIVERSAL TRAVEL ADAPTER AND VOLTAGE CONVERTER
5. COPY OF YOUR PASSPORT AND PASSPORT SIZE PHOTOS
1) scan a color high-resolution of your passport and possibly even your birth certificate and email this as an encrypted file to yourself to store safely.
2) Laminate color print outs also of these documents, because some countries, whether stated or not, police or government officials will often stop foreigners and demand to see their passport and when you cannot provide one they will want money aka a bribe or threaten you with taking you to jail! Yes this seriously has happened to me and thankfully I had talked with other travelers about this and was aware of the situation and instead of carrying my actual passport with me, I had a folded laminated copy, while others that I was with (if memory serves me correctly) were forced to pay-off these police officers in order not to be taken to jail. This occurred both in Vietnam and in Panama just to name two completely different regions of the world!
You never know when you may need a color passport size photo for visa applications, entry or exit forms whether crossing borders by air, sea, or overland, so it's best to keep several with you in a waterproof bag. Since I left the United States on a one-way flight I printed out about 50 and have used almost half for various things including my visa and Korean ARC (alien registration card) as well as for volunteering with different organizations that want to create a photo ID for you. Even though these are nearly 5-years old, they still work well and save me money along the way. For example, some countries such as Cambodia that offers visas on arrival (as I have been to this country seven different times, most recently in September 2016) and they require a passport size photo, however, if you do not have one you can pay $2 extra for this, which I know sounds very cheap, but who knows what other countries and situations may be like. I suppose if I am fortunate enough to venture to Africa in a little over a month from now I will find out....
4. WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM (*NOT A WATER FILTER)
3. SOLAR POWERED CALCULATOR
2. SMARTWOOL® LONG SLEEVE
1. MONEY BELT
10 UNNECESSARY ITEMS FOR TRAVEL
10. A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF ELECTRONIC GADGETS
9. SELECTING AN OVERSIZED BACKPACK OR LUGGAGE
8. MASSIVE FIRST AID KIT
7. STERIPENS
and that is:
1) These items operate normally on lithium batteries and anything that operates on batteries can of course die or be easily effected by quickly changing climates
2) As stated by Popular Science "... while a visible white light (with no purification purpose) gives the appearance that something is happening. Once complete, the light will turn off and a smiley face will show up on LCD screen indicating the water is safe for drinking. If the pen is pulled out before the appropriate dosage a frown will signify the water is not so safe. The pen won't activate until it is in contact with water and the UV light offers no health risk once immersed in the water."
6. OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY
5. FAILING TO CONFIRM INTERNATIONAL BANKING
4. EXPENSIVE ITEMS
3. PETS
First, by flinging all over their belongs everywhere, including MOVING OTHER PEOPLE'S ITEMS (a huge NO NO, unless you want to get punched by the wrong person for touching their things, especially when they are already on THEIR bunk) and secondly, they would come into the room late at night/early morning and flip on the light while the rest of us were sleeping and begin a full on conversation until people screamed and cursed at them to shut off the light and shut up!
The final straw was that they had a little dog they snuck into the dorm room that they let roam freely and it peed on someone's bag and chewed on people's belongings, that's when basically there was a full on mutiny against these two disrespectful girls and their dog that cause a toe-to-toe screaming match that had to include almost everyone in the dorm room from holding these two from beginning my next producing TV series AXSTV MMA Hostel FightsⓇ™! Trademarked! TRADEMARKED!!!