I travel in Southeast Asia a lot. This has certain affordances and certain challenges. As a gym junkie, I find the comparative lack of interest in making it easy to work out in Indonesia challenging, for example.
There are certain things I bring to work around these various problems, listed here because I forget sometimes:
gaffer tape, small roll, for taping badly-designed hotel curtains together etc.
zip ties, small pack, for fixing things
ginger Travacalm tablets, for motion sickness on heinous bus rides
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- high fidelity, for gigs
- low-fidelity for shutting out the tuneless cacophony of the dawn call to prayer in tiny villages with 4 mosques locked in a game of piety one-upmanship
Bug-Grrr Off, the only natural insect repellent that works. I prefer it to DEET which probably isn’t toxic, but does smell bad.
lightweight reusable polyester shopping bag, for groceries
Philips OneBlade battery shaver/trimmer which can trim all the hairs passably
LifeStraw Go Water Filter Bottle for when people are stingy about adequately supplying potable water
Vicks First Defence Microgel Nasal Spray, which may reduce risks of respiratory contagion in transit
Collapsible Water Tank, for weight lifting
portable baggage scale for weighing my luggage but also for turning anything into a workout weight
If I am feeling extravagant I might bring gym rings, although that means I am no longer travelling light
roll-up compression bags e.g. or the KORJO ones for field-expedient dry bags and efficient packing
SomnoCushion® Anti-Snoring Backpack for travelling with friends who snore
a 65W GaN3 with multiple USB of arbitrary brand
local extension cord, because the outlet is never anywhere useful