Packing List for business and holiday trips

 

Here is a generic packing list you can adapt

Shopping list

Checks in advance

Passport checks 

Check for the expiry date, and the expiry date allowed by destinations. Some countries require 6 months, in case you overstay.

Check your passport has no rips or tears or the airline might deny you boarding

Check enough blank pages are left for visas.

Visas - check requirements for all family and colleagues including spouse, children, nanny, granny, driver, guide, family members who are different nationality.

Allow time for visa issue, or you have to pay extra for fast delivery or courier if you don't have time to go to the embassy, even if sending it remotely is allowed

If you need a new passport you may need to reapply for visas in the new passport. You might have to send back your old passport. In that case copy it so you have a permanent record of your travels for your diary and family history. Records of travels can prove you meet residency requirements, and remind you to not exceed them. In addition, evidence of travel might prove you could not have committed a parking offence or serious crime because you were overseas.

Car

Car tax

MOT (car road worthiness)

Tyre pressure

Petrol (gas) - fill up, note or dated photograph amount in car, in case of petrol theft

Car numberplate noted

car insurance, check expiry date

Car insurance number 

car insurance helpline

Compare car hire costs and book car hire

Note location of car hire office

Note location of meet and greet at airport, or parking or valet parking, which side of building, which side of road

Suitcase

Check suitcase is regulation size and weight, 

fits in boot (trunk) of car, 

is not too heavy to carry

leave space for souvenirs, gifts from family, hotels, restaurants, conference bags and literature, guidebooks bought at destination, maps and brochures

Check suitcase wheels work and are clean

pack luggage trolley, strap, string, labels, scissors with blades less than the regulation, which could be a maximum of six inches from a certain point on the scissors or knife blade

Photograph luggage and note colour and brand in case you need to report loss, or speak to those whose language is not English

add identifying colour or sticker to black suitcases and all suitcases and bags, umbrellas, walking sticks

Note hiking sticks with points might not be allowed, as carry on, also sports equipment such as cricket bats, surf boards, tennis rackets, so these must be packed in checked in luggage or sent separately as oversize luggage

Clingfilm or luggage protector might be useful to protect luggage from scratches and dirt

LANGUAGE

Print vital words of foreign language of destination (from Wikitravel phrasebook of the country or countries of your travel tip)

Learn the word for help

(I was able to shout AYUDA, Spanish for aid or help, when I fell downstairs in a Spanish parador hotel in La Palma, in the Canary Islands)

Print the word for allergy and the type of allergy for a restaurant or doctor or pharmacy

Travel insurance

 patient number, eg UK  NHS number 

helpline number

Destination

Destination and contact details and names for family, neighbours or colleagues

Hotel

Book room upgrades

Airline

Book airline upgrades such as leg room, exit seat, 

check in online at correct time, being sure not to pay extra on budget airline for printing boarding pass, ate or early check in

Holiday booking location and date confirmation

copy of passport left at home with passport number

First night hotel reservation

Location of destination hospital or doctor

Before leaving home

Inform work or club of duties others must do whilst you are away

Inform work or club of dates you are not available. For security do not tell media nor allow others to broadcast the fact that you are out of the office, your home, or your country. Simply say you are unavailable, or away from desk, or unable to take calls.

Cancel gardeners or window cleaners, or leave their payment with others, or book them for your return.

Leave a set of door keys and credit cards at home in case they are lost or stolen from you whilst away

Turn off gas, electricity, water, heating, air con, or leave it on low, according to length of stay and weather forecast and safety requirements

Check for items left in dishwasher or microwave or fridge which might go rancid

PETS

Arrange pet sitter.

Get pet acquainted with pet sitter or pet holiday location. 

Put chip and tags on pet. Leave pet toys and food and instructions. Check pet insurance and where pet sitter should take pet, and instruct pet sitter on insurance, pet hospital or vet location and whether pet should be saved at all costs if injured or ill. 

Check if pet is allowed in cabin of aircraft and what leash or bedding or pet food must be provided.

AIRLINE

Book special seat, window for photos, aisle for claustrophobic, near toilet, away from noisy galley and babies, quietest part of plane, upgrade, seats of family together, near exit if in transit,

Available airmiles

HOTEL OR CONFERENCE CENTRE

Find out if there is a group or delegate or longstay discount

Join hotel loyalty scheme to get upgrades, freebies, better toiletries.

Book junior  suite or sea view.

Note which side of hotel is on busy road.

Book ground floor if afraid of heights. Book higher floor if afraid of intruders through doors and windows.

Book room near fire escape, or away from left noise, or near lift or conference room or restaurant or swimming pool if likely to be in a rush.

Book rooms near other members of family or group.

Book rooms near lift if you have mobility problems.

Check hotel has a lift or porter for luggage if you cannot carry luggage or have many bags.

Ensure suitcases are locked, and keep valuables and laptops with you because the luggage trolley may go in another lift.

Keep swimsuit handy in travel bag, wheel on gab or top of suitcase, in case pool closes at 5 pm or just after your arrival. You could even travel in a swimsuit to be sure of using the pool if you are only staying one night.

Check pool closing times (5 pm at some SPANISH parador hotels in the Canary islands of La Palma and Tenerife).

Tell restaurant in advance it is your birthday, allergies. 

Arrive early and check room before accepting it.

Compare with rooms of others in your group. 

Swapping Bedrooms For A Bidet Story June 2026

My bedroom in the Parador Teide on Tenerife had a bidet but the next Parador on La Palma gave me a room with no bidet. I thought it was just a lower grade or older hotel. I asked to see a friend's ground floor room and discovered they had a bidet. 

I went back to reception and asked if they had a room with a bidet at the same price. They did. I requested a swap. 

My husband was already asleep on the bed. However, I wheeled out the suitcases and left him a note of the new room number. 

After installing everything in the other room, I went back and found he was awake and astonished that all the suitcases and bags had been moved in the dark without disturbing him.

   

Travel ITEMS

Clothes

Travel Documents

Travel Bag

Before Returning Home

Before Leaving Hotel

Before Leaving Hotel Bedroom

During and after accident

Photo of location for insurance

FORWARD A COPY TO another family member

Photo of injury for doctor/insurance claim

Details of vehicle or condition of place of injusry (eg broken step, wet floor)

Hospital x-ray and report and translation for continuing care at home on return

Make report to insurance within the required time frame

MEDICATION

Daily pills 

Painkillers eg aspirin or if allergic to aspirin, panadol/paracetamol - know the local generic name to buy cheaper than branded products eg in the Philippines

Travel pills

 sea sickness 

sleeping pills

Insect repellent

Insect spray )if travelling by car, not a pressurised can if on aircraft_

Stingose or other bite cream.

Medication for mouth ulcers, athletes foot, dandruff.

Special Trips 

Equipment

Clothes

Sports

Swimming = swimming costume, hat, beach shoes, beach bag or towel, sunhat, sun cream, wqterproof keyholder, waterproof watch, cover for phone. Buckets and spades for children. Information on tsunamis, beach flag warnings/

City and hotel Precautions

Earthquake shelters, fire escape. 

Check in

Check out

Day before departure

Pack all except travel clothes and food. have address inside suitcase.

ALARMS

set alarms on hotel clock, mobile phone or watch

Order early picnic breakfast if needed, vegetarian if needed, request compact packing if travelling on airline with luggage restrictions. remember to ask for vegetarian or fish alternative such as salmon if you don't like beef, pork, processed meat, cheese, egg, tuna (our three star parador de las Canadas del Teide on Tenerife gave us salmon and egg instead of ham and cheese, but the grander five star Taoro hotel said they only did regular and vegetarian, gave us thick white bread, and when we changed one item to vegetarian and said one vegetarian, for me, we got one breakfast instead of two, so the other made in a hurry had to be rushed up the car park to us after we had checked out.

Skiing

Ski boots, poles if practical and preferred rather than hiring, trousers (pants) thermal underclothes, gloves, hat, goggles, padded jacket with interior and exterior pockets, lift pass lanyard and identity photos.

Hiking

Wine events

Pack bottle stoppers, Champagne stoppers, Platypus flat screw top drink containers, water bottles filled with water, wafers or savoury biscuits, tee shirts with wine logos, ear-rings with wine symbols, names of delegates, good year charts, colour identity charts, books on wines, business address cards, passport or identity card to prove you are over 18, hard shell suitcase to support wine, protective plastic bottle covers, gift tags and bottle bags for gifts to VIP speakers, or helpers 

Conference

Learn the names of the VIP speakers, your colleagues overseas, the organizers. Look up their photos on Facebook or LinkedIn in order to recognize them.

Check if any of your group of old or new friends or colleagues are travelling back the same way. You might car share, sit together, swap advice, share alternative car hire if the airline cancels the flight.

Before boarding plane home

Pack computer or laptop if on airline with luggage restriction, pack

Leave room for computer, umbrella, folding walking sticks if travelling on airline with luggage restrictions.

Thank organizers.

Note hotel names in your diary and write reviews whilst you have time at the airport and it is fresh in your memory.

For some repeat events you might wish to book the hotel again for next year, especially for annual events such as the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in August.

SIMPLE PACKING LIST

Dress / Suit for travel, underwear (bra, vest, underpants) socks, sandals, bag for documents, spare clothes, night dress / pyjamas Optional swimsuit. Scarf, belt, jewellery for evening. Sunhat. Jacket, Raincoat.

Toothbrush and paste, comb, lipstick.

Notebook and pen.

Diary.

Travel documents - passport, visa, airline ticket on phone, car park ticket, driving license, hotel reservation letter, mobile phone and charger, and sockets, laptop and powerpoint, mouse and cover. Additional camera for conference calls.

Packing Clothes

Day dresses and suits (numbers of days of stay, maximum 7, wash and wear repeat for second week.

Sandals, spare pair, waterproof or beach shoes, evening shoes, hiking boots or walking shoes.

Socks.

Evening blouses and skirt, 

best dress or suit, 

jewellery to match,

 necklace, bracelet, rings, brooch, scarf slip, safety pins and sewing kit with needles threaded with black and white cotton or self threading needle, or needle threader. Optional spare spools of black and white thread for shortening hems and dresses or repairing tears.

Packing Medication / cosmetics

Toothebrush or elecgric toothebrush and charger

Toothepaste

Tweezers and nail file or  manicure set

Hair conditioner and shampoo

insect spray for car and bedroom

insect repellent for body in day, evening and night

warm evening jacket for air conditioning

Shorts and sleeveless top for sunny spells

Warm jumper, sweatshirt and jacket for cold mountains, sea breezes, mountain hikes, evenings, bike and boat rides.

Paxkable umbrella, kept handy for travelling. 

(Some gym bags have a waterproof zip compartment underneath for wet swimsuits, sweaty gym outfits, laundry, or wet umbrellas).

For travelling I have bought a bag with a horizontal strap to fix the bag on top of a wheelie bag. You can also buy computer cases with a strap.

Soap and or shaving cream and razor

Packing List  - take it with you to check you have brought back everything you set out with, nothing left behind.

Hotel Bedroom Check

Two or more people should do the bedroom check.

Check every room and every cupboard, behind every door (hook on the back of the bathroom door for your own bathrobe or night dress or swimsuit or underwear_

Check in cupboards (even if not used by you - our toddler put a toy in a hotel cupboard)

Check under beds for pens and slippers.

Check under pillows for night clothes and contraceptives. 

Check wastebins for items which have fallen off tables.

Check the minibar for your pills as well as food and drink, alcohol, birthday cake, chocolates and cheese and milk.

Photograph the minibar when you arrive and leave to prove to yourself and the hotel whether you took any goods.

Check bathroom for toothbrush left for you to clean teeth after breakfast.

Check balcony for shoes and swimsuits and underwear and night clothes left to dry.

Check pockets of all discarded items. To get onto a Ryanair flight without paying fifty pounds for excess baggage, after we had already paid for three bags, my husband put my laptop in a suitcase and threw away the case. I check the padded pockets and found my power brick and mouse.

Car check

Check car boot, glove box, door pockets, pockets on the back of the front seats, under the front seats.

On the end of your packing list write reminders for next trip.

My reminders are

1 Keep a coin handy for a luggage trolley at Stansted airport in the Uk.

2 The collection point for cars is by the valet direction upstairs, not back down at meet and greet where you left your car.

3 Pack Nespresso or Lidl coffee capsules if going to the Canary islands. We did not like the coffee capsules given free with the coffee making machines in four different hotels.

Happy holidays!

Useful Websites

Visas

See embassy websites.

Suitcases

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

Have a standard place for everything. For example, business cards on the left, toothbrush and cosmetics on the right. Swimsuit top left. Swimsuit and underwear top right. Day clothes on top. Evening clothes at the bottom. Or day clothes on one side. Evening clothes on the other side. Always lay the suitcase down the same way. For example, pull up handle on the right. 

If two of you have a suitcase each and both need an x shape folding suitcase support. One hotel reception told me they have a room full of them to supply to guests on request.

Check ebay and amazon and other specialist luggage shops and brands. You might look for hard shell cases to protect fragile items and bottles. I like expanding suitcases, which have double zips.

Suitcases with double dividers allow you to open one half without the contents of the other half spilling everywhere. Another solution is packing cubes. Or pack flat and secure with inner straps.

As for scissors, no blades longer than 6 cm measured from the fulcrum.

Useful Websites

What you cannot take on Ryanair

https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb

Hotel Feedback Forms - How To Have Your Say

 I received a feedback form from a hotel, a week after my stay at Zenit hotel, A Coruna, Spain. I filled it in and asked my husband if he had anything to add.

He said, "Next time I go away I shall make a note of the good and bad points of every hotel so I can tell them."

My comments in most hotels are the same. They can work out if the comment applies to what they do, which means they score well on that feature, or if they don't.

ON BOOKING

1 Send instructions on unloading luggage and parking with the booking, so we don't stress on arrival or go to the unload.

AT RECEPTION

2 Offer the joining form for the loyalty programme for the hotel or group on arrival, so we can benefit from any upgrade and appreciate the benefits. (When leaving ask where we are going and suggest the same hotel group en route or at our destination. If none, take the opportunity to point out that you have hotels in other cities or that your hotel is totally unique.

3 Offer the luggage trolley. Point out where it is. If its in constant use, order a second trolley.

4 Know the room features and assure the checking in customer that they are getting a good deal. eg, you are at the front so you have a sea view, you are at the back which is quieter, your room on the corner is more spacious. Your room is such and such a type and is a good price. If you want to spend a bit more you could transfer to such and such a room. 

Offer to show another room if you think the other room has advantages.

5 Tell the guest the times of the restaurant and breakfast and location.

6 Tell the guest the times of the spa/pool and location, whether they need to take the key, towels, book the facility.

7 Give guests a map of the city with the hotel marked on it. Circle any nearby attraction.

Tell the guest of any timed events in the city, such as fountains lit at night, or early closing times of restaurants on Sunday.  

8 Offer guests discount vouchers for nearby bards and restaurants.

BEDROOM FURNISHING

9 For two people booked into a room, supply two upright chairs and desk space big enough for two laptops.

10 Supply USB sockets as well as wall sockets, and adapter. 

11 Simplify escape instructions for fire, eg. under map in big letters, 

IN FIRE, if door handle is cold and no smoke, 

turn right, four doors away, push 5th alarmed door 

only in emergency, use outdoor escape door and external stair. Assemble in car park for roll call.

12 Supply a fridge. Hotel guests may have saved food. Or souvenir food to take overseas. And travel with pills or eye drops which need refrigeration.

BATHROOMS

13 Flat washbasins look modern and might keep hand wash clothes separate. However, it is easy to wash clean a bowl shape basin. Two basins are useful to speed up and prevent arguments and delays for couples preparing to go out or to go to bed.

14 A bidet is useful.

Bidet in hotel bedroom. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

RESTAURANT SERVICE

15 Staff should smile at the British, the Americans, most Europeans (except Norwegians?)

16 Say goodbye and thank you to guests leaving the restaurant and hotel. This means restaurant wait staff, hotel manager, door person or porter, car park attendant, receptionist.

17 If cooked breakfast and fresh coffees are provided on request, state that clearly on the menu, on the buffet wall, and when greeting the guest or serving coffee.

18 Buffets and menus should state common allergens such as shellfish, wheat/gluten, and nuts.

19 Tell guests if they are welcome to have dinner leftovers wrapped up to save to eat later. (This was done at the Parador Fuente de. in the Picos in the north of Spain) It is an advantage to customers. For the hotel, it saves waste, and the hotel paying double for extra bin collection of a second bin.

20 Offer packed lunches as well or instead of breakfast for travellers. Free or for a low cost.

Or a luxury item at a hotel. (This was done for us, years ago but never forgotten always remembered, at Miller Howe in the Lake District in England. We got a packed lunch with fruit and a pastry and a chocolate, good for a picnic in a remote place in the countryside. Also, on departure, better than the motorway stations on the way home.

Display a photo of a city landmark in the lobby, restaurant and bedroom. Pictures of people and animals should not be glum, gloomy or menacing but jolly.

Travel Tip For Travellers

List plus points and negative points on the back of the hotel address card/key car folder or in your diary for use later on feedback forms.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Changi Airport, Singapore is bliss! Why do I say so?

A video on the plane gave the history of Singapore and made me feel proud to be a Singapore Resident. I remember when I first visited Singapore more than 20 years ago at one of the major attractions I saw a film about all the inventions of the Chinese and the East, paper, writing gunpowder. having been brought up on a diet of Bitish encyclopaedias, I was under the impression that the British invented most things.

Then when I went to work for Marchsll Cavendish on partworks, (magazines which built up into an A to Z science encyclopaedia, translated from English into German, I discovered how one-sided every country's history is. If an article said something was developed by the British - adding as an afterthoguth that the Germans later developed it, or had the original idea, the article was reversed for the German readers. Their compatriot's discovery or development came first, in more detail, whilst the British contribution, whether earlier or later in time, came second in the article.

However, the film on Singapore Airlines took Singapore from independence from Malaysia, "They said we had no infrastructure, they said we could never build a world class airline ..." - the film then shows what Singapore has done. Certainly the airline and airport leave other countries including England far behind.

I can't speak too highly of this award-winning airport, Changi.
You plane arrives and you walk up to the airport and the carpets are soft.

It is quiet.

You soon find the trolleys.

Water fountains.

Toilets
They could do with more cubicles for a plane offloading several hundred people. One toilet had a bidet and I waited for that to freshen up.

Now they have the idea, add the bidet in all the cubicles, like the local hospitals.

A desk of staff helping those in transit with more staff lurking was a blessing. I asked them how to turn my phone off flight mode and get it making calls and taking photos.

This visit, for the first time, I travelled without luggage, just a carry on bag.

Bliss.

Photo opportunities all around.

And they are already building the next terminal.

Useful Websites
singaporeair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How Hospitals Can Improve - with food, drink, toilets and phone numbers

Hospitals are wonderful, caring people and amazing facilities. UK hospitals are cosy and warm. Singapore hospitals are refreshingly cool.

A doctor in Singapore sent me to a hospital with a covering letter. I was very pleased with the service. (They take your credit card details before anything else. Paying in advance is good. No worry about the bill at the end.)

But there is always room for upgrading and improvement.

1 TOILETS AND WATER ON ARRIVAL BEFORE BED
Get patients toilets and water before putting them into beds. This keeps them happy and alert and co-operative and less stressed . it also saves staff having to bring bedpans.

Give them water - and toilet - on arrival. A human being is like a pipe. Water goes in one end and out the other.

This applies to main wards and also A and E. (Accident and Emergency.)

2 POINT OUT BIDETS IN TOILETS
In National University Hospital I was escorted to the toilet and a nurse pulled the curtain around the toilet.

Later, I asked to go to the hospital toilet just before leaving. Having fallen after being giddy first thing in the morning, I didn't want to risk collapsing in a public toilet on a railway station. I then discovered, with the curtain pulled back revealing the poster on the wall, that the hospital toilet had a built in bidet jet like the toilets in five-star hotels (the Mandarin Oriental hotel next to the Twin Towers in KL, Malaysia, had them in the ground floor ladies).
It would have been helpful if the staff had pointed out this facility earlier.

Selfie of me in the hospital bed in A and E at National University Hospital, Singapore.

3 SERVE A SNACK AND DRINK OF WATER AT TIMED INTERVALS FROM ARRIVAL
Check whether the patient has eaten. I had breakfast but no elevenses or lunch in case I needed an anaesthetic or other procedure which required an empty stomach.
Serve a snack or check they have eaten and drunk water within two hours of admission - unless they are likely to need a procedure which prevents this.
I was given a jam sandwich. I though fruit might have been better. Maybe a banana instead of as well.

4 ALLOCATE A LIAISON PERSON
Hospitals see to have staff whose job is specific, such as measuring blood, or taking a patient's temperature. The person actually in charge, the boss, is nowhere to be seen. Nobody seems in charge of whether you have had a drink, or food, or need to go to the toilet or tell your family how long you will be in the hospital.

5 CHECK HOSPITAL PHONE NUMBER IS IN PATIENT'S PHONE
With the help of the 'geriatric nurse' - gee, thanks, I am now geriatric, who gave me my appointment card with a phone number on it, (guaranteed to go missing when I needed it) I was able to put all the hospital numbers in my phone.
The nurse also suggested adding the ambulance number. I'd noticed that unlike the UK where 999 was once number for all services, the ambulance number in Singapore is 995. If you are confused you might not think of it. If somebody from another country is with you they might not think of it. It's so handy to have the number in your phone contacts list under the word ambulance.

6 BUDDY SYSTEM
I thought I read somewhere about neighbours with similar conditions and no family around having a buddy phone call system. They just check in once a day to see the other person is alive and well.
Even if somebody is at home when you are released from hospital and the month after, there might be a time when you are on your own for several hours or days or weeks.

National University Hospital is a teaching hospital. It has sections dealing with cancer, children, dentistry, and women.
The main entrance/exit by the MRT station faces restful, soothing trees.

National University Hospital is right next to Kent Ridge MRT (railway station on the Circle line).
Useful Websites / Information
National University Hospital
5 Lower Kent Ridge Road
Singapore 119074
Tel: (65) 6779 5555.
website: www.nuh.com.sg

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.