Traveling can be an exciting time, but without proper planning and preparation then your trip can be ruined. The most critical part of the preparation process is packing. Without a proper plan and with poor execution of packing, then you may accidentally overlook essential items that were supposed to be packed. In this article about travel packing tips, I will provide an overview of probably the three most crucial items that must be packed for any traveler.

Critical Item #1: Cash, Credit Cards, and Traveler Checks

I would like to refer to this item as the triple C’s: Cash, Credit Cards, and Traveler Checks. These are listed in the order of importance. Sufficient cash is the most important item to bring, without money your trip will be worthless. Credit cards are important, as this acts as a backup reserve in case you run out of cash or want to save on the amount of cash you want to bring. This comes in handy for places where credit cards are readily accepted, such as hotels, and restaurants. Traveler checks are sometimes a good item to bring along as it is a secure way of bringing money as only yourself will be authorized to cash out the checks. However the limitations with traveler checks is that there are only a limited number of places where you can actually cash out these checks, such as the local bank.

Critical Item #2: Passport and / or ID

For any place you go, you must bring a form of government issued identification of yourself. If you are going abroad to another country, or planning to fly domestically within your own country then definitely your passport is needed. This is pretty much self explanatory why passports are a must, simply because either you cannot enter the country or board the plane! But surprisingly enough, some people do forget to bring their passports. If you are just driving or traveling by rail within your own country, then most of the time only your government issued identification is needed, such as a driver’s license or national ID card.

Critical Item#3: Bus tickets, Train tickets, Boat tickets, or Plane tickets

Whatever form of paid transportation you will be taking, be it by bus, train, boat or airplane, you must remember to bring the necessary tickets. This is again self explanatory; you will not be allowed to board your transportation without the tickets. Again, people do sometimes forget this as well!

By forming a checklist of these three critical items, this will help ensure you do not forget to bring these items along with your trip. This is probably one of the most crucial travel packing tips to have.