• Contact cases make for great travel containers - Anne used them for face wash and liquid makeup 

• Daily contacts are worth the money for vacation - saves space and time

• You don't need cash before you arrive, except for the bathrooms, so planning accordingly

• You won't read so don't bring a book to read at night

• International data packages are worth it. We have Verizon and they offer a plan that costs $10 for 24 hours of international data. Because of this, we never actually opened our guidebooks - we would not bring hard guidebooks again (still get them for pre-trip planning)

• Rick Steve's Travel Forums have a lot of information

• Don't over plan your free time - have an idea of things you might want to do, but based on where you physically end up one day, you might want to switch things around

• Instagram is great for inspiration on what to see

• Share your experiences with your group. If you find something interesting or have a good meal others will love to hear about it

• Raincoat wins over umbrella

• Waterproof your shoes before you go - it never hurts to have extra protection

• Smart phones can do so much - camera, guidebook, instant communication. Bring just the one device unless there is a real good reason to bring anything else. 

• Don't purchase anything just for the trip. Anne purchased new shoes and a new purse but it was to serve for daily home use. You can spend a lot of money on fancy things that a zip-block bag was made to handle. 

• Write down (or type in) a few examples of conversions to US dollars for a quick reference. It's vacation so why do quick math. 

• Buy a small scale if you carry-on to ensure your bags coming home do not exceed the weight limits. We were NEVER asked to weigh our bags on any of the airlines, but it was a great exercise of restraint. 

• Tips on the baths.

  • We purchased one locker and one changing room as you have to each purchase something, but two people can use the changing room. The exit and entrance to the locker room is through the same single turnstile, which did cause us to awkwardly stand around for five minutes not knowing where to go...in reality it was probably 45 seconds, but it is in that moment when you want to turn around and leave. 

  • We found an empty changing room and got all of our stuff hung up and took turns changing. They are small, so changing in the room together does not make sense. Using our fancy bracelet you get when you buy your ticket we tried again, and again, and again to lock the door. Just as we were going to find someone to help, a couple saw us struggling and offered some help. We then learned you are actually assigned a changing room number - you don't just pick one and claim it! After checking the screen to see where we needed to go, we moved our stuff and it was off to relax!

 

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