Believe it or not, you require only 3 things to travel the world.

Yesterday me and Nivedita had a debate on packing list for our next trip to Rajasthan. Nivedita had at-least 100 items to pack which included silly stuffs like mosquito mat, compass, tea bags and the list continues. I wasn’t impressed with her long list and we broke into a conversation on bare essential things that anyone requires to travel the world. After 3 hrs of long arguments we settled over three things that one needs, in order to go anywhere and do anything. Though we haven’t yet experimented to travel like this, because Niti needs lot’s of baby care items, but surely I will give Nivedita a demo, the next time I go solo. Breaking up the suspense, here are those 3 bare essentials things that you require to travel in any part of the world.

Smart Phone with internet connection

A smartphone is a basic necessity today. Contacts are so important that it can save you from any situations or mishap. Beside contacts, there are whole lots of apps that will make your travel easy. Starting from hotel booking to flight reservation, route map to GPS navigation, email clients to social networks, video recording to camera. I can’t imagine myself traveling without it, as it helps me with any imaginable circumstance.  I will have to create another post if I have to talk about benefits of smartphones during travel.

Passport and documents

You read it right, Passport and documents comes next after smartphone and my argument here is, you can always download majority of your personal identity from smartphone itself or you can acquire a duplicate one, in case you lose it. But if you lose a smartphone, you can be messed up. Even for passport, you may get an emergency passport from embassy. Here is the post I have written the simple process of acquiring an emergency passport in case of loss. But yes, you should always carry passport and documents.

Debit card/ Credit card

Money matters a lot, when you are away from home, but again it is third in my list, because smartphone with its ability of mobile wallet system solves the problem. Debit cards solves your money problem, you can withdraw cash from local ATM’s when you need cash, you can use it at hotel, restaurant and everywhere. It can buy you any temporary things that you require during travel, for example the mosquito mat and tea bags, pointed out by Nivedita. It literary helps you to travel hands free.

Thankfully all the above mentioned bare essential stuffs can be easily adjusted in your pocket. Though my argument with Nivedita was of no avail and she is still with 3 bags full. I understand her need to carry those stuff  because of Niti’s requirements. But I will experiment with this hands-free travel style, the next time I walk out as solo. Also, I will write post on how to travel light with kids. Did I miss out anything? Let me know in comments, if there is anything else, that you can’t do without, during travel.