When China Called: My Pre-trip Checklist
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| Small Wild Goose Pagoda Park, Xi'an, Photo Credit: Mohamed Hakim |
My profession, in engineering, and subsequent experience(s) taught me the importance of checklists. Forgetting an item, or a task, is just one example of human behavior that can be avoided when a memory tool is used. In my case: a checklist.
Luckily, I just happened to make a last minute trip to D.C. briefly before my plans for China, because I was summoned for fingerprinting by the embassy. I call it lucky because I learned more about my travel preferences thanks to that impromptu-ish trip. To name a few, the chilly room taught me that I needed more facial tissue, the thin walls reminded me that I should plan for headphones, packing up taught me that a few plastic bags would be good, and the rarely unpleasant night taught me that ear plugs are prudent.
That's not to say I had everything on my checklist right. One item in particular brought me a lot of grief: a Swiss Army knife. Definitely don't take it to museums, but it did force me to stop at every entrance to every train station, open my suitcase, hand over the knife for inspection, and get lectured in a language I don't understand. I do not recall where I read it as recommended. For one, I won't plan on having one next time. What would've been nice though is an umbrella in place of a rain jacket. My thought is that an umbrella would've allowed me to use my camera in light drizzle, theoretically.
And of course, there were things that worked, but not really. Take for example the suggestion to take your own "cutlery, and cup" (2017 Kuperard Culture Smart China, Flower, p. 132) on basis of extra caution against hepatitis B, which evidently CDC indicated has no basis. When I opted in to take disposables on that account, they seemed to work well, until I realized I wasn't using many cups, nor spoons! The lesson here, I suppose, is take a non-disposable cup, or much fewer disposable ones, next time. One more that didn't quite work for me is laundry detergent. I did use it, twice; however, that doesn't quite justify carrying it, in any amount.
Below is my pre-trip checklist, which I am sharing only in hopes of welcoming you closer to the events of this trip. By no means are any of these recommendations or endorsements.
Remember [Mohamed]:
Bottled water only!
To do:
Get a light sweater (consider altitude and weather)
Take:
Welcome letter to China
Itinerary
Insurance policy
Tour plan
Instructions to unlock cell phone
A small pin to be able to access the cell phone SIM card
Travel Adapter
Everything chargers
Spare glasses, just in case on account of being short sighted, no pun intended
Thermos
Flip flops
Earplugs
Foldable rain jacket
Headphones
Flashlight and spare batteries
Swiss Army knife
First aid kit
Medication (fever, diarrhea, constipation, pain, antibiotics, etc.)
Travel neck wallet
Fitbit watch
Offline Netflix episodes, The Legend of Bruce Lee
A book
Notebook and pen
Camera(s)
Spare SD Card
Shaving supplies
Deodorant
Nail cutter
Shampoo
Soap
Toothpaste
Flossing tape
Toiletry bag
Hand sanitizer
Breath strips
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Facial tissue
Plastic bags (zip, convenience, and trash bags)
Laundry Detergent (PODS)
Disposable cutlery
Disposable cups
Energy Bars, turns out are good giveaways too!
