Three things I could not live without while travelling abroad

1. Music
Layovers, gatherings, beach days, lazy Sundays, train trips, white water rafting excursions, and so many other outings are all about to take place. This is your moment, people make movies about the adventures that you are about to embark on, so load up whatever device you have with all the songs you can. These songs will undoubtedly become the soundtrack to your vacation and remain in a special place in your heart for years to come. They become the soundtrack to your life. 

2. eReader
I love my eReader, people always give me grief about reading on “real pages”, however, if you haven’t already experienced it, luggage restrictions are tight and if you are carrying your life on your back, downsizing is the way to go (trust me on this). There will be times where things aren’t going your way, or the experience isn’t quite as the guide said it would be. What got me through these rough points was the books I read. I read travel books from all era’s and they inspired me to do more, helped keep me grounded, and reminded me that many other people have experienced the same thing and that it is up to me to be prepared. Recently I finished Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad, his quote that stuck with me most was “One must travel, to learn. Every day, now, old Scriptural phrases that never possessed any significance for me before, take to themselves a meaning.” – that quote I read on a hill in Tuscany put everything into perspective. 

3. That perfect shirt:
You may ask why this was an absolute must, but let me put it into context. You travel across hemispheres, oceans, forests, and continents to a strange new land and your comforts of home and those close friends from home become only available via SnapChat and the occasional Skype conversation. You go through the initial stages of being in awe of the world around you, but there is a point where you are sitting at home when you get a bit lonely. So you decide you must become brave and step out and make friends….enter the perfect shirt, the perfect shirt that is always a complimented conversation starter at any location. Bring something that is eye-catching and will be sure to make you stand out. The shirt (pictured above) has been the catalyst to so many friends from all over the world and although it is now tattered and worn out from the shenanigans that followed with new friends from abroad, I still can’t toss it out. It changed everything. 

By: Nicolas Zdunich, a member of BCSA Writers in Residence team and a former #tweetsabroad scholarship winner. Nicolas majors in Communications and Public Relations at Thompson Rivers University.