Holiday Kit - Essentials

We were planning our international holiday and thought it would be a good idea to list down some essential stuff to carry along (ofcourse apart from clothes !!!). Below is one such list which you can just use while planning your tour. Some may be specific to certain types of trips only.

1. Medicines - Make sure you are carrying only some general medicines which donot need prescription. Incase you have some specific medicines it is better to check the countries website to see if they are allowed and carry a prescription along
2. Penknife - This will be handy for multiple things. But do remember to put it in your check-in luggage.
3. Torches - Very Important
4. Binoculors - Specially important if you are on a Safari type of a holiday
5. Hats/Caps/Sunglasses
6. Anti-Tan - If visiting a sunny country
Electronics
7. Voltage Adapter/Converter - This will be depending on which country you are visiting and what is the voltage used there and types of pins etc used ...
8. Camera, Handycam,DVD player, Laptop and Cell-phone chargers
9. Memory stick, Camera Roll, DVD/CD as applicable
Toiletries / Personal Care
10. Deodrants and Perfumes
11. Thooth brush and paste
12. Hair Oil
13. Cotton
14. Safety Pins
15. Carrying Needle and Thread will be a good idea
16. Rubber Bands
17. Shaving Kit
18. Cold Cream / Body Cream etc..
19. Nail Cutter
last but not the least ...
Important Documents
20. Passport
21. Tickets
Travel & Stay Documents
22. Travel Notes, Maps, Places to Visit etc ...
23. Hotel Confirmation
24. Tour confirmation, including car booking receipt etc (if any)
Food stuff
If you are staying at some resorts which are self-catering (having a fully functional kitchen) it would be a good idea to carry some Ready-to-cook food packets, like soup, rice etc .. this will save you money as well as you donot need to bother about a qucik meal when resting at the hotel. But please avoid carrying liquids in the bag.
You must just print this and start ticking as you put each item in your bag ....! happy holidays

Egypt Tour Part 1

Am a club mahindra member and got a RCI membership for 3 yrs along with that. So decided to go on our first RCI holiday for a good 15 days. We decided to visit Kenya, but the RCI guys suggested that since we have 15 days why not visit Egypt also. Later the Kenya plans had to be cancelled due to the riots there (this was around Dec 07 to Feb 08) and we decided to visit Kurger National Park in South Africa.

So started planning on how to reach there and all the sightseeing options available. The tour operators in India turned out to be very expensive for sightseeing pacakage. We had to start looking out for options on the internet, basically the local tour operators in Egpyt, for quotes.

We were booked in the El Morgan Touristic Village in Fayed. Fayed is around 150 Kms from the Cairo airport. Am not sure of too many options for transfer through the public transport to this place, it's a very small town. And if you read other reviews and blogs you'll find that the public transport in Egypt is not great. And that is very true, one because Cairo is a very crowded city, language is a big problem there, u'll hardly find any English speaking people around and most important the cost ... people can rip you apart knowing that you are a tourist !!!

We managed to get a local taxi driver close to Fayed. His name was Tiger. I was not really sure that the phone conversation i had with him from Mumbai before the tour was understood by either of s clearly... but some how he sounded honest and i decided to give him the contract for the 3 day Egypt tour.

When we landed at the Cairo Airport there was Mr. Tiger with a small board on which my name was written (although he wrote 'Viraj' I understood it was for me). And we started our journey a rather long journey to Fayed - the EL Mogran Touristic Village. The most fascinating part was the drive from the core defense areas and it was a fun to see all the tanks, missile launchers, watch towers and the bunkers...