I’m writing this post hopefully to be helpful to someone else, but also as a reminder to myself for next time!
– pack less. pack less. pack less. There is an H&M in every country these days. You (me) can buy something to get along if you haven’t taken enough. But you took enough. My Dad always says take half the clothes & twice the cash — I’m sure this is some famous adage, but I attribute it to him. Soooo very true!
– Neutrogena face wipes are a fabulous, life improving invention. Take a packet. It will make your day.
– Collect shampoo/conditioner samples (the kind in the little foil packets that won’t break open) when you buy products at the beauty supply store. Some hotels give you these, a lot don’t & they can be very hair (or life saving).
– Take a lot of adaptors — maybe I’m an electronics freak, but I had 2 cameras & an iPad that needed daily charging & I only took one adaptor. This was a tad challenging to manage in the evenings. It’s nice you only need an adaptor (& not a converter) these days, but get a couple. I promise it will make you happy.
– WiFi is everywhere & it works just fine with USA phones & the iPad. You have to be careful about not turning on the 3G/roaming/broadband connection as that costs a fortune to use, but WiFi is great. Loved being able to stream TV shows onto the iPad at night. (I’m including this just because I couldn’t find an easy answer to this question before I left).
– Google Voice is handy too. Between WiFi & Google Voice, I didn’t miss my regular cell phone coverage — Google Voice isn’t perfect, but it does transcribe your voicemail messages (not always very well, but enough to get the jist) & sends you an email with the message in it. I’m sure it does more than this, but I liked being able to get my VM in writing & keep up.

Here’s another favorite shot, taken in Paris . . .