WHEN I attended a workers' meeting in Florida in late 1974, one topic of conversation was the coming General Conference session in Vienna. Naturally we are all deeply interested in the problems of coping in a country not our own. Some will be going abroad for the very first time. It happens that "travel coping" is rather a hobby of mine and I found myself giving out with words of---if not wisdom---at least practicality, gleaned from a number of overseas trips.
"Why don't you make a list of all these tips and send them to us?" Helen Smith asked.
"Maybe I'll just do that," I agreed.
Later, as I thought about it, I wondered whether other ministerial wives might like to read over my list. So here it is and many of you will doubtless have tips of your own to add. Remember that I'm talking to the ladies, laboring under the assumption that when a wife goes along she's pretty much responsible for the family ward robe.
1. Plan your wardrobe so that all the colors will coordinate; this will eliminate the need for extra accessories.
2. Buy a purse in the form of a large shoulder bag with separate zipper compartments. Decide who is to have custody of the passports, travelers' checks, and World Health booklets. I always carry all these documents, since KHW wrestles with the luggage. I keep the passports and travelers' checks in an inside zipper compartment; I never set my purse down in any public place.
3. Take some of your travelers' checks in small amounts. This is very convenient for places where your lodging may have been paid in advance, or where you are just passing through and don't want to spend much. Remember that you generally lose when you convert leftover money to a new currency at the borders. Those traveling from the United States should also take at least twenty-five one dollar bills for tips. They are so handy for use when you somehow don't have "coin of the realm" at the moment. I have never known them to be refused anywhere and that includes countries not especially friendly to the United States.
4. Buy a certain amount of travelers' checks in your own name, so that when you and friend husband are on separate side excursions you are solvent. Also, I have always wondered what would happen overseas if KHW became violently ill and I didn't have my own supply of checks for coping purposes.
5. Even though few, if any, immunizations are now required in Europe, I would never travel over seas without taking the following injections: typhoid, typhus, para typhoid, polio, tetanus, and if it has been more than seven years since your smallpox vaccination, I would be revaccinated. Be sure to have these injections at least six weeks before you leave because you may become sick. Be sure to have your doctor sign your WHO booklet on the appropriate lines with the name of the immunization, the date, the quantity, and his name. As I suggested, keep the booklets with your passports. I don't think any European country will ask for them, but you never know. In Asia they are requested at every passport control.
6. Make up tiny packets of heavy-duty washing soap, just enough for each night's washing. You ought to be able to tuck thirty or forty of them here and there in your suitcase. If you run out, you can buy more, or use toilet soap, but the latter won't easily get collar rings off. I always take along a little brush, and with the washing powder and brush I can keep KHW presentable.
7. Take a supply of Wash n' Dri packets. Keep lots of them in your purse, for you just don't get to hand-washing places as often as you feel grimy. If you run out of these you are usually able to buy them at international airports.
8. Take along some facial tissues and for convenience' sake some toilet paper. You will understand soon enough about the latter! Facial tissue can be purchased at many places when you need more.
9. Have friend husband carry man-sized Kleenex for nose-blowing purposes, so that he can carry a handkerchief for use in mopping his face only. If you ever have to wash out his wash n' dry handkerchiefs, you will see the wisdom of this.
10. If you can persuade your husband to wear nylon shorts in stead of the knitted variety, you will simplify your life a great deal. Knit shorts are very difficult to wash by hand and drying them is next to impossible. Most hotels have overnight laundry service, but the price is usually high.
11. Take along a light raincoat and a warm sweater. Some people prefer a raincoat with a zip-out lining for cold countries such as Great Britain and Scandinavia, but I never found those as practical as the coat-sweater combination. Also, while belted raincoats look very chic, a loose-fitting coat is easier to struggle into and is easier to wear over both dress and sweater if need be. Oh, yes---I would never buy a new raincoat for this kind of trip, for you end up wadding it into a ball to fit among the luggage, and you sometimes nap with it under your head for a pillow. If I planned to buy a new raincoat, I'd get it right away and enjoy the "newness" under home circumstances. Also, take a folding umbrella in your large purse, and fold-up boots. (A drenching rain doesn't do shoes all that much good.)
12. Take along a sharp paring knife (in your suitcase, not in your purse, lest the inspectors haul you off to the pokey as a potential hijacker) and a couple of plastic spoons. If you find the struggle for meals too wearying, you can always go into little shops and buy peaches and oranges and bananas. You can buy nice fresh rolls and cheese at bakeries, and they taste good.
13. On the subject of food, always eat whatever you can of meals that are served you, for you never know when you'll get an other meal or what it will consist of. Continental breakfasts are the custom in Europe, consisting of coffee or chocolate and two hard rolls with butter. In recent years, though, one has been able to get (sometimes) orange juice and perhaps even eggs. In the British Isles, the breakfasts are sumptuous, with hot cereal and eggs and scones, and what-have-you. You'll have to decide how much raw, unpeeled food you feel safe in eating. I tend to be very cautious.
14. Never wear a tight girdle for a long plane trip. The problem is, as most doctors will tell you, that when you are sitting still for such a long time, tight bands on your legs may cause you to end up with phlebitis. For that matter, even if you don't wear anything tight, it's a good idea to stand up in the plane and walk back to the lavatory at intervals. If you have to climb over someone in the aisle seat, he may not be too happy about it, but survival is the name of the game.
15. About dresses. It's impractical to take such light colors that they will need a great deal of care, for you are bound to get them dirty. You will probably wash your dresses several times in bathtubs and let them drip dry. I always test the wash-ability of fabrics be fore I take the dress overseas. The claim that it "never needs ironing" may be greatly exaggerated. For instance, the silky polyesters that are so pretty and so comfortable look much the worse for wear after they've been scrubbed in the tub, rinsed out, and wrung or toweled and drip dried. While one doesn't expect to be quite as immaculate as at home, there's a limit to how many meals you can wear without feeling dreary!
16. Remember that on a trip of this sort you are moving from place to place. No one expects you to wear a different dress for each occasion. I try to make do with about six dresses, even on a round-the-world trip, but they have to be six exactly right dresses. I always travel with one suitcase KHW might not be so eager for my company as a traveling companion if I loaded him down with luggage and it is quite amazing how little you really need to look presentable.
In addition to polyesters, I would take one cotton, 100 percent if possible, for sightseeing in the hot sun. Polyester begins to resemble a suit of armor after hours and hours in the heat. Incidentally, Vienna is usually very, very hot in July and there is no air-conditioning except in the auditorium and one or two of the newer hotels. As for wrinkles to be pressed, I always take along my little steam-spray travel iron with a converter plug (all electricity overseas is 220 instead of 110 and you might mention this to your husband in regard to his electric razor), but it isn't always entirely practical, for many hotels look with severe disfavor on the use of irons in rooms.
17. Pantsuits? As far as I have been able to ascertain, these are not worn by our Adventist ladies in Europe for any kind of church occasion or street-wear. Slacks are used for gardening, hiking, and sports. Tourists, of course, wear them routinely. Personally, I would hope that since this is not the custom in Europe among Adventists, and since we are guests of the Europeans, we would conform to their culture pattern.
18. I usually take three pairs of comfortable walking shoes so that I can trade around with them from day to day. About six weeks ahead of time, if I have bought new ones, I start wearing them so that they will be "broken in" by the time of the trip. Nothing is worse than tight new shoes.
19. About two months ahead of time, try to put yourself on a pro gram of walking a certain distance each day, gradually increasing this, so you are in shape. Don't laugh. You will find in Europe and Asia that you walk and walk and walk and walk. Big castles, for instance, require miles of walking. If you aren't in shape for this, you just won't enjoy the first part of the trip and by the time you are toughened up, it will be time to return home.
20. Resist the temptation to purchase all sorts of little gewgaws in souvenir shops. Most of these things are "tourist bait." Also, you can get the same things cheaper at import stores. One nice memento from each country, such as a painting to be shipped home, is much more satisfying in the long run. Remember that you are traveling by air, and if your suitcase is full to begin with, how can you get anything more in it? Be sure to make your purchases for shipping at reliable stores, so that you actually receive the merchandise and that it is what you paid for.
21. I Keep a list of everything you buy, with the receipts, listing the currency of the country and the equivalent value in your own currency. You will need these for your customs declarations when re-entering your homeland.
22. It's not a bad idea to register any recently purchased foreign-made cameras or tape recorders with Customs before you leave.
23. Throw in a couple of empty plastic bags, so that if you are caught somewhere with undies that didn't get dry, you can toss them into the plastic bags and put them into your suitcase and go happily on your way.
24. I never carry a cosmetic kit. That's just one more piece of luggage to be coped with. I put my toiletries in plastic zipper cases in my suitcase.
25. Always carry in your purse any medications you take regularly. You never know when your luggage may not arrive on the same plane, and if you are in dire need of your thyroid pills, or whatever, you can't risk being without them.
26. Ask your doctor to give you a little kit of medicines you might need. For instance, broad spectrum antibiotic pills, so that if you find yourself coming down with "the misery" you can take the pills. Also, lomotil pills for that curse of all travelers. It is very difficult to describe symptoms to a doctor in a strange language. In addition, medications in other countries contain elements that you may not be used to. It's also handy to have a few band-aids and a tiny bottle of merthiolate for small cuts and heel blisters.
27. I always do a "dry run" on my packing a week ahead of time so I will be sure that I can get my stuff into my suitcase. If I can't, then I just have to replan a bit.
28. If you plan to rent a car overseas, be sure to check on which countries require an International Driver's License.
29. You can buy film practically anywhere overseas, but the price may be very high and the film may have sat on the shelf for some time. We always bring our film home to be developed, rather than risk having it lost in the mail, for this is really irreplaceable.
30. Amid all the flurry, if you can squeeze in a few hours to go to the public library and take out a book on each country you will visit, it will pay big dividends. The Time-Life books are exceedingly helpful. I have always found that if I brought some bits and pieces of knowledge to the travel experience, it was much more meaningful.
Well, that's it. Now guess who is likely to be in Vienna with wrinkled dresses, shoes that hurt, aching muscles from lack of conditioning, a suitcase that won't close, no laundry soap, no medications, and all the rest?
