Great idea!
Off the top of my head...
1 and 2: Good (excellent) walking shoes. Two pairs so I can rotate them. (I have a lovely picture of myself in my hotel room in Rome, seated on the toilet soaking my feet in the bidet. They HURT after 8 hours on the marble floors of the Vatican Museum!) Also, a foot first-aid kit, since even old shoes can rub in new ways after 10 hours. Flip-flops for showers. Socks double as slippers to keep my feet off those hotel-room carpets.
3. 2 Pairs of slacks and two skirts. If it gets breezy I can go with the slacks, if it's hot outside, the skirt is lovely and airy. (Sorry, boys.)
4. Sunglasses, sunscreen, and a foldable sun hat. Light, long-sleeved shirt to replace the sunscreen after I'm sick of being "breaded" by the sand. (I also stay cooler in the sun if I'm covered -- 100 million Arabs are not wrong!) Also sun-protective chapstick.
5. Limit all clothing to two colors -- black or navy and something else. Everything has to match.
6. Teeny hotel-sized shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, etc. I GENERALLY stay at places where most of these are provided, but if some nice local invites you home or you're stuck in the airport, etc...
7. Money Belt.
8. Allergy meds. I have 'em because I NEVER know how I'm going to react to foreign flora. An allergy-barrier pillowcase for the hotel and airline pillows. (I put my sweater in this for sleeping on the plane since many airlines aren't giving out pillows anymore, and I don't want to sleep on those nasty things anyway!)
9. That reminds me -- sweater and undershirt. Layering is the way to go. Even in the tropics, the airconditioning INSIDE the hotel can demand a sweater.
10. Waterbottle. Expecially in hot climes this has been a live- and money-saver.
11. Tablets for the water bottle, depending upon my destination.
12. The usual undies, bra, etc.
13. Toilet paper -- emergency stash for the purse or rucksack, since I just don't ever know...
14. Purse or rucksack -- hands-free tote of some sort.
15. Copies of all docs -- passport, innoculations, id, credit cards, etc. List of numbers to call if credit cards, travelers checks, etc. are lost. List of friends' phone numbers and numbers of local U.S. Embassys in case I need them. Local numbers for airlines in case I need to change tickets, etc. (If I'm traveling with a friend I'll swap my copies with his, so we each have one.)
16. Forgot -- all clothing should be non-wrinkling and fast drying so I can wash it in my hotel sink at night. Little length of clothesline for hanging same.
17. Radical idea I've heard of and sometimes used in a limited way: Buy trip clothing from the thrift store (where all mine comes from anyway), or take clothing of your own that's on its last legs. As it becomes unnecessary (you move from a cold to a hot clime, for example, and don't need the coat anymore) -- toss it or donate it, and fill the bag with tschokes (sp?) on the way back.
18. Two bottles of those little hand-cleaning gels, so I can always find at least one. (I LOVED Africa, but pictures and trinkets were the only things I wanted to bring back -- germs were not welcome! Also a travel pack of those baby wipes. Indespensible for cleaning sticky hands, hot face, etc.
Phew. That's all I can think of on my company's time! ;-) It's a pretty anal list and I wouldn't necessarily do all of this for a trip to Monterey over the weekend, but for foreign and especially developing-nation travel, these are standard.
Thanks again for a great idea -- looking forward to learning new tips and tricks and if anyone thinks anything on my list could be altered / improved / discarded, I'd love to hear that too.
Caroline