What I Should Have Brought Backpacking In Europe

The List!

• SOCKS! - But not just any socks; bring socks you don't mind dumping in the trash. You're going to get lazy, and you're going to go weeks at a time without washing your clothes. That's fine for t-shirts, but your socks are gonna start to stink, and you want to have extras on hand. Here's a tip - You can alternate between two pairs of socks and go a whole week without smelling like an animal (until your shoes come off). After the week's up, toss em in the trash and start over with a fresh pair. Keep your dirty ones locked up in a plastic bag until you toss em.
• Plastic bags - I'm not even going to list all their uses. Trust me, plastic bags are the duct tape of backpackers.
• Laptop with VOIP - Phone calls in Europe are expensive, espcially to another continent. Yeah it's extra weight, but it sure comes in handy - especially when that hot girl from Venice can't find your hostel in Florence and you were too cheap to pay for a cell phone.
• Amsterday hostel reservations - Ok, people told me it would be tough to get these at the last minute. They didn't tell me that anything earlier than a month in advance is the last minute! It sure kills the "I can go anywhere" feeling you get in the train station with a Eurail pass to book that far in advance, but if you want to go, you don't have a choice.
• Student ID - Even if you've already graduated, you still have your college ID, right? Especially if you haven't graduated, you'll feel dumb paying full price while your buddies are getting half off.
• A durable camera - The emphasis is on durable. If your camera gets knocked off a ledge in the clock tower of the Piazza San Marco and breaks a week into your trip, you're gonna be ticked. This, of course, is a purely hypothetical situation. Check out the Olympus SW line of cameras. Waterproof to 10 feet, drop proof from 5 feet, these'll take a lickin and keep on taking awesome shots.
• A small pad of paper and a pen - You never know when this'll come in handy. Maybe it'll be at the train station when you're getting directions to Florence and it'll save you five hours heading towards Buloni when you want to go towards Bologna.
• Your debit card's daily limit - It sure sucks to have your one and only debit card stuck in a Swiss ATM on a weekend when your itinerary says you're supposed to be catching a train! It sucks EVEN MORE if you use a small local bank that doesn't have 24/7 customer service, and just happens to be closed any time the Swiss bank is open!
• Eurail Pass - Ok this isn't really a suprise, but it's worth mentioning again. I recommend one of the x uses in x days passes, they're cheaper as long as you don't go overboard on your train rides.