Rick Steves Silk Money Belt, Natural

Amazon Price: $12.95 (as of 10/12/2008)

I cannot stress enough how imortant it is to keep your money and passport safe.

Try and keep two places for your money. One should contain your day's purchases or a credit card, this can be in your wallet or purse. You should have another place with your other credit cards and your passport, this should be in a money purse or in a self-sewn hidden pocket in the inside of your pants (I wouldn't recommend a hidden pocket in your jacket, as you might accidentaly leave it somewhere!).

Also, try not to let people see where you keep your passport. This is sometimes a little hard to do since some hotels (this constantly happened to me in Italy), will ask to see your passport when you check in. If that happens to you I would suggest asking to use a restroom (often called a WC), and remove your passport in there.

Make photocopies of your credit cards and passport. If you're traveling with a companion, swap the photocopies. It would be best if you can manage to put photocopies of everything on one page, so your money belt won't be too bulky. If you have scanning capabilities at home a scanned picture of your cards/passport would also be wise.

Calligraphy Silk Journal / Address Book

Amazon Price: (as of 10/12/2008)

If you're concerned about room in your suitcase you can also write or type all the addresses you will be sending a postcard to on a single paper and not have to bring the actual address book along.

Don't forget a pen!

GLAM Rhinestone Travel Contact Lens Case: Contact Case, Cleaning Solution, Tweezers & Mirror, Light Pink

Amazon Price: (as of 10/12/2008)

I've put this one at #3 because you can buy just about anything in Europe.

If you have contacts it would be easiest if you bring the daily disposable kind, if you bring your regular contacts then don't forget contact lens solution! The big bottles would take up too much room, so I recommend buying a travel size, or placing the solution into a small travel size plastic bottle.

You'll also need your toothbrush. I suggest buying the travel size toothpaste and shampoo, most grocery stores have a little display case with them. Deodorant is important. So is sunscreen (you could buy it there, but on one trip to Greece it took me many tries to try and communicate what I needed).

Other things to remember is feminine hygiene products or shaving cream, a few tylenol pills (I would actually rate this as important as you might get your headache on the plane), and your medicine.

Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)

Amazon Price: $349.99 (as of 10/12/2008)

Of course you'll want a camera.

It would be worth it to bring extra batteries. You can find batteries in a lot of countries, but there is no guarantee you'll find them immediately after your camera turns off!

Se the TSA's website for information on how to pack batteries.

Sigg Traveler Classic Water Bottle (1.0-Liters, Reflex Blue)

Amazon Price: (as of 10/12/2008)

I suggest a Sigg or Nalgene bottle.

For more information, check out this website discussion on Nalgene Vs Sigg

Don't forget that you can't bring liquids on the plane, so fill up your bottle at a water fountain once you've gone through security. Airplanes get very dry!

Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides)

by Sarah Johnstone, Aaron Anderson, Sarah Andrews, Ryan Ver Berkmoes

Amazon Price: $18.47 (as of 10/12/2008)

If you're just traveling to one country I suggest buy a guidebook specific to that country, not a general Europe one because the general European books don't go into very much detail. Also, if you're traveling light try to limit yourself to just one guidbook! Remember, you'll be doing a lot of walking.

I recommend the Lonely Planet books.