A Vacation Packing List Is Especially Important: Fill & Download for Free

Yes, some - the people I know who travel the most seem to avoid tourist attractions like the plague, while the ones who rarely travel will pack their itineraries full of popular tourist traps. When people travel to famous destinations, they tend to do their homework first. People that don't travel much tend to make a list of "must-see" attractions by asking their friends and scouring various third-party resources to make sure they're not missing anything important on their trip. If they end up missing something big: for example, visiting New York City and not going into the Statue of Liberty - they tend to get very anxious and think that the trip goes to waste; especially if they don't have the chance to go back any time in the near future. Even the people who are seasoned travelers tend to not miss the "defining" attractions of an area on their first trip...if only for the satisfaction of checking it off their personal bucket list and telling their friends who don't travel much that they can skip it (but you know they won't).

PlanTripIt – Free (Android, iOS)When on a vacation, planning the travel, stay and itinerary becomes really crucial, especially if it’s a last minute plan. Here’s when an app like TripIt comes really handy to ensure that all details are in one place. After all, you don’t want all the crucial details scattered across your phone, email box, scribbled papers and so on.Apart from directions, it’ll automatically sync all your travels via Google Calendar. If you plan to travel in a group, then there’s the auto syncing option that will allow you to easily share all the details with others travelling along.XE Currency – Free (Android, iOS)If you plan to visit a new country or are a frequent flyer who goes globe-trotting, then XE Convertor comes quit handy. It’s a no-frills, simple app with an easy calculator. You can view the latest updated rates, and access them anytime without the need for an Internet connection.Tripadvisor – Free (Android, iOS)Tripadvisor is an amazing aggregator for hotels and flights. It lets you choose between hotels based on user-generated reviews. It also lets you look through reviews about touristy places wherein other travellers share their experience about the place, dos and don’ts and so on. A plethora of pictures will ensure that you know the exact place and location of the place. You can compare reviews and prices of various hotels and check for the best deals across booking sites. Similarly, you can also look through flights and compare the prices to zero in on the best deal.Evernote – (Android, iOS)You wouldn’t want to leave behind your camera or beach wear during a vacation, or even worse – medicines. Making a checklist accessible anytime anywhere could prove to be really handy. It will let you create quick and easy checklists, which will be quite handy as you pack your bags. You can create multiple checklists and also add notes for all the important things to be carried. It will let you share the list with a group. When on a group picnic or camping, the list will ensure all the essential things have been packed.TicketingIRCTC Connect – (Android, iOS)Whether we love it or hate it, IRCTC Connect is the official app that will let you book your train tickets online. The app supports general as well as tatkal booking. It will let you check the PNR status and other details. The interface looks neat and lively. It works with devices running Android 4.1 and higher. The home screen also gives you more menus such as My Booking, Cancel Ticket, My Profile and so on. But at the time of checking the app, we did not notice the web account being synced with the app, as there was nothing under Booking History. You can also cancel your booked tickets via the IRCTC Connect app and the app can also retain recently added passenger details. For first time users, IRCTC lets you register from the app itself and you also have a PDF explaining the IRCTC Connect app.Redbus – (Android, iOS)Redbus is an extremely neat app when it comes to booking bus tickets. It covers most of the popular Indian cities. You simply need to add the starting point and destination, and the app will show a heap of options to choose from depending upon the time and fare. You can select seats and quickly book via online payment options. The Redbus experience has always been smooth, and we could also take advantage of the several discount promo options. It is almost like the desk version of the app. You can look at the amenities in the bus, cancel tickets with a single tap and also read reviews before choosing a bus.Skyscanner – (Android, iOS)The Skyscanner app is yet another cool app if you are looking for flight tickets. It has a clean UI that neatly crams up all those flight options on a single page. You can choose a particular flight and also ensure that it is being ‘Watched’. The Watched option will keep you updated each time the price changes. To set the currency and location, go to settings and change the option to ‘Rupees’and select India as the country.HotelMakeMyTrip – (Android, iOS)MakeMytrip is a good option when booking a hotel. You can directly book via the app and also opt for a complete vacation package. What makes it even easier are the holiday packages that come inclusive of airport transfers, sight-seeing and even meals. The search option appears to be very smooth and you will find additional discount codes too. All the bookings can be easily accessed in the mobile friendly format. You make payments using debit or credit cards, and also opt for EMI options.Cleartrip – (Android, iOS)Cleartrip is another great option when it comes to hotel bookings. It also has a special Weekend Getaways section that lets you choose from special weekend holiday options. Besides, Hotels + Flights options ensure more discounts.Booking.com: 880,700 hotels worldwide. Book your hotel now! – (Android, iOS)Booking.com: 880,700 hotels worldwide. Book your hotel now! has been built specifically for hotel reservation and it works wonderfully. No matter where you plan the next vacation, Booking.com: 880,700 hotels worldwide. Book your hotel now! includes almost all countries. In India, it includes all popular travel destinations and makes reservations easy with a single click. When you key in the destination, you also get the option to choose within what km radius you need your hotel, theme such as spa, shopping, nature, beach and so on, and also filter options like shuttle service, swimming pool, pets and likewise. There’s an option to book the hotel instantly and pay later too.MiscellaneousPic Collage – (Android, iOS)If you love summing up the day into a peppy collage then this is the best option. The app is quite simple to navigate once you get the hang of it. You need to simply choose a stencil and pick from the various photos, which can be placed as you wish. The image is then saved into the Pics collage folder that you will find within the Gallery. It also comes with an easy sharing option on social networks.Wi-Fi Booster Easy Connect – (Android)If you are an internet junkie who can’t leave behind the connected world during a vacation, or keep yourself from uploading those pictures on social networks, then a Wi-Fi booster could help you do so easily. Among the several options, the Wi-Fi Booster Easy Connect is a good option that worked flawlessly for us.Onavo – (Android, iOS)You don’t want to be on a vacation and completely run out of data over a roaming network. Onavo is good option to keep a tab on that data while on vacation. You can set a data plan limit for the month/week and the app will alert via notification status when you are nearing the limit. Another handy feature is that Onavo lets you restrict such apps to Wi-Fi only (it will download updates only with Wi-Fi) or even uninstall them with the press of a button. The Onavo has undergone some UI changes from the last time we used it. It now looks more snappy than the dull look it once posed in. Getting around the app and setting data limit is very simple too.Zomato – (Android, iOS)Whether on a vacation, visiting new place or not, Zomate is an app every foodie should have. So, if you are in a new city and want to know more about the nightlife around, simply choose the location manually or let the app pick it for you.Now, that you’ve got all the handy apps from planning and packing to stay and food, it’s time to get started with that next vacation without any hassle.

Moscow moves extremely fast, and in different ways than you're used to. A lot of foreign tourists go to Russia and find the city and its people to be somewhat unpleasant, but usually they're reaching that opinion because they don't understand The Rules.Though it's common to get to Moscow and wonder just why in Hell you'd choose to be there, especially in the early hours of your first trip, everyone eventually figures out just how unbelievably awesome Moscow is; unfortunately for some folks this doesn't happen until the last days of their vacation. So my friends and I came up with this list of rules to help new visitors. This list is not exhaustive, but it'll get you a long way.1. Be prepared to walk. A lot. A typical day in Moscow can include several miles of walking, much of it up and down stairs.2. Be prepared to use the Metro. Moscow may have Europe’s worst traffic, but it also has the world’s finest public transportation system. With a rudimentary ability to read a map and recognize station names in Russian you can get anywhere in town, almost always faster than you could get there in a car.3. Be prepared to read some Russian. Speaking the language takes a lot of time and practice, but sounding out words in Cyrillic letters and recognizing a few key words is easy with some practice and absolutely necessary if you’re going to go anywhere by yourself.4. Be prepared to surrender your passport from time to time. Most Russians don’t drive, so the driver’s license that you use as identification in the United States just doesn’t exist in the same way here in Russia – for identification, everyone uses their passport. You will have a police officer, hotel clerk or a museum audioguide clerk insist on having it in their hands at some point, and you will have to hand it over or even leave it for a while. This is normal.5. Realize that getting to and from the airport is an enormous pain in the ass. There are certain days and times when we can guarantee you that traffic will absolutely suck, but virtually no day or time when we can guarantee that there won’t be a problem getting out there – a simple trip out to the airport and back can take one of us or our drivers a full half day or more. Your best bet is to count on taking a cab for approximately $30-40 each way, or taking the express train, which is both prompt and cheap if you can struggle through the Russian language signs. The more adventurous among us take the express train (or bus sometimes) to one of the nearby Metro stations and go the rest of the way by subway for less than $2.6. When you’re coming in to the country, don’t be an idiot at Passport Control. Despite the signs, there is seldom any order or civility – people will do nearly anything to get through the line short of directly cutting in front of you. If you follow what you think the rules are, you could very well be there all day. If you’re smart enough to fill out your customs form while you’re still on the airplane, you’re smart enough to line up at the Diplomatic Passports booth (to the left) and go right through.7. No domestic air travel. We know that it looks easy and cheap, but it’s often neither. Moscow has three airports, all of which are a fair distance from the center (and a great distance from each other) through either a great deal of bad traffic s any sort of user-friendly public transportation link; getting out there is bad enough, suffer one minor delay or itinerary change and you really could end up in trouble. Trains, on the other hand, depart and arrive in stations that are located on the edge of downtown and attached to Metro lines. So long as you need any help or advice from us on how to get in and around Russia, you’ll be on the train. If you’re thinking about going to St.Pete for a couple of days, you’ll be going on the train. In our opinion, unless you’re on a business trip with a tight schedule the night trains from Leningradsky Vokzal really are the only way to go.8. Know what it is that you want to see. There are a few things that every visitor wants to see in Moscow – Red Square, the Kremlin grounds and museums, and the souvenir market at Izmailovsky Park – but there are also thousands of other places. Having no real idea of what you might enjoy, we suggest that you buy the most current edition of the ‘Eyewitness Travel Guide’ for Moscow from DK Publishing and take a long look at it before you leave home, and that you grab a copy of Patriarschy Dom’s current schedule either on-line in the States or at the Starlite Diner once you get to Moscow. There are also terrific apps for Moscow tourism, like the Lonely Planet app.9. Keep some rubles on hand. Credit cards are accepted in many places, but certainly not all, and dollars are nearly useless outside of a money exchange booth. ATM’s and currency exchanges are like policemen and taxicabs – exceedingly common, except when you really need one. We also suggest calling your bank before you leave home to let them know that you’ll be in Russia and that you may need to withdraw more than $400 per day.10. Keep moving, unless you’re absolutely certain that you’re not in the way. Muscovites are, for the most part, very nice people – but they tend to move in ways and manners unfamiliar to you making you somewhat uncomfortable – and completely obviously lost – in a crowd. Hesitate on a Metro platform, for example, and you’re likely to have someone bump you just trying to get by. Until you’re able to move around like they do, just remember not to stop where people are walking.11. Be prepared to buy stuff. Some souvenir items are common and only really vary in terms of pricing from place to place, others really are unique items that you won’t see anyplace else – it can take years of living here to know the difference, so don’t be afraid to ask. But don’t be afraid to buy, either. Too many of our visitors over the years have waited to buy things that were in their grasp early in the trip, only to run out of time later and return home empty handed. Izmailovsky Park on weekends is your best overall bet, and planning a shopping trip there can save you from ever having to look at stuff anywhere else.12. Be prepared to feed and water yourself. Getting around town can work up a fierce hunger, and you’re going to have to figure out pretty quickly how to find and purchase food and drink; we’re all for eating and drinking, but sometimes the coordination with our schedules is difficult. The tens of thousands of kiosks and street vendors in town offer a wide variety of choices, but, for the uninitiated, we suggest sticking to items that you recognize and can point to like bread, pastries and bottled drinks. When all else fails, McDonalds is better in Russia than it is at home and most of the titles are the same in both languages.13. ‘No Photographs’ doesn’t always mean ‘No Photographs.’ Sometimes it just means that you shouldn’t take a photograph directly in front of one of the attendants, sometimes it means that you’re going to get your ass handed to you for trying. Russians like their cameras and their bad snapshots as much as we do, so watch the locals – if they’re taking pictures, it’s OK. If they’re not, then you really should think twice.14. Large numbers of policemen or protesters are not a good sign. If you’re walking up on a square or a park and you notice an unusually large number of policemen or protesters there, you need to go somewhere else. Seriously. Sure, you might get to see some colorful people assembling peacefully to show their patriotic pride or demand a redress of their grievances, but you may also get to see just how well tear gas works as the OMON troops arrest and beat down everyone in sight.15. Accomodations are problematic. Western-standard hotels are available in Moscow, but they’re really expensive. Reasonably priced rooms are available in Moscow, but they’re not even near western standard and may be far from the center. Essentially you have a choice – put up with some degree of privation, or pay one hell of a hotel bill. If you're not going to scour the internet for a hotel deal before you go, our suggestion is that you consider an early reservation with a hostel, hoping to get a single or double room, or that you rent a short-term apartment; both options are reasonably priced, but both options come with beds and bathrooms and service levels well below what you’re used to at home.16. Toilets. Contrary to popular belief, the worst toilets in the world are not found in Russia. Between the three of us, we’ve seen way worse. You probably have, too. The worst we’ve found are in Africa, the border stations between Latvia and Lithuania, and a particularly foul vegetarian restaurant in Berkeley, California. Here in Moscow, you’ve got to be prepared to either lower your standards for where you’ll relieve yourself, or learn to hold it long enough to find a hotel lobby. If you’re going to be traveling on trains or venturing away from the very center of the city, we suggest that you keep some napkins or a pocket pack of tissues handy, too.17. Guns. Get used to seeing them. Though there are more individual gun owners in the United States, the Russians who are either required or allowed to have guns tend to carry them all the time. This means that every day will include coming face to face with a cop carrying a fully loaded, fully automatic Kalashnikov rifle with his finger firmly wrapped around the trigger and at least one gaggle of sweaty security guards with low-end handguns. Be polite.18. Lines. Gone are the Soviet-era days when lots of lines for lots of things stretched around lots of blocks, but it’s still important to know just how to wait in one. Generally cutting a line is treated like a cardinal sin, but anything else generally goes - you will see Russians jump ahead of others to a freshly available cashier booth, gently push others out of the way before previously placed orders have been filled, allow friends into the front of the line with them and have others hold their place. Feel free to be aggressive. Remember, also, that many businesses still require you to order what you want in one line, pay for it in another, and then return to the first line to get whatever it was you wanted.19. Street traffic. Moscow has but one law when it comes to pedestrian traffic - once you step off the curb, you’re on your own. This isn’t a problem on side streets where gridlocked traffic and poor road maintenance usually keep speeds to a comfortable minimum – but the major bulvars and prospekts and naberezhnie are an entirely different story. Many vehicles are going far too fast to stop for you, and many Muscovite drivers won’t even try. Use the perekhods (pedestrian tunnels) when you can, watch your ass when you can’t.This list is not exhaustive, but it's served me and my friends well for more than 20 years now. If you have any suggestions for things to add, please let me know.The truth is that Moscow is awesome. It is unlike any other place in the world, and if you just accept that you have to accept what you cannot change and look past what you think you can't accept, you're going to have a great time.