Granted, I have never traveled off the North American continent. However, when I was taking Mandarin, a good fifth of one semester was devoted to "Shopping" and learning the lingo. It was stressed repeatedly that clothes in China are cheap and easy to barter for. I thought at first (before reading the comments) that you left room to compensate for any clothes you might buy. But then you will have to keep in mind the sizes that are the norm over there: TINY sometimes. I hope you and your BF have fun!

It actually takes thought, the gecko is easy, just stuff it into a critter keeper, but the turtle is outside, needs to be caught and then put into a container. School notes, scanning really should be on my to-do list, some notebooks I turn back to YEARS after I finished the course so yes, I think I will take your advice and scan them. The point is that -most- valuables I own are easily transportable, such as all of my paper documents in a single plastic filing folder. Probably the easiest possible way to succeed in keeping the documents safe is well buying a fire proof safe such as my room mate, in the long term it will pay for itself through peace of mind.

EM, one question that went through my head was what about all of your hard drives? I realize you absolutely need to get that little USB key with your documents, however, you have all of your data backed up multiple times, would you take at least one containing irreplaceable documents? Or do you keep others off site?

Either way, your point does hit home, that my life and my pets lives are first priority, no matter the monetary cost, almost anything else is replaceable and those that can't be, are not that important in the grand scheme of things.

First priority is my turtle and gecko, both are older than most dogs and most life decisions are based on them. Next are clothes and shoes, my little document folder containing everything; birth certificate, IDs, passport. Laptop and backup hard drive, spare keys. Wallet, phone and purse definitely, spare clothes if I had the time. I can think of only two heirloom pieces; a pearl necklace and a step stool. Oddly enough, no one mentioned chargers for phone, they are an easy grab for me and definitely would need it long term. Everything would fit in a backpack or my arms. Sweatshirt I would probably be wearing. Biggest thing to be missed would be school books and irreplaceable school notes. I remember when I was on a trip for a family wedding, everyone including the bride and groom were staying in one hotel, where there was a fire alarm at 4 AM the day before the wedding. I got dressed and made it out the door, and since it was a trip, had nothing important really except my heirloom pearl necklace, I remember the first thing the bride got was her wedding dress and shoes.

I really have two wallets, one that is nice and presentable with absolutely everything I would need should I go on a trip or need an appropriate wallet to present when meeting people, and my every day "Party wallet."

The "Party wallet" is made out of purple duct tape. I use it everyday, it is a bi-fold, with two pockets that folds in half. One pocket/half holds my driver's license, my debit card, insurance card, and student ID. The other pocket holds receipts and cash. Change goes in my purse or pockets and emptied out at the end of the day into my change jar. If I wanted to, I could go about without a purse, but it is a large purse and I would rather hold a purse with my wallet, phone, keys and glasses case, and can double as a shopping bag. If I really wanted to, I would make a wallet with a change purse, it is pretty easy to build one on if I really wanted, but it would defeat the point of having a slim wallet.

The other one is a tan/red purse like one from Target with the insurance and credit cards. If I were planning on meeting someone important or going to a job interview, I would take this one.