Too bad things do not always end so smoothly far from home.
For a traveler to distant lands, the trick is how to pack lightly, yet still be prepared for those days when, as Dr. Seuss reminds us, ``Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. "
What to take, exactly, when riding the rails of Southeast Asia, or following the drum beats of West Africa?
I put the question recently to several experienced and expert travelers I've come to know: Dr. Edward T. Ryan, director of the Tropical and Geographic Medicine Center at Massachusetts General Hospital ; Dr. Patty Gray, a professor and cultural anthropologist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks ; Rolf Potts, author of ``Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-term World Travel" (Villard , 2002) ; Olaf Malver, head of Explorers Corner, an innovative adventure travel company ; Blue Magruder, public affairs director for Earthwatch Institute ; and Essdras M Suarez, a Globe photographer, former Air Force corpsman and Ninpo Taijutsu black belt who has traveled rutted roads in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Their answers ranged from the general -- medical kits -- to the specific.
``Gold Bond Extra Strength ," Malver wrote in an e-mail, one-upping the pharmacist in India by suggesting a medicated talcum powder.
``COFFEE," wrote Gray, who has spent many frigid mornings in remote villages of the Russian north. ``It can reduce culture shock to be able to prepare your ritual cup, just the way you like it, at least once a day."
Suarez took a decidedly more doomsday approach.
``Life vest," he wrote. ``How many times have you read about an overcrowded ferry boat . . . which overturned killing 300 people and . . . two Americans? I never want to be the tag line on such a story, so I carry my own life vest wherever I travel."
Earplugs, duct tape, and needle and thread were on many lists. Padlock, power converter, and plastic baggies got votes, too. Interestingly, no one listed ``Swiss Army knife."
