Rule One: My first rule of travel is that you should be totally opportunistic. In other words, when you have an opportunity to eat--eat; when you have an opportunity to go to the bathroom, do so; when you have the opportunity to rest--rest. One more--when you have the opportunity to use an ATM, do that also. We found ATM machines in England to be few and far between in the countryside and not always working, so having cash was a necessity when many of the small B&Bs didn't take cards, and many places only took cards from English banks and couldn't take "american cards" for some reason.
Rule Two: prepare, over-prepare, print out everything you will need ahead of time, get confirmation numbers and emails to prove it, get good maps ahead of time if possible, put information like phone numbers, addresses into a small notebook (and take enough extra paper for making notes). Then go with the flow knowing you have covered your a**. We took accordian folders with stuff printed out for each day and it was a good system until our schedule went haywire and we mixed things up. Next time it will be one folder with things alphabetized for easy access.
Rule Three: Take the smallest suitcases you can get by with and plan to do laundry (or send it out) along the way. Alternatively, I heard of people taking old crappy things and wearing them and throwing them away.
Rule Four: Allow extra space in your luggage for souveniers and paperwork that accumulates.
Rule Five: Get some money changed before you leave through your bank. It saves standing in line at the airport when you are tired.
Rule Six: Get your phone unlocked so you can make calls in an emergency.
Rule Seven: Take any medications, including OTC stuff like Pepto Bismol, ibuprofen, etc. in your carry-on, as well as electronics, cameras, etc. Don't put in your luggage anything that you feel is absolutely essential for your health or expensive enough that you couldn't lose it.
Rule Eight: Take an umbrella, coat/jacket, and something extra that you can use to layer and/or sleep in. Some of these places were drafty and socks were So necessary, as was a sweater.
Rule Nine: Take at least two credit cards and a debit card if possible. Some places couldn't/wouldn't take one card or another, some machines were touchy. A couple of times the machine took hubby's card but not mine.
Rule Ten: Take a list of all the people you want to send postcards to, with their addresses.
