What's in your 'first 48 hours' survival kit?

OP here to kick it off with mine: a power adapter in my pocket (not the suitcase), enough local cash for two days, offline maps downloaded, and photos of every important document in the cloud AND printed. That combo got me through before anything was set up.

A local SIM sorted at the airport, or an eSIM activated before you land. Being connected from minute one turns a hundred small panics into quick lookups. It's the first domino for everything else.

Any regular medication in your hand luggage with a few weeks' buffer, plus a copy of the prescription. Sorting a doctor and pharmacy takes longer than 48 hours, and you don't want to run out mid-move.

A printed copy of your accommodation address and the route to it — you can't always rely on your phone at the border or in a taxi, and 'take me here' on paper has saved me more than once.

A basic 'arrival kit' bag: universal charger, snacks, a reusable water bottle, and a change of clothes in the carry-on in case luggage goes missing. Small comforts matter a lot when you're exhausted and overwhelmed.

The name and number of one human who'll pick up the phone — a colleague, a landlord, a friend-of-a-friend. Even one local contact turns 'completely alone' into 'I know someone', which is worth more than any gadget.

Learn five phrases before you land: hello, thank you, sorry, do you speak English, and where is. It won't make you fluent but it makes those first exhausted interactions ten times warmer.

Brilliant additions all — the 'one human who'll pick up' and the printed address are going straight into the list I'm building for my friend. Thank you.

One more: a little patience and low expectations for those two days. You won't get everything done, you'll be jetlagged, and that's fine. The kit that matters most is the mental one.