My Top 10 Holiday Essentials...

This month we hear from Sarah Warwick from easyJet Traveller.

Camera
My DSLR is my pride and joy. It's a Canon 650D and it takes film as well as photos. It looks very flash but I'm only just slowly learning how to use the manual settings. For a recent trip to Porto with friends I bought cheap disposable cameras for everyone as a bit of a joke - they were amazingly good fun and we got the same kind of sundrenched, slightly rubbish yet brilliant photos that I remember from being a teenager from that trip.

Book/Kindle
I always make sure I have something to read - for those moments when you're stuck in transit - railway, bus stations or airports. I like to take the opportunity to read classics or those books I don't get time to read when I'm tired from work, but for the beach I love nothing better than a good crime thriller.

Travel wallet
After losing my passport four years ago and almost missing a work trip (a big no-no as a travel writer), I always make sure I keep my passport in a wallet with my driver's license and other important documents. So far (touch wood), I've not lost it again.

Sunglasses
I never buy really nice ones as I'm always squashing them or losing them. I tend to have a few pairs of cheapies with me - I'm currently all about my new tortoise-shell brown wayfarers or nice, shiny aviators.

Trainers
I try and stay fit, which is hard when you're travelling a lot and eating loads of rich food. Also running in new places is a great way to see them - whether it's jogging past the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen or underneath the Eiffel Tower. I didn't take them to Porto though - too hot and hilly!

Laptop
Essential for taking notes if I'm on a work trip, also for recording expenses, my computer is also an entertainment system - ill stock it with a film or two before I go, and take a wireless speaker for playing music from it in hotel rooms, or by the pool.

Banking numbers
My bank have been a bit over-thorough when it comes to detecting fraud, even when I warn them I'm going away. Of course I'm grateful to them but from Switzerland to Sumatra, my card has been stopped dozens of times. I now carry a number that helps me get my account unblocked straight away.

Friends and family
It's very cheesy but the company you keep makes a holiday, and bonds you with loved ones long after the tans fade. But I've learned to choose my companions carefully - the reverse has also been known!