Pack lots of pain reliever

This might just be the best-ever advice you get, for several reasons.

Even if you don't use much painkiller at home, pack plenty of it when you travel. I take what I think is a suitable amount and I run out on every single trip. Guaranteed.

The reasons you want to take a very generous amount - more than I do - are threefold.

First, you'll likely walk many miles every day, which generates a fair bit of discomfort, especially if you're not wearing outstanding footwear (although you should) or if you're shouldering a heavy backpack (although you should plan the trip well enough that this seldom happens). Regardless of how hard you try to do otherwise, you're likely to go through more pain reliever when you travel.

Second, being comfortable - which may include some pain reliever - means that you move faster and see or experience more things. Five days of moving in pain is much less efficient than five days of moving in comfort. It's also less fun (I'm speaking from experience here; stubbornness achieves only so much).

Third - and this has been a big surprise for me - it may be hard for you to find pain reliever when you travel. Even beyond the language barrier, it may be greatly restricted. Don't look for shelves of "pain reliever" in the grocery store or supermarket when you travel. Expect to go to your closest pharmacy and ask the pharmacist for it.

One of my sweeter memories from France is getting ibuprofen and acetaminophen at the local pharmacy. Just to get through my day at home requires maximum doses of pain reliever every four to six hours; added to that, the last time we traveled to Europe, I nearly destroyed my lower back just before we left (think physical therapy and x-rays). Naturally, the French pharmacist had no way of knowing this, I had no way to explain it, and the result was that he seemed genuinely concerned that I might use the pain reliever I was trying to buy from him.

Apparently, in France they treat the underlying cause of the pain instead of, as in the U.S., treating the symptoms. Imagine.

My French-speaking skills sure didn't cover anything as complicated as vertebrae, spines or neurologists, so I stuck to the basics which, unfortunately, raised some red flags. I got the pain reliever, but it took real effort on both our parts. Pro tip - get a new supply before you run out, because asking for pain reliever when you're completely out of meds and in a fair bit of pain adds a desperate, high pitch to your voice that makes pharmacists think they're dealing with a crazed drug addict.

As long as you're reading about pharmacies, be sure to visit one while you're traveling, even if you don't "need" it. Pharmacies and grocery stores may be very different from what you've experienced at home, and they're a good education. You might even find something better than you use at home, like -- ssshhh -- the Voltaren patches I used in Paris. They were marvelous and enabled us to see much more than if I'd relied solely on the ibuprofen and acetaminophen we got just before arriving in Gare de l'Est.