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WHAT TO TAKE. Local shortages are common, and certain items may be hard for the passing tourist to find. You might find it useful to stock up with a modest amount of the following: adhesive (Scotch) tape, ballpoint pens and refills, insect repellent, films, spare radio batteries, laxatives, anti-diarrhoea pills (see p. 13), indigestion tablets, travel sickness pills, aspirins, and any medicine you take regularly. Also take a spare pair of glasses or contact lenses, sunglasses, detergents, clothes pegs, toothpaste, soap, cosmetics, shampoos, a sewing kit, safety pins, buttons, chewing gum (a welcome gift), candy (ditto), a jar of instant coffee (expensive and of inferior quality in Russia), coffee creamer, Kleenex, hand-towel, sanitary napkins, lavatory paper, corkscrews/bottle opener, spare baggage tags. [The list goes on and on and on…] (9)Fodor’s Soviet Union, 1988
