It's May 2020 and COVID-19 has us homebound. Yet, a few of us wanderlusters are still planning trips for the future, or getting our packing gear organized for when the time comes when we can safely travel again. I'm doing the latter, and came across a few of my favorite travel accessories that I'd like to share with you all.
Let's start with my one allotted personal item. This varies from trip-to-trip depending on the destination. However, more times than not I'm traveling with my Eagle Creek Packable Daypack. This is a small, lightweight and inexpensive backpack that folds down into a pouch. It has a front pocket and a place to store a water bottle. A travel lock fits easily into the zippers, making this an easy and secure bag for traveling days.
I purchased mine at The Container Store for about $25 when it was on sale. The Container Store is a great place to shop for inventive travel gear, and they usually have a 20-50% off travel sale in the summer.
Inside of my Eagle Creek Packable Daypack is my "plane pouch." This pouch is where I store all of my essentials for the airport and plane. Before using a plane pouch I would spend the first 5-10 minutes onboard the plane fluttering about pulling headphones and books and pillows out from a variety of places within my bag - what a stressful mess that was! Now, I consolidate everything that I will need on the flight into one small bag. When I board, I pull out my plane pouch and store everything else for the duration of the flight. So what's in my plane pouch?
I usually have a few Gin Gins to settle my stomach in turbulence. Gum helps with cabin pressure in the ears and keeps my mouth feeling fresh. And a small snack is always nice to have, especially on longer flights.
My skin becomes so dry when I travel in airplanes. To combat this, I never travel without my EO lavender oil hand sanitizer. It sanitizes without drying out my skin. My lips are usually next to dry up on flights, so any chapstick is good to have. I like COOLA's Mineral LipLux Organic Tinted Lip Balm because it gives me a bit of color while hydrating my lips. I also use Ayr Saline Nasal Gel (available at CVS, Walgreens and Amazon) to coat the inside of my nose to keep my nasal passage from getting too dry...it sounds gross, but is life changing. Smells nice, too.
If anything, I recommend having travel-sized disinfecting wipes to wipe down the seat, seatbelt and tray table with. Tissues and Sitting Pretty toilet seat covers (yes, you read that correctly) have come in handy so many times. Ear plugs, an eye mask and Neutrogena pocket sized makeup remover wipes are nice to have, especially if traveling overnight.
While half of my plane pouch is filled with things to make me comfortable and sanitized, the rest is dedicated to entertainment. I always have a journal and pen. I like the Rifle Paper Co. journals because they are thin and lightweight (not to mention pretty). Headphones are a must, but equally important are headphone adapters. Without these, it could be difficult to enjoy headrest entertainment on some airlines. Having a charger or charging cable is also a good idea, as more planes and airports are making plugs readily available. If I know I'm flying on a budget airline without in-flight entertainment, I usually have my iPad loaded up with a few movies and apps to keep me entertained.
The plane pouch isn't the only thing in my daypack. I love my Liberty London S'well bottle, which fits perfectly into the bottle sleeve on the exterior. I fill it up in the terminal, and the bottle insulates the water all day, without leaks.
For longer, especially international, trips I always have a travel wallet or document keeper - something to keep my passport, Global Re-entry card, driver's license, insurance, emergency contacts and printed booking confirmations organized. While I do store some of these things in apps on my phone (check out this post about travel planning tools), having printed backups can come in handy if you're without cellular service or secure WiFi. This travel wallet never leaves my person, so if I go to the bathroom on the flight - this bag comes with me. It's the first thing to go into the safe once I'm settled into my hotel, too. (TIP: should your travel wallet be stolen, having photo copies of your cards will expedite the process of getting replacements. It's recommended that you have a photo copy that can be accessed from a secure digital platform, or even tucked away inside of your suitcase.)
Try to find a travel wallet that's right for you. Newer versions have RFID-blocking capabilities, which saves you having to buy individual slips for each of your cards. I like ones that have a wrist strap and lots of sections for me to securely tuck away my documents.
Of course, my phone is with me, too. I don't worry about the safety/security of my phone when traveling domestically, but I'm a maniac about phone security when it comes to international travel. It's so easy to slip into tourist mode when traveling abroad. We whip out our phones to take a picture, we ask strangers to take our pictures, we stand in crowds taking pictures...meanwhile, our phones are waving about and we're paying less attention to the people around us. All of this to say, I like to have a phone case that allows me to attach my phone to my wrist. While not impenetrable, this makes my phone a little harder to steal than the person next to me.
I wish I'd thought of this next accessory, because it's pure genius. Like many of you, I struggle to sleep on planes. It's uncomfortable and unnatural to sleep in this setting. Those free blankets they pass out don't do much, and it's drafty under the seats. I'm also subconsciously worried about the creep next to me stealing my wallet while I sleep (a little paranoia never hurt anyone). In comes GRAVEL TRAVEL, the travel accessory company you've likely never heard of. Their Layover Travel Blanket is packable, insulated, and has a few tricks up its sleeve that solve so many of these problems.
The blanket has leg pouches to keep your feet and legs warm, while keeping the blanket in place while you sleep. The "Kangaroo Pocket" allows you to safely store your personal items on the inside of the blanket near your chest while you sleep. There are a few other pockets, too, so you can slip your phone, money or other personal items in while you sleep. When you're done, it folds up into a small ball that can easily be attached to a backpack, tossed into a suitcase, or used as a pillow. While I do not own this blanket, it's been on my wishlist for a while now!
What about my luggage? Well, I'm a huge fan of packing cubes. I can't imagine traveling without them. I use a variety of cubes, my favorites being the Eagle Creek Pack-It Cube Set and Pack-It Starter Kit, both available at The Container Store and on Amazon. These are super durable (I've used them for years without any tears or signs of wear), and come in a variety of sizes. The Starter Kit comes with a folding tool, which is a nice bonus. I also have a less expensive set of YAMIU packing cubes from Amazon. This is a 7-piece set, including a shoe bag and two clear toiletry bags. While less durable than the Eagle Creek set, I like that this set offers a variety of sizes and colors. The shoe bag fits 1-2 pairs of shoes. The clear toiletry bags are the perfect size for TSA and larger sized toiletries. Being clear makes it much easier to find the products stored inside.
Ladies, we all have our favorite makeup bag...mine is a classic box makeup case from Cath Kidston. It's waterproof, easy to clean, the perfect size, and I love the fun florals and patterns produced by Cath Kidston (especially the London ones)! To each her own. More recently I acquired a Monstina travel makeup brush bag from Amazon that I love. It can sit up by itself, comes in a variety of colors, and is waterpoof. This is great brush bag for everyday use that easily converts for travel. And it's less than $11!
Lastly, I never leave home without the Reisenthel Travel Laundry Bag. They come in a variety of colors and fold up into a teeny-tiny pouch. This keeps my dirties away from my clean, fresh laundry on overnight trips.
So despite not being able to travel, now is a great time to stock up on these travel accessories. We'll be back out there in no time!
Stay safe.
AB
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