Late last night, I started to unpack after a week of travel to California and Colorado. I absolutely love traveling and exploring new places and sharing my adventures with you guys!
I have a few things that I bring with me nearly every trip I take no matter where I go and I thought a roundup post about my travel essentials might be fun!
Here are a few of my favorite travel essentials:
- Water bottle: I always bring a water bottle with me and make sure to drink a ton of water before a flight. I polish off an entire bottle before I make my way thorough security since you cannot bring liquids over four ounces through, but I make sure to refill it before boarding the plane.
- Inflatable neck pillow: I see tons of people travel with neck pillows and I absolutely love my Eagle Creek neck pillow because it’s not only comfortable, but inflatable. It folds up for compact travel and I love that I can inflate it to varying levels of puffiness for customized support. Plus, it only takes two breaths to inflate it completely, so it’s easy peasy!
- Eye mask: I am obsessed with my eye mask! I struggle to sleep on planes (cars are a completely different story!), but my eye mask blocks out all light and makes it a little easier to take an in-flight nap.
- Chapstick and lotion: My lips and hands seem to get so dry when I travel, so I try to keep chapstick and a travel-size lotion easily accessible. (I love EOS lip balm!)
- Book: Long flights offer hours of uninterrupted reading time and I always bring a book with me to keep me occupied.
- Snacks: Snacks are a necessity! My favorites include portable peanut butter packets, bars (Luna bars are a personal favorite), granola, nuts and dried fruit.
- Notepad and pen: For some reason I always think of ideas for blog posts or things to do when I am flying. I try to pack a pen a notepad with me so I can jot down things as they come to me so I won’t forget them later.
- Hand sanitizer: When it comes to travel, germs are everywhere, so I always pack a travel-size hand sanitizer with me to fight the good fight against germs.
- Sweatshirt: I get so cold on planes, so a comfy sweatshirt is a must for me!
- Lightweight scarf: Along with a sweatshirt, I almost always bring an extra-long lightweight scarf with me to keep warm on chilly flights. It can serve as a makeshift blanket if I am extra cold.
Question of the Afternoon
- What are some of your travel essentials?
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I travel a lot for work (international flights), and I always bring yoga pants (much for comfy to sit in for a long time), compression socks, aspirin, chapstick, moisturizer, hand lotion, sanitizer, tooth brush, eye mask, kindle and ipod with noise cancelling headphones. And, if I check luggage, I always have an extra t-shirt and fresh underwear in my carry on… learned this the hard way…
All of the above plus a couple magazines and my laptop with some downloaded tv and movies. On long flights I fall asleep so easily when I read so I always make sure I have a couple other forms of entertainment!
GUM!!! cannot go anywhere without it!! Especially on a flight! I make sure I have enough pieces to last me for the whole trip!! I am always popping some in! I like to keep my mouth busy 🙂 Bubble Mint Orbit is my favorite in the big Car Size container (60 pieces!!!)
I don’t fly a lot but take a ton of car trips. Snacks and a sweatshirt are necessities for me! I’m always hungry, and always cold! People looooove to blast the A/C while driving so i just bundle up in the sweatshirt 🙂
My travel essentials: earplugs for the plane and hotel (after a flight or two of screaming babies…), an empty water bottle I can fill up throughout my trip, snacks (granola bars, nuts), bandaids and comfy flip flops! The latter two because I always do a lot of walking whether the trip is for myself or work, so I always appreciate having those two!
Which eye mask is that?! I am looking for a good one and that looks awesome! I always take a scarf on the plane too. Now, having a toddler, my travel essentials have multiplied!
I’m butting in here, but I love Bucky eye masks! You can find them on Amazon.
I can’t forget headphones… I like to drown out some of the noise with music. I also can’t get on a plane without Dramamine. I love to travel, but I’m so sensitive to feeling sick on planes. The same kind of sickness I get from reading in the car.
Hee hee hee…at first I thought your eye mask was a bra and my first thought was “that’s a weird bra, but oh well, I’m glad she brings one along!!” Thanks for the list!
I always download some new music before traveling and make sure to pack that along with a magazine, a book, socks(my feet are always freezing!), and a slouchy long sleeve T-shirt to throw on.
All of your ideas are great! One thing I have to have as well are socks. My feet are always freezing on the plane and I can’t sleep with cold feet. Also, gum to chew during take off and landing. This helps with my ear issues I sometimes get on planes.
I also MUST have lotion and chapstick. I feel like I’ll wash my hands in the bathroom before my first flight and then the whole rest of the trip all I can think about is how dry my hands feel! Drives me crazy!
Hand sanitizer is a huge must for me too. I might take some of these other suggestions into account on my next trip!
my essentials list would look fairly similar! the most important item for me is definitely the water bottle. flying is so dehydrating and nothing can ruin the fun of traveling quite like a lethargic, dehydrated grump like myself 😉 I would also add a few magazines and my headphones to that list. I dislike overhearing people’s conversations on the plane!
The inflatable neck pillow is such a smart idea. My neck always hurts so bad when I fall asleep and I hate bringing a pillow that takes up space in my bag. I always bring a refillable water bottle and headphones to listen to music on the plane.
What’s your favorite Luna bar flavor?
I’m right there with you on the water bottles, mini lotions, and lip balm. I love word search puzzles – sometimes I need to take a break from reading and give my brain something else to do. 🙂
Ok, I am borderline obsessed with your sleep mask too. Where did you get it? It looks way kewl.
I travel a lot for work and always take a nightlight. If I wake up in the middle of the night and need to use the bathroom, I always run into walls or stub my toes! I plug the nightlight in the bathroom and pull the door almost all the way closed. I use a sleep mask as well so the light doesn’t bother me,
I hate traveling because I always forget things. And oh my goodness SNACKS! Is it just me or plane food sucks. I love eating snacks and always bring my own, the only thing I remember to get.
Love this post! It gave me some great ideas! I will have to try eos lip balm now! 🙂
Where did you get that bag that’s sitting next to your suitcase from? Thanks!
Great tips! I definitely always try to take a book and/or magazines with me. Travelling is such a great time to get caught up on reading. I usually always take gum too…just in case I eat something and can’t brush my teeth. I don’t want to gross out my seat partners. 😉
I agree, times a thousand, about lip balm and lotion – I’m not sure what it is, but I always get chapped lips and hands when I’m traveling too! They now have a permanent place in my purse, beside the hand sanitizer.
My fiance has that same sleep mask and it is so much better than my cheap-o CVS mask but his mom found it at a Marshall’s in Massachusetts and we haven’t found them anywhere out here in Illinois! I hide it from him all the time so I can use it but he always ends up getting it back so I am in desperate need of my own! What brand is it and where did you buy it?
I’m with you on the water and chapstick/lotion. I get so dehydrated on planes! And a good book is always needed.
-AJ
FitTravelerAJ.com
I hate traveling because I always forget things. And oh my goodness SNACKS! Is it just me or plane food sucks. I love eating snacks and always bring my own, the only thing I remember to get.— Rick you are right the food in the place sucks especially domestic flights. International flight are much better in my experience.