Either it’s your first time traveling or not, having a good experience in-flight and after landing is important. After all, who doesn’t want to have a comfortable experience for their travel?
That’s why we want to share our best pick for travel essentials that every person needs to have. Whether they’re traveling frequently or not.
For the occasional traveler, it is easy to think that traveling overseas does not require much thought, except perhaps the destination. Planning was not so much.
But it’s different for the travel aficionado, going overseas requires planning to make the trip all worth it.
This famous quote says it all: “Failing to plan is planning to fail”.
For us, planning a trip is a must because we don’t want our travel experience to become bad because of the bad preparations.
Between booking the flight, making itineraries and packing your luggage, I think we always forget some stuff that actually can help with our travel.
These are must-have travel products that we guarantee can make your travel much easier and a breeze.
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1. A duffel bag
Yes, you can bring a cabin suitcase with wheels but sometimes you need a duffel bag too.
It’s less hassle to look for stuff when you have different compartments that are easy to reach.
My favorite duffel bag is this one from Lily & Drew. It has three compartments that have their own function and easy to grab your stuff.
The front zipper can be used for storing your passport, boarding pass, and any other papers.
The middle zipper can be used to store in-flight pouch (which I will elaborate in my second point), clothes, shopper bag or any bag you are using.
The back zipper is perfectly fit for a mouse, a power bank and a Mac Book or any type of 15.6-inch notebooks you may have.
I love this duffel bag because it’s so much easy to grab your stuff while you are on a flight plus you can attach it on your luggage handle. Plus it’s not huge and not taking a lot of space in the cabin.
2. In-flight pouch
I didn’t understand the importance of this until I had a long flight of more than 6 hours. Whew, If I don’t have an in-flight pouch, I honestly don’t know how I felt after landing. Feeling dehydrated and tired, I guess.
For me, an In-flight pouch is very important especially when I have an early or late flight.
You might ask what’s my in-flight pouch? it contains a one zip lock bag for my toiletries (separate from the other things), earbuds, and medicines.
Why toiletries? If you ever had a very long flight which is more than 6hours, somehow you’ll feel so tired and not energized. Especially when your flight is late at night and you’ll arrive the next morning.
To refresh yourself, you’ll need to wash your face and brush your teeth (you don’t want to see your loved ones in a tired condition, right? That’s why I’m committed to always bring an in-flight pouch with me.
And I’m going to share you what I usually bring:
- A face wash (a moisturizing one, if you have..)
- A moisturizer cream (your skin can end up dehydrated when you are exposed to the dry air in the cabin for the whole trip)
- A face sponge (I always hate to make a mess when I need to splash my face in a small-spaced toilet, so I purchased a small face sponge to wash my face. Less hassle and clean!)
- A headband made out of cloth (my hair can be a struggle!)
- A toothbrush, mini toothpaste, and mini mouthwash (if you don’t have mini versions, you can put your regular mouthwash and toothpaste in a container like this one i.e the squeeze tube for toothpaste and the mouthwash in the other bottle)
- A hand cream (my fav— my hand is not sticky and feeling “wet” after use)
- A lip mask (this one is my fav!)
You might say that it’s not necessary but I promise, you won’t regret having an in-flight pouch because it really helps you a lot! You don’t have to go back and forth picking up stuff in your cabin compartment.
3. A pair of good sneakers and sandals
We all have our own preferences but for me, I prefer to wear a good pair of sneakers or sandals.
I own both of them and love them so much that they will go with me every time, whenever I go travel.
If the climate of the country you’re going is cold, a pair of sneakers is good to keep your feet warm.
If it’s gonna be hot, pop out the sandals to keep your feet airy and dry.
One thing that you can change to make it more comfortable is the inner sole.
When the inner sole gets worn out, you can change it into this one.
It’s our favorite one and so comfortable to wear for a long trip!
4. Neck Pillow
When you stay in a plane for a long travel period, you will definitely try to get some shut-eye to rest.
However, sitting in a tight seat makes it a challenge to get a comfy position to rest your body and especially your neck.
A good supportive neck pillow will definitely help to keep your neck in a comfortable position and avoid any strain during sleep.
Tip: Avoid the cheap ones as they are not firm or durable enough or they can cause chaffing of the skin with use.
5. A good backpack and a cross-body bag
If I had only one piece of advice to give, it would be this: Always have a backpack or crossbody bag with you when you travel. It will keep all the important essentials like a bottle of water, snacks, medicines or money.
When you travel to a foreign country, you may not necessarily know where is the next grocery store. Or the pharmacy.
For my wife personally, she likes to bring a crossbody bag and a shoulder canvas bag when we are out shopping. Because it will take quite some space after shopping (am I right?).
She keeps all the important stuff inside the bag and the canvas bag for things we purchased.
And for the husband, you can keep everything inside a backpack and keep your hands free, which is practical when you need to use your phone for Google Maps or searching for a good restaurant.
A good backpack needs to be light-weight and full of compartments like this one.
5. Bring a luggage scale
Coming back to me paying overweight luggage fees, I so wish I had a luggage scale before that happened.
A luggage scale is a simple tool to weigh your luggage and gauge its weight before going to the airport.
Choose an electronic scale that is more precise and avoid paying overweight fees ever.
6. A card and coin wallet
Forget the big long cumbersome and heavy wallet when traveling.
For my wife, she always wants her travels to be as easy going and convenient as possible.
That is why she prefers to use a zipper wallet with card compartments plus a key chain to clip your hotel or Airbnb’s room keys.
Just make sure you don’t mix train cards and room cards together as they can get messed up when you tap your card to use the train.
8. A universal travel adapter
Different countries use different power outlets and if you don’t plan for this, you may not be able to recharge your trusty phone or other electronics.
It happened to me before, and the only way was to find an electronics store and buy whatever converter they had, usually at a not-too friendly price.
Therefore, to avoid this situation, buy a durable universal travel adapter to bring with you.
If you can find one with USB input, it will be much better still.
9. A multiplug cord extension
In a hotel room, there will always be a limited number of electrical sockets.
If you are tech-savvy like me, you need a socket to recharge your phone(s), laptop, tablet, camera, BlueTooth earphones, etc.
And there will never be enough sockets in the room. Argh!
That’s why a multi-plug extension cord is a great idea to recharge everything in one go.
If there are USB inputs in there, it’s a better choice.
10. A portable charger
A portable charger will help keep your phone working a full day as you need to use it for browsing, directions, taking photos and videos, etc.
It can also be used to charge your other electronic devices on the go.
We recommend a big capacity like this one with a minimum of 20,000 mah, as light as possible and which can fast charge your phone or laptop.
Trust me, you’ll thank me later.
11. A canvas shopping bag
For those shopping aficionados, bringing some canvas shopping bags is a must.
They are lightweight and can hold a lot more weight than regular plastic bags to keep all your purchases safe.
12. A packing cube
I don’t know why before I know packing cube, my luggage inside seems so messed up and I always end up scavenging things inside it.
During my last trip, my wife helps me pack with some of the packing cubes and oh boy! It does help me a lot. It’s so easy to look for stuff now because everything is organized. Easy to unpack and easy to pack. It’s a win-win solution!
You definitely need to purchase these packing cubes!
Here are other cool travel essentials you can add in your luggage:
13. A travel iron
A mini iron is what it says. It’s a portable lightweight iron to bring with you during your travel.
Your clothes could be prone to wrinkling when you open your luggage at your hotel.
And God knows how I hate wrinkled clothes.
If your hotel or Airbnb does not provide any iron, you can bring your own portable iron with you.
It is usually lightweight like 1 lb (or around 500 grams), has a steam function and a voltage selector, depending on the country you are in.
14. A luggage strap
Luggage straps are very handy, especially when you want to keep your luggage tightly secured.
And what about if you are an avid shopper and your suitcase is packed full of souvenirs and stuff?
If you want to avoid your luggage popping out mid-transit, a luggage strap like this one will keep everything safely tucked in.
15. Bring an umbrella or pocket raincoat
My wife and I once visited Thailand during the monsoon season and god, I wished I brought an umbrella with me as there were torrential rains at that time.
An umbrella or pocket raincoat will be very useful to keep in your handbag or backpack.
And it will help to keep track of the daily weather forecast as well.
16. A good noise-canceling earbuds or headphones
Choose a good pair of noise-canceling earbuds, so as to isolate yourself from outside noise.
If you’re like me and cannot sleep on a plane, these earbuds help to focus on whatever you’re watching or listening to. Or if you are a headphone type of person, check this one out.
Most of these travel essentials are the ones that we use and we love it! That’s why we recommend it to you.
For us, it’s important to have good travel experience especially the long dreadful flights.
Using most of the items listed here, it really helps our flight experience much more comfortable and convenient. Hopefully, it can help you too!
What to read next: 11 Smart Travel Hacks and Tips You’ll Regret Not Knowing
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