Travel Must-Haves 2023
Items tested over the past year in: Jordan 🇯🇴 Egypt 🇪🇬 Spain 🇪🇸 Denmark 🇩🇰 Sweden 🇸🇪 Norway 🇳🇴 Thailand 🇹🇭 Cambodia 🇰🇭 & the USA. 🇺🇸
Duds at the bottom to prove I'm not recommending everything!
Bonus: you can panic-buy any of these 2 nights before you leave and you KNOW Amazon is going to deliver. 😍
1) Compressed Towels 🧻
This is the MacGyver of travel personal care products. Going to the Middle East? It's toilet paper! Going to Europe? It's your makeup removing wipe! Going anywhere? It's a napkin! Just a drop of water expands these guys into a paper towel or a wet wipe if you use more water. They're an everyday carry item for me at this point.
2) Tide Sink Packets & Universal Drain Stopper 🧺
You can be like me and put off doing sink laundry until you've traveled more OR you can up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start (you remember cheat codes, yes?) and skip right to packing light and doing some washing on your journey. Let's be honest: you just want to wear your favorite shirt every day anyway, right? More on Sink Laundry here.
3) 3.4 Oz Mist Bottle 💦
Yes, this one may seem silly, but I'm in love. I mist my face with water on the airplane. I use it to reconstitute the compressed towels (see above). I can mist my hair and then braid it before bed for easy waves the next morning. It's my emergency water too. No judgment: you know how they confiscate your liquids at security? I've used the water in here to take ibuprofen while waiting in line at Passport Control. It was well water from my house; perfectly ok to drink! Also, my thoughts on the 3.4 ounce rule if you’re curious.
4) Foot Hammock 🦶🏼
You've seen this on other lists before, but I'm here to tell you *add to cart* because it's 100% worth the space in your bag. I've used it on 15 hour flights, 1 hour flights, and everywhere in between. Sweet relief to have 1 additional position for your muscles.
5) Jet Lag Pills 💊
I don’t even care if they are placeo—gimme my jet lag pills! They work. I don’t know how or why, but they work. Pair them with the Timeshifter app and you can go halfway around the globe and barely notice the time change.
6) All The Wipes and Packets 🧴
I’ve found that single-use products are worth their weight in gold on the road. Rather than decanting from a larger product, you have the CORRECT expiration dates and you can SHARE them with other travelers (would you take unmarked aspirin from someone’s little pill canister? I think not!) plus you will never have an issue explaining to government authorities what kind of meds you got there in that unmarked ziplock bag…?? Here’s some of my faves: Advil Packets // Off! Deep Woods Wipes // Sunscreen Packets // Neutrogena Facial Towelette Singles // Dude Wipes (Mint Chill) // Alocane Burn Gel // Tabasco Hot Sauce Packets // Olly Melatonin Gummies //
7) Memo Pads 🗒️
I always carry a little notebook—often the flat black ones that are about the size of a passport. Taking inspiration from this curious little book I found at the MOMA Store in NYC last year (which is literally just a notebook kept by artist Lee Lisano from 1968 to 1972 while living in New York’s SoHo neighborhood), recently I’ve been loving the spiral-bound variety. It’s for jotting down a random idea. It’s for asking the concierge to give you the wifi password. It’s for playing endless games of hangman with my husband. It’s for passing to your bartender to write down the names of the schnapps you’ve tried (so you can look them up later!)
8) Protein Snacks 🥩
Feel free to grab whatever sweet snacks your little heart desires! But also consider some protein-filled snacks that will tide you over a little bit more than pure sugar. You don’t need to bring too much food, but just enough to cover you on the long travel days. Slim Jims // Bumble Bee Chicken Salad Crackers // Wonderful Pistachios //
9) VIM & VIGR Merino Wool 15-20 mmHg Compression Socks 👣
Compression socks are my bff on travel days—especially for long flights. Wool is the way to go for sure because the antimicrobial properties keep bacteria from growing which means they have no odor even after the longest of trips. Plus wool is a natural fiber that helps keep you cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold. I also like the wool compression socks over at Bombas.
10) Carabiners 🪝
Carabiners are incredibly pragmatic. I always have a few of these on my backpack. They’re for attaching anything and everything (luggage tag, the bag of dirty shoes, the plastic bag of stuff you “definitely” bought at the airport and not just stuff that didn’t fit in your backpack, water bottle, etc.) and keeping your crap together. I went for some attractive ones of different styles, but any ole carabiner is great.
11) Tangle Teezer Detangling Brush 💈
This one might seem like a random recommendation… a hairbrush? But I have long curly/wavy hair and this brush is so wonderfully lightweight and works fantastic. Wet or dry. No handle to add bulk to your bag. This brush is a winner. I have the Original in Panther Black (are you surprised?? sorry, not sorry, everything I own is black 🖤), but I see now they have a travel version called the Compact Styler that comes with a protective cover—just might be worth the extra $3!
12) 3 in 1: Fan, Power Bank, Flashlight 🪭🔋🔦
Okay, it’s a little bougie, but I don’t care. It is always hot when you board plane and the USB power bank and flashlight function keep you from feeling guilty when you bring it on every trip. Also, it’s cute!
13) Liquid IV 💧
Hydration is the name of the game when you’re traveling and especially on long flights. Liquid IV is pretty much the best option out there. Try the Golden Cherry flavor. I never used to travel with powdered electrolytes, but then I got the “Egyptian Sickness” …no, not where you want to go back to Egypt every year (though I did get that too!) but the kind where you’re losing fluids at a rapid pace. I will be forever grateful to the English couple who gave me a similar product to see me through that experience.
14) Matador FlatPak Soap Bar Case & Marlow Scrubby Soap
Everyone has their own holy-grail toiletry product and this is pretty much all I need. I’m content with using whatever shampoo/conditioner is provided but if I don’t have my scrubby soap I’m just not a happy camper. I don’t know what kind of dark magic is used to make the soap bar case, but you can put in a bar of soap completely wet and it will dry while not getting anything else wet! If you want more toiletry recommendations, scroll to the bottom of this post.
15) AirFly Pro 🎧
You already have this, right? It’s all anyone talks about as far as travel gizmos go. I’ve been a fan of Twelve South since the only product they had was BookBook for iPhone. Over the years they’ve made some good products, but the AirFly Pro is NEXT LEVEL. If you have wireless headphones of any kind, do yourself a favor and buy these for your next trip! Personally, I also think AirPod Pros are also a good investment for their tiny size and noise cancelling ability (if you have the budget).
16) Apple AirTags 📱
I stand corrected… THESE are the travel gizmos people won’t shut up about. And for good reason: PUT AIRTAGS IN EVERY PIECE OF LUGGAGE. Put one on your keys. Put one on your dog. Put one in every family member’s stocking this year. Just buy the 4-pack and be done with it. If you’re Andriod, I’m sorry for all my Apple musings, and go for the Tile which is what I had before AirTags existed. They used to not let you replace the battery so you just had to throw them away when they ran out of juice (which sucked!) but I understand they’ve fixed that.
17) Osprey Ultralight Stuff Duffel 👝
Get yourself a Stuff Duff and never worry about room for souvenirs again! Just pull out this bad boy (which collapses down to be super-duper small) and fill it with your treasures and you’re good to go. It’s also a very reliable beach bag, laundry bag, grocery bag, whatever-you-need bag! I have an older version that’s dark green, but today I would go for this gorgeous burnt orange.
18) Universal Phone Mount 🤳🏼
This was a gift from my parents! It’s so small that it’s worth throwing in the bag every time. Very handy on flights and in all kinds of situations. It turns all the way around to give you ultimate flexibility.
Duds (DON'T BUY)
//
Duds (DON'T BUY) //
Ok, you can try them but just FYI I returned all of these to Amazon.
🥱 dud #1 Inflatable Pillow
Bulky. Heavy. Actually uncomfortable in flight. I've even heard that some airlines banned them because they are so obnoxiously large. Imagine blowing up your giant pillow only for the flight attendant to come over to tell you to deflate it. Embarrassing! I'm cheap so you know I didn't throw the thing away and carried it all around Southeast Asia so I could send it back to Amazon when I got home. No regrets!
🎥 dud #2 DJI Osmo Pocket
My apologies to DJI, but I really really wanted to love this one. I used it on a long trip to the UK and videotaped a wedding for friends (so much slo-mo!) but it got glitchy and wasn't easy to use and in short, I returned it. Try it if you like, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
📦 dud #3 Packing Cubes
You can be on whatever side of this debate that you want to be, but I've tried it both ways. It keeps you more ORGANIZED yes, but it gobbles up more SPACE. If you are going to try them, buy the ones with COMPRESSION (one zipper to close, and another zipper to close it even tighter.) Buy them before your next trip and when you hate them, take advantage of Amazon's generous return policy. 😜
👜 dud #4 Discount Airline-Sized Personal Item
Heavy even when empty. Not as roomy in real life as shown in the photos. This is a waste of money. Uncomfortable straps. I mean, it has good reviews and maybe like me you can’t resist trying it. Good thing it’s cheap and returnable.
🍷 dud #5 Travel Corkscrew
Ok, this one is not actually a dud, but I thought I found my perfect travel corkscrew when suddenly… out of nowhere… it was confiscated in Madrid at airport security. You can fly with these little guys domestically, but forget about it internationally. The officer was pleasantly surprised that I was quite cheerful (in my admittedly rusty Spanish) to part with the item—after all, he’s just doing his job. We actually had a quite pleasant conversation and he was shocked I had brought it over on an airplane from America. Oh well: lesson learned. It’s so small and convenient, maybe I’ll buy it again for domestic travel.
