July 2022

Travel Gear – Items I Pack On Every Trip

Tried and true, some of these items have been in my packing rotation for almost ten years! Packing is quick and easy now that I found consistent items I pack for every trip. I hope you find some of these items helpful for your next trip!

Bags

EBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible – This bag has held up since fall of 2015 and has managed our travel incredibly well. I have a post on all the reasons I love this bag and it continues to meet our travel needs over and over again.
Packing cubes – Successful compact packing is made easier with packing cubes. It helps compact your items, organize your bag and limits the amount of stuff you pack.
Walker Family Goods Valley Pack – Newest edition to the travel bag collection and I use this when we are packing as “personal item only” for under the seat storage. I adore this bag and how functional it is for travel with so many compartments. So far our record exclusively packing with this bag is a ten day trip to Italy!
Walker Family Goods Louie Sling – When I switched from a cross body purse to the sling, I never went back. This bag comes on every sling trip. It has so many compartments and can fit everything I need, not to mention it is secured attached to my body giving me hand free and theft resistant advantages.
Baggu bag – This bag I did not know I needed. This bag folds up amazingly flat and small but opens into a giant bag with so many uses. Laundry bag, beach bag, grocery bag – you name it, this bag can make it happen. This bag gets thrown in no matter what the trip.
Packable backpack – A packable backpack is great for trips where you have day trips or hiking adventures. This bag folds up into itself and unfolds into a decent size backpack. It has been through a lot and is still holding up – though I still can’t get the clay out from that cave in Belize.

Toiletry bag

Go solid when possible! You will be surprised how many solid options exist in the world if you have not looked. We have converted to as many solid items as possible in order to limit our liquid load. Items such as soap and deodorant comes as solids already.
One of my favorite finds was the Lush solid shampoo. It is easy to use and lasts a long time- one bar gets both of us through several trips. There are so many scents to choose from – we use the Honey I Washed My Hair.
Solid sunscreen has been life changing for travel. Not only it is high SPF, but it applies like a deodorant stick and does not leave your skin oily. This has saved us lots of money (not having to buy sunscreen at our final destination) and liquid space since we did not need to shove 3 ounce sunscreen bottles into our bag. I recommend this product to everyone and we always bring it with us.
Take me back to the 90s with this fold down hair brush to save space in your bag.
Reusable bag for 3-1-1 Liquid Bag to keep things organized.
Travel detergent – These films create a soapy water in the sink and have come in handy on many trips to refresh clothing items, particularly the unmentionables, and keep everything liquid free for packing.

Warm weather vacation

Xero shoes – These barefoot style shoes that come out-of-the-box-ready to wear, no need to break in, and are compact and light. I pretty much exclusively wear this brand of shoe now but for travel, I would highly recommend the Z Trail sandals for the beach or warm weather trips.
Sun Shirt with UV Protection – This has been a lifesaver for sunny trips as it has built in UV protection. I highly recommend this or something similar if you have lots of sun time for your trip.
Rain jacket or umbrella – Depending on the trip, we will either bring a rain jacket (much better than dealing with disposable ponchos in my experience) or an umbrella. For outdoor adventures, the rain jacket comes and for city trips, the umbrella comes.
Microfiber towel – I bring this on all trips cause you never know when a blanket will come in handy. While it is mostly used for water adventures, we have also used for an impromptu picnic or two.
Beach blanket – A nice to have item for beach vacations is a beach towel.
Snorkel gear – I originally purchased during COVID to ensure we had our own gear and I have to say, I have enjoyed bringing our own snorkel gear when the trip permits the packing space. We did not include them on our recent trip to Sardinia since we were packing exceptionally light and we definitely missed having them.

Hiking Gear

Xero shoes – These barefoot style shoes that come out-of-the-box-ready to wear, no need to break in, and are compact and light. I pretty much exclusively wear this brand of shoe now but for travel, I would highly recommend the Terraflex shoes for hiking.
Hiking socks – I never really thought socks would make a big difference but I love these hiking socks for Darn Tough.
Buffs – I always through one or two of these into our bag as you never know when they will come in handy. While we always use them for hiking, we also use them for snorkeling to keep our hair away from the mask, and even used it in Africa while we were on safari to keep the bugs out of our mouths. Having a buff around is always a valuable thing!
Xero shoes – These barefoot style shoes that come out-of-the-box-ready to wear, no need to break in, and are compact and light. I pretty much exclusively wear this brand of shoe now but for travel, I would highly recommend the Z Trail sandals for the beach or warm weather trips.
Merino wool shirts base layers – These are the best types of shirts for hiking! They keep you warm but also regulate temperate as it gets warm. Merino wool is also non-smelling so even as the day goes on, there is no stinky smell. While they are expensive, I think they are well worth the investment. I have had mine since our New Zealand trip in 2019.
Packable puff jacket – great for trips of varying temperatures, especially on active trips where it is cold but you may warm up as the activity progresses. This jacket packs down so you can easily store it and iti s not a burden to carry the rest of the day.

Tech

Chromebook – I am currently using this Chromebook while traveling. It is light and tiny for blogging on the go as well as trip planning or changing while away.
Universal Travel Adapter – This one works for many different countries and what I love most about this one is all the USB ports in addition to the plug adapter. many USB ports and many compatible countries
Power Bank – As my phone gets older and phones become more and more essential for travel (picture taking, airline boarding passes, etc), I never leave without this power bank.
Nikon Z50 Camera with two lens – An investment as we got more into photography and traveling to some epic spots where a “real camera” felt necessary. It was invaluable for our trip to Africa to capture all the wildlife.

I will continue to update his post as I discover new and beneficial travel items. If you have any items not listed here that you never leave without, please let me know! I hope this was helpful and happy packing!