What’s the Most Important Travel Essential to Bring With You?

In my network of friends and past coworkers there are a lot of world-travelers. Many have been to over 100 countries and places like Antartica more times than they can count. So, when I posed the question, “What’s the most important travel essential to bring with you?” I got a myriad of answers.

Some of the answers were expected, and others were things I hadn’t thought of. The question wasn’t posed to be specifically about cruising or flying or road-tripping. What I’ve found is that nearly everyone has at least that one thing that is essential to their travels in whatever form that may be. I wasn’t disappointed as I received responses ranging from practical to thoughtful to sarcastic.

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The Most Important Travel Essential To Bring With You

The Hygienic

One friend commented with baby wipes. Baby wipes can be handy for so many things. Whether it is wiping down your seat on the plane, your hands, or even your face, baby wipes can come in massively handy to keeping the area around yourself clean.

As someone that has traveled more during this pandemic than most would consider ideal (that’s what happens when you get stuck on a boat on the other side of the world and are married to someone from another country) I can tell you that a good hygiene kit goes a long way to keeping yourself safe while flying in a giant metal tube high in the sky.

How to Make It Happen: My current go-to hygiene don’t-get-COVID kit includes a bag of clean extra face masks, hand sanitizer, paper hand soap, and disinfectant wipes for my seat. Changing your face mask mid-travel is becoming as much of a refreshing experience as something like changing your socks or putting on a clean shirt used to be. (Tricks of long-haul over a day worth of travel kind of adventures).

I am all about reusable masks. Bring three or four with you in your carryon luggage depending on the length of your adventure. In this case more is better. And, honestly, doing a little double mask action in certain situations is not the worst idea…

While I have been making (plus a couple gifted from my awesome sister-in-law!), I love these reusable cloth face masks* made by a Vermont local business woman that I went to high school with. She also makes baby clothes. Check out her Etsy page for Vermont Tribe*.

The Wellness

A woman in a similar life situation to myself (husband works on ships – she, however, has a land based business and is not looking to go back to work on ships), responded incredibly thoughtfully. She went for what makes traveling well for your soul and your wellbeing.

Her response included “the things that continue whatever healthy routines I do at home.  Because when you travel frequently there is always an excuse to get off of your routine and kill your good habits that you spend so much time cultivating at home. For example my morning time is my sacred time. So I bring one big blank notebook for appreciation writing, one or two travel notebooks so that I can keep a daily travel journal and pre-downloaded materials (audio-books, Spotify song playlists, podcasts.) and my favorite workout clothes and shoes so I can walk and listen.”

I had one other friend also mention having audio-books pre-downloaded. She always has two at the ready. One she hasn’t read before because it will keep her mind engaged and awake. Also – her eyes get dried out on planes, so she doesn’t want to plan on having to watch the TV or keep the overhead light on all of the time. The second audio book is one she has read many times, so it can be some nice background noise that she will be able to fall asleep to it.

I also find things that help keep my mind busy or are soothing helpful. For various journeys over the years I have been known to travel with an adult-coloring book* and colored pencils, a pocket sudoku* book, or even with a small knitting project. Pro Tip: If you bring knitting needles on a plane please make sure they are the soft kind that don’t make the “clinking” noise, the other passengers will thank you.

For your physical wellbeing I think it’s also helpful to know what the climate is like where you are traveling. If you are in a more wet place some waterproof hiking shoes might be great, and if you are in a warmer place some more breathable workout gear could be good.

How To Make It Happen: What you need to do for your best mental and physical health is a very personal thing. Here are a few handy things that might help.

Journaling is an incredible way to not only keep track of your travels and act as a bit of a time capsule, they can be a great place to work through whatever might be bothering you in life. There are about a million awesome journal choices on Etsy*, but I like the look and feel of this one*.

I get it, Amazon doesn’t need more money. Dang it though they’ve got Audible* and Kindle* and I love both those things. Audiobooks for days, months, years. Seriously, it’s a massive library and will fulfill all your audio book needs. (Plus, they have a free trial and I love me a free trial).

The Philosophical

One person answered quite philosophically that they’re most important travel essential is “an open heart and mind.” I had been asking for tangible items but honestly this is probably the most important travel essential. I read an “open heart and mind” to also mean an ability to be flexible and kind. That right there is essential. Inevitably while traveling there will be something that goes slightly awry. Being flexible and kind to those around you makes a huge difference, not only in your day, but in everyone else’s day.

I personally find for travel (and life) if I am hydrated, well rested, and not hungry my disposition is so much better. Toss in a bit of preparedness and it just might be a recipe for success.

How to Make That Happen: A great way to keep an open heart and mind and keep the mindset to be flexible and kind is to stay hydrated, well reseted, avoid hang-er, and be well-prepared.

Did you know you can bring most foods through security? Bring some small snacks with you to stave off hunger and the hanger. There are limitations as to what you can bring into your destination country (usually not meats, dairy, or vegetables) so be mindful as to local regulations.

The Sarcastic

For the sarcastic responses I also got, “Bail money”. I will say I haven’t seen this person since college, but unless a drastic amount has changed in their life in the past decade, no way is he someone that needs bail money on a trip. The comedy was appreciated though.

Easy Ways to Send Money Between Friends:

Okay, should you need bail money oversees the easiest way to transfer it is likely through an app like PayPal or Venmo. Truthfully though the ability to transfer money directly between you and your friends while traveling is a game changer. No more going out to eat with a group and then having to hunt down everyone for the $10 they owe you. Venmo that $$ over baby! Pro Tip: With Venmo you can only download it while you are in the US or using a VPN. So, if you think you might need it sign up for it ahead of time.

The Item Related to A Specific Experience

You can tell a bit about what the travel experiences of those that responded were based on what they said. One friend responded with, “A really cheap rain poncho* in case of an unexpected downpour!” I happen to know she has been caught in an unexpected downpour as I was with her when we ended up using bright yellow trash bags in Barcelona when we hadn’t brought any rain gear with us.

How to Make It Happen: This is pretty experience specific. Think of the most stressful travel situation you’ve had where literally one specific thing could have helped. Now bring that.

The Practical

My college roommate, winner of the practicality award in all her amazing ways said: “An empty small stuff-able backpack you can take out and about for day ventures”. This also made my list of what to pack for your first cruise ship contract. This is such a versatile item. Use it while you are on your travels for short trips, use it as a laundry bag during your trip, use it as an extra piece of luggage on the way home. There are so many options with a small stuff-able bag.

Other practical things can be clothing items you might need where you leave from but where you are going. For instance, my husband and I recently flew to Boston in the winter. The weather was far more snowy and cold than where we came from. So, our carryon had a lot of warm weather gear to prepare us for that.

Also in my practical list are a credit card and cell phone that will work wherever you are going.

And, lastly, there are the travel basic go-tos. Things like lip balm, hand lotion, and an eye mask.

How to Make It Happen: These ones are can fairly easy to make happen and most aren’t very expensive either!

One of my favorite tricks to do is wear a over-sized scarf that can double as a small blanket. Grab one that is a bit fuzzy and snuggle up! I found this one from Vermont Knitting Company on Etsy* and think it looks super duper snuggly. (P.S. this is not me, nor a friend of mine, but rather the picture they used to highlight the product on their page.)

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I personally use Google Fi. I signed up for it a few years ago and really haven’t looked back. Their mediocre coverage in some of the more rural parts of the United States is more than made up for by their massive world-wide coverage. Their plans start at $20 a month and go up to $70 a month for unlimited data. They have made the biggest difference in my international travel than almost anything.

Chase Sapphire Preferred _^(referral) Travel Credit Card
Just like having a cell phone plan that you know will work abroad is important, so is having a credit card that will. This card includes all sorts of fun bonuses, both in terms of usability but also points and how to use points. Even if you just get it for a year for the sign on bonus points it can be worth it.

The Gadgets

One big response that I got to my question about what the most important travel essential is was portable charger and headphones. I can’t say it’s really surprising that it came up a lot because they really can be lifesavers in travel. I personally would put both of these on my personal travel essential list for a few reasons.

Portable chargers are great especially when you are navigating between airports with different charging ports. It’s also a great option right now during COVID to reduce your common touch points. When you get on a long flight a good pair of headphones do two things: cancel the noise out to help you sleep and cancel other people out so you can watch something on the TV (or just enjoy the quiet to read a book!) Headphone bonus points for me: Sometimes on the ship my husband works slightly odd shifts. The noise cancelling head phones let me watch something on TV without interrupting his sleep.

I also received this emphatic response from a very frequent traveler: “DJI Osmo Pocket. Single best thing I’ve bought in AGES! Best way of capturing everything.” Which, after a bit of a research is a GoPro type camera (continuous recording), but with some more movie-ish qualities and is not advertised to be so rugged to survive an avalanche. I am taking this recommendation to not mean singly the DJI Osmo Pocket (as it might not suit everyones needs) but instead to mean a camera or way to capture your trip that fits your needs best.

How To Make It Happen: These gadgets and gizmos are largely based on what your personal needs are as well as your budget.

Everyone’s “Most Important Travel Essential” Is Different

When I asked this question I didn’t expect to get quite the range of answers that I did. I am very grateful that I did though because reading about everyone’s experiences really highlighted to me how travel is such a different experience for each individual. Not only is what someone wants in travel different from person to person, so is what is essential to them.

What’s your most important travel essential?