11 Essential Travel Items You Need to Own
Looking for essential travel items to buy for your next trip? You’ve come to the right place! This post includes a perfect travel essentials list to take on your travels, no matter if it’s domestic or international. Moreover, they double as carry-on essentials if you plan on taking a small suitcase or a backpack.
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Travel toiletry bottles
It’s not news that you have limits on luggage, therefore bringing a whole bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and face cleaner not only increases your weight but also takes up space in your bag. The best solution for those in the small toiletry bottles and the best thing about them is that you can place them in your carry on bag and no one will say anything.
Read: Best Carry-on Backpaack: Osprey Farpoint 55 review
Travel toiletry bag
I like having everything organized in my bag, so I don’t go all ballistic on it to find a small bottle of a face cleanser. Therefore, having a toiletry bag is one of my essential travel items. I like the ones that have a hook to hang it in a bathroom and have everything easily accessible. In such a travel toiletry bag, I can fit almost everything I need, such as razor, q-tips, band-aids, toothbrush and toothpaste, medicine, etc.
Microfiber towel
Microfiber towels are my carry on essentials for a long time now. They don’t take too much space in my backpack, dries fast, and is super lightweight!
Packing cubes
Packing cubes are an ideal invention for bulky clothes, saving the space in the backpack or suitcase, and easy access. Packing cubes come in different sizes, shapes, and colors. There are plenty of sellers who sell sets of those cubes and some even come with laundry and toiletry bags, so here’re some of the best ones:
Travel headphones
Quite recently I got hooked on listening to audiobooks and Skullcandy Hesh 2 Wireless headphones have become my go-to essential travel items on my long trips by bus, train, or airplane. I know it seems bulky and it is, but it reduces the outside noise, has excellent sound, is wireless, and the battery lasts very long!
Pillow
Neck pillows are one of the best travel accessories anyone should have, especially during a long flight or road trip. It’s pretty much self-explanatory, and if you don’t have one, get it as soon as possible. One thing to consider when buying a travel pillow is its type: you want the one that compresses and is inflatable or the one that’s sturdier.
Sleeping eye mask
I use a sleeping eye mask not only when I travel but on a daily basis as well. I have had so many of them I can’t keep the track.
Passport wallet
I got one of such passport wallets when I planed my 213DaysinAsia trip. Those wallets have lots of space where you can store all your travel documents in one place. The size of it perfectly fits the boarding pass, vaccination documents, passports, money, credit cards, etc. It’s a bit bulky to use as an everyday wallet during your travels, but it makes one of the great essential travel items to hide all the valuables in the inside pockets of your travel backpack.
Foldable backpack
Foldable backpacks are a new addition to my travel accessories. I used them for grocery shopping when I travel and sometimes as a day pack when wandering through the cities. I have Quechua foldable backpacks with a volume of 10L that can fit a couple of things perfectly. Plus they are so tiny you can even carry in your pockets.
Power bank
Portable charges are one of the many essential travel items we all need to have. The power bank is a savior when traveling as we tend to take lots of pictures or videos and use maps to navigate through a foreign city. All this uses a lot of our phone’s battery. It’s an investment to get a good portable charger, but it will last you for a long time.
Water bottle
Staying hydrated when we travel is very important for our body. Constantly buying a bottle of water when we travel does have impact on our wallet as well as on the environment. Therefore, invest in a reusable or collapsible water bottle to take everywhere you go. They are quite handy and doesn’t take much space either
Want more inspiration?
I travel with similar things except a neck pillow! A microtowel and eye mask are musts, as are ear plugs. Thanks for sharing!
I really need to get some of the packing bags to organise my case better, I think I might ask Santa to bring me some of those.
Good list of items needed. My favorite is the packing bags, love them!
You’ve unearthed some new products for me to try. The ultra-compact backpack looks very handy as do those packing bags. I’m already a huge fan of packing cubes so I guess that’s my next step!
That’s a good list, I am using a few of these myself – I can’t believe I used to bring whole bottles of shampoo and shower gel on my trips before… I am so glad I found these small bottles! The passport wallet is really cool, I should get myself one!
All of these can make travel so much easier – especially the headphones and sleeping masks!
I like the look of the travel toiletry bag. The hook is such a good idea.
I use some from the list so far and I think I want to check the packing bag.
Nice list! I’m already using some of the items from the list. I like the Skullcandy headphones and the passport holder. I’ll add them to my travel packing list. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
nice list–I really need to invest in a decent pair of headphones!
I keep everything organized when I travel, so I know exactly where to find what when I need them. It helps to keep me relaxed and enjoy the vacation more! I need that foldable backpack!