I love to travel as much as possible, and I love my creature comforts. Sometimes these two things don’t go hand in hand and so I have 5 must have travel items that go on every trip with me. Living out of a backpack is one of the most thrilling and irritating experiences for me. On the one hand, when I have a backpack rather than a suitcase, it usually means I’m in a fantastic destination and moving around frequently, seeing the world. On the other hand, it means that I’m not close to a washing machine, I can’t watch Hollyoaks and I never know if I’m going to have enough charge in my phone.
With this in mind I have 5 must have travel items that I can’t live without.
Anker Power Bank
You know that feeling when you’re taking a photo of the beautiful sunset, or a video of your favourite band at a music festival, and all of a sudden your phone battery dies? No more! Since losing battery (and all my mates) at Glastonbury a few years ago I have invested in a power pack. It charges my iPhone SE around 5 times to full charge and means I’m never without battery. I have the Anker PowerCore 20100 at £30.99 and it’s paid for itself time and time and time again. I rarely leave home without it now!
Travel Pillow
After a couple of bad car accidents, I now get neck ache at the most inappropriate times. Usually on an aeroplane, in cars and after a nights sleep in an uncomfortable bed. I bought the TravelRest, ultimate travel pillow at £18.95. I read hundreds of reviews of numerous pillows before my Thailand trip in 2016, and I’m so glad I went for this. It’s super compact, provides full lateral support to the upper body and inflates and deflates in seconds. You can use it literally anywhere. I used it on bus rides through Bangkok, on the overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai and on the two flights I took to get me there! It is so inexpensive and worth it’s weight in gold.
Camera
I. Take. Photos. Of. Everything!
From the food I am eating to the sights I am seeing, I want to capture and remember it all. I use the Nikon Coolpix AW130 at £299. I chose this because it’s a 16MP camera with HD video recording. It’s waterproof to 30 metres and can stand both extremely hot and cold temperatures. It also has built in WiFi so I can transfer the photos straight to my phone, so even if I did lose the camera I wouldn’t lose the hundreds of pictures I take! It’s also bright orange so I hope it’s harder to lose! I absolutely love this camera. It also comes with a floating wrist strap so that if you drop it while snorkelling or diving, it will float to the top and you won’t drop it, never to be seen again! There is also a newer version of this camera available here and seems pretty much the same.
Good Earplugs
Sleeping in multi bed dorms in hostels, the one thing you need to be able to do is sleep! These HUSH silicone earplugs at £3.24 for 7 pairs are a godsend! They are so squidgy that you can mould them to your ears and they block out almost all the noise for me, enabling me to wake up refreshed the next day. I use each pair for about a week before I need to change them.
Eye Mask
My padded eye mask from Amazon was £12.99. OK so it may seem a little expensive when compared to the Poundland equivalent but honestly they are worlds apart. This mask is padded so that it sits comfortably and blocks out 100% of light. Remember what I said about sleeping in dorms? There is always someone coming in at the crack of dawn and turning on lights. With this eye mask it blocks out each bit of light, making it perfectly possible to stay asleep wherever you are!
One last thing…
Head Torch
OK I know I only said 5 things… but I like to be prepared for every eventuality and so I like to pack my LED Head torch at £5.99. Its been useful trying to find the toilets in the dark at both Glastonbury and on an elephant sanctury in Thailand and I am sure it will be handy in Vietnam at some point. There’s nothing worse than being in the dark in an unfamiliar place and with this handy gadget you also have both hands spare to pee!
So these are my 5 must have travel essentials. They will make you more comfortable, more relaxed and take the stress out of things we take for granted usually. You will sleep better and be more refreshed for the day ahead, you will still be able to use your phone, and best of all you will have picture perfect memories to last a lifetime!
What are your 5 must have items?
Happy travels xx
