Whether you travel by plane, car, boat, or wagon, there are just some things you can't imagine traveling without. Aside from your typical things – wallet, phone, other purse and day-to-day items – there are things you just need to make it through a journey 30,000 miles in the air, or 3,000 miles across the country.
In light of Lo’s upcoming cross-country adventure, we thought what better time than to share with you some of our travel necessities. We want to share with you things that, for us, can make-or-break our adventure.
In the interest of a lack of redundancy, we are not going to go into detail about our normal purse items. If you are interested in seeing in detail what we keep in our purses, we did a whole post on that previously - click here if you want to check that out! Also, we realize that, like most women, our purses are constantly changing and items rotating, so let us know if you are interested in an updated What's In Our Purses post!
Mal's Travel Necessities
While we do our fair share of road trips, Travis and I tend to adventure by plane. I grew up flying solo, from the ripe age of probably 10 or so, as well as traveling with my mom all the time, so I have mastered the art of packing a carry-on!
Aside from snacks which vary depending on when our flights are, and the $17328973 bottle of water we sometimes have to buy past security, I want to share with you what I just cannot travel without on a plane!
The Bag
Typically I carry a tote-style purse, and especially when I travel! This way, I can still bring a full carry-on suitcase if I need to, and have a large enough bag to pack whatever I need handy. Recently, I took a plunge and became a first-time Louis Vuitton owner, and I am in LOVE. I will be doing another post in the near future about that experience! I bought the Neverfull MM, Damier Ebene and it is PERFECT as a purse/carry-on for me. So naturally, I have my other purse items tossed in here as well. As we mentioned above, we did a whole blog post sharing what is in our purses and linked it above if you are interested!
Makeup & Brushes
Yes - I carry my makeup with me. I never check it with my luggage. I have had too many instances in the past where my luggage is lost and I do not want to be without my makeup! Plus, any of you makeup addicts out there know that it is a legitimate investment! I don't want to lose that much of value!
TSA-Approved Liquids Bag
If you do any flying, you know that you have to have your small liquids in a quart-sized baggie to go through security. I have the cutest little "On The Fly" bag from Sephora that is TSA-approved. I typically carry my travel perfume, lotion, and liquid makeup (such as lipsticks, concealer, etc.) in here.
Sunnies
This may seem obvious, but I mean a good ole pair of big sunnies to cover your tired eyes, and to block out the sun that sometimes kills you if fellow passengers won't close their windows. I have a few pairs of Quay sunglasses and they are PERFECT for just this.
Jewelry
Again with the value thing, I just don't ever want to pack my jewelry for fear that my luggage will be lost, or worse - someone will steal it from my suitcase during a TSA check (yes, this has happened to a few people I know! Scary!) So I always tote my jewelry with me in my carry-on. I use this adorable little case that was my moms - its a travel, zippered pill box that keeps things from getting lost and tangled!
iPad & Headphones
I literally canNOT travel without my iPad and some headphones. Guys, like I need music and movies to survive. Truly!
I have an iPad mini 4, gold (128gb) and I adore it; It is the perfect size for me. And my Kate Spade case is perfect for traveling and watching movies - it has a little picture frame arm so I can prop it up on the tray table and relax! In terms of movies, I usually change it up, but always keep some silly movies I love and have usually seen 100 times.
My headphones are actually a new addition to my arsenal of travel gear and I am super stoked on them! They are the Beats Solo 2 (wireless, but can be wired - which is a big deal for me, I hate wireless headphones, the idea of having to charge headphones makes me cringe). They have incredible sound and are really great at noise cancelling - perfect for a loud airplane!
Charging Port and Cables
Between my phone, my iPad, (and my headphones if I venture on my wild side and take the wire off), I use a lot of juice traveling. So I always take my husband's external charger with me (thanks, Trav!) This way I don't have to worry about a dead phone stranded in an airport or a dead iPad and boredom on a plane!
A Good Book
I do like to always travel with a book, because I do get tired of movies and music sometimes, and a good book is a great way to make my eyes tired if I want to take a nap! And ever since my mom passed away this past year, I have used her memorial card as my bookmark so it is kind of like she is traveling with me.
Swimsuit
Again with the lost luggage thing - if any of you have ever been on a trip somewhere with water, and your luggage is lost, it is the worst feeling not being able to enjoy your vacation with no swimsuit. So lesson learned for me - if I am going somewhere where there is water involved, I always pack a swimsuit, so if anything happens to my luggage, I can still have fun!
Passport
Obviously if you are traveling internationally, you will need your passport. I keep mine in this adorable handmade case from Lucse on Etsy!
Lo's Travel Necessities
Cody and I do most of our adventuring via road trips, mostly
because we do a lot of off-roading and love to incorporate camping into our
trips whenever possible. And as you may well know, we are doing a le tour de
America pretty soon, in which we will off-road and camp our way across the good
ol’ US of A from New Hampshire to California, baby! What better time to get
your brain cooking on travel bag essentials, especially of the road trip
variety!
The Tote
I am of the wholehearted belief, that a good tote can make a
world of difference in your day to day life. And this guy is my game changer. I
use it for day-to-day travel, to and from my office (carrying all the things:
computer, headset, workout clothes, shoes, makeup, etc) and for road trips and
beyond! And it gets the job done, incomparably. Cody bought this Alex and Ani Mermaid Sail Bag for me as
a birthday present last year and I couldn’t love it anymore! Even an ounce
more, it’s just that good. Handcrafted from recycled sailboat sails off of the
coast of Maine, each bag is entirely unique and the signs of age and hard
sailing vary from bag to bag, which is pretty damn rad, if you ask me. I
thought it entirely appropriate coming from my sailor. And that beautiful mermaid print, which if you haven’t guessed already, I am obsessed
with mermaids and more than that for sentimental purposes, my husband calls me
his mermaid and he’s my sailor, so it hits home in all the right ways. But sap
aside, this tote is an incredible one, not only for its aesthetic beauty but
for its functionality as well. It is a sturdy and solid piece (as it is made
from quality retired sails) and the rope (which is also recycled), as a handle
is brilliant because it’s thick and stable, allowing you to carry a fairly decent
amount of weight. This is just perfect for me, as I said before, I carry this to and from work every
day, with practically my whole life packed inside of it and it never fails to do a killer job. If you are interested in
these bags, it does appear the mermaid bag is no longer being sold but it does look like they have a few others on the website.
Makeup and Hair Products
Gotta look fresh to death, y’all. There’s no way in this
whole wide world I could have said that straight-faced, even with all the seriousness
I could muster. But for real, keeping this in my tote, rather than having to
rumble through my luggage, mostly just seems more convenient and on long road
trips and camping, you’re mostly just touching up quickly in the car anyway,
keeping the maintenance pretty low and the products easily accessible.
Jewelry
For accessibility and readiness, I have found it easiest to
keep a small bag of your everyday/go-to jewelry in your tote or purse on trips.
Mostly because like the makeup, it is much simpler and quicker to grab right
out of your tote and throw on and it is safer than leaving it in luggage, which
can be left unattended more often that a purse or tote would.
Technology
The gadget gallery! Firstly, there’s the iPad, which I have the iPad Air 64 GB.
This is a must have on our road trips, as it is data enabled and because we do
a lot of off-roading, we use it with specific softwares, as our primary GPS
system. While it’s most common function on the road is for mapping, we also
like to use this to stream Netflix or HBO, especially if you want to change it
up and have something aside from music (of course, the passenger would be the
only one watching, we be safe, y’all). Next up is the iPod touch, he’s an oldie but goodie.
Road trips are never complete without a good road trip playlist and in this
case, we will have quite a few playlists to choose from because is there ever
enough music for a 3,000 mile voyage? Probably not. You have to change up the
genre and style and depending on the length of your trip, variation is a
b.l.e.s.s.i.n.g. And then there’s the portable
charger, because as you can see, if you squint your eyes real hard, my iPad
in the picture is on 2% battery and if that is any indication of my inability to
keep things with a decent charge, well there ya go! What can I say, I am rebel,
dudes. Thankfully, there are also car chargers too, what would I do without
these sweet, sweet conveniences. Last but certainly not least, the GoPro! This
is a newly acquired device in our arsenal, we have the
GoPro HERO3+. If you know anything about me, it’s that I like to document. It
all! I love having photos to look back on and am a big fan of the home videos,
see our first trip to Cape Cod, Uwharrie National Forest, and our day
trip to the Outer Banks (where dreams
are born).
Workout Journal
This workout journal contains my daily routine and a layout
of all of my exercises, which makes it easy to do just about anywhere. So I take
this with me wherever I am traveling, there’ll be more on my fitness routine
later.
Sunnies
Because what would a proper road trip be without your
favorite pair of sunglasses. I have the Ray
Ban Polarized Aviators and I am telling you (as my Grammy says and finger
pointing to boot), that polarization makes a world of difference. Especially on
those road trips, when the sun hits the horizon at just the right time of the
day and no less, just in the direction you are going, the polarization really does help block out some of that glare.
And that about wraps it up, folks! Hope you enjoyed
exploring the contents of our travel totes, whether by plane or vehicle, it’s
crazy how even the mode of transportation can affect what you deem necessary
for travelling. Let us know what your must-haves are and what you just can’t travel without.
Until next time, pals!
xoxo, totes yours!
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