Sharing is caring!

Top 5 travel accessories that you should take when backpacking or traveling in general

I’ve travelled a little bit over the past five years. Not as much as some but more than others. And I’m still on the wanderlust trail. At one glorious point in my working life I was employed by an international horse transport company. This quirky job allowed me some fairly interesting ‘work based’ trips around Australasia and has given me some unique access to areas behind airports that you need a secret squirrel pass to get into and more importantly out of. It really doesn’t matter if you find me on a train, plane or asleep in the car, if you rifle through my bag you will always find these 5 I- can’t-travel-without accessories. I loosely calls these travel accessories as these aren’t necessarily branded as “travel” items. Which leaves you with the added bonus that you aren’t charged a premium price for these feel good items. They are easy to find and won’t break your budget.

Just saying, it’s ok for you to look. I don’t mind if you want to go through my bag. We’re friends right?

1. Lip balm

   This is my numero uno item. Notice that I’ve said lip-balm and not lip gloss. I want luscious lip hydration, not sickely sweet goey stuck on my shoes lips. For ease of use I prefer a tube or roll style and not a teeny tiny pot. They make Most lip balms and pawpaw tubes are less then 15ml so are easily transported around and through airports.

   As travelers we spend a lot of time in unusual environmental situations. There is nothing natural about being in a compressed, air conditioned flying tank 40,000 ft above the Earth. Then the is the hours spent walking around enjoying life. For these reasons I tend to choose a product that has an SPF rating. Burnt, cracked and dried lips don’t look great in your happy snaps.

2. Sturdy, re-usable cup. My personal preference is the Australia designed and made KeepCup. I still have my first KeepCup that I bought before our annual Easter Road Trip in 2010. Nearly fours years later and we’ve traveled to Singapore, Europe and New Zealand together, as well as being my every day morning coffee cup. The KeepCup is a barista friendly size cup. Easy to clean and it doesn’t absorb flavors. With a nifty secure lid it’s perfect for grabbing a latte on the go and keeping your beverage warm while waiting. Every traveler has to wait at some point during the journey. Our little cups also saved us quite a few Euros around Europe. Many cafes gave us a discount for BYO and we didn’t have to hire a cup at an Oktoberfest campsite we stayed at
   Not only is it stylish it also holds my lipbalm, travel sickness pills and a sneaky KitKat when not full of caffeine goodness.
   

   A good coffee can fix the worse weather ~Munich

3. Sunglasses- Stylish and functional. Not only can these protect your valuable eyes from harmful sunrays but they act as a mirror for lipbalm application. And no one needs to know that you are asleep.
4. Travel sickness pills- natural remedy
   As a child I traveled around the state of Victoria, with my head buried in a book. As a young adult I drove myself everywhere. Now I suffer from motion sickness. Severe motion sickness. Head between knees wanting to cry. If I get to this point I can pretty much write off an entire day for recovery. Such a waste of a day. So now I always make sure that I carry a basic, natural style packet of travel sickness pills. These ones are my preferred, costing under $5 a pack. These littles ones don’t knock me off my feet and just calm the nausea right down. Still leaving me a functional, fun loving traveler.
5. Kit kat.
   Yes this is the most ridiculous item on the list. And the most tasty. And helpful. No one wants to be on an adventure, stuck in waiting for the next bus/train/plain/pigeon to arrive, with the Hangry Monster. A small snack can be an utter life saver, in the non-emergency way, whilst on the move. I can usually get a candy bar for under $1 at a supermarket, convenience store. Meaning I don’t have to pay the $4+ airline price for a snack.
   

   Keeping away the Hangry Monster

Here are my top 5 things that you most likely definitely don’t need to pack when you’re on an adventure.

1. Commercial size, strength hair dryer. There are other easier ways to get great hair on the road.
2. Large bottles of shampoo/conditioner. Yes you may be going away for a fantastically long time but you don’t want to by traveling with big bottles. Bigger bottles mean bigger potential for spillage. Two large size bottles of shampoo/conditioner can add an extra 600g to your weight limit. Doesn’t sound like much but have you weigh your undies lately? Quite a few clean pairs for 600g! Any way most places you can buy good quality products at a reasonable price. Just remember to pick up any toiletries in big cities. You’ll pay a lot less then.
3. The entire set of Twilight books (hint you’ll find most of these in the abandoned/freebie book area at most hostel if you really want to relive the love). Unless your setting out for a jungle adventure you really won’t need more than one book. Maybe take two if you’re a super fast reader, and on a long haul flight. Otherwise use the swapsie system in the hostel. Hint- I usually take a Sudoku book. You can get these in super cute mini books. They also make you feel and look slightly more intelligent.
4. Zip off cargo pants. Just take shorts and jeans. Any time I see these I almost see a red flag screaming TOURIST TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME.
5. Leave your bad attitude at home. If you’re having a bad day don’t make someone else’s day miserable.

This list is in no way shape or form extensive. It’s a sneak peak into the silly things that we take along to help keep ourselves comfortable and sane. At no point have we received any payments or products for items mentioned above.