Our Favorite Travel Gear to Make Travel Easy
Travel, especially with a family, can feel trying. Making sure everything is packed, and everyone has everything, and nothing is forgotten is a massive chore in itself that requires a whole other vacation to recover from. Over the years, and with a lot of travel experience, we've found a few essential items that make the prep for travel a lot easier. Everything on this list we've used over multiple trips, for multiple years. We stand by these items (and travel hacks) and hope they make your next trip a little easier.
Eddie Bauer Stowaway Backpack
I've shared this backpack in other lists as well and I cannot sing its praises enough. It folds down into itself into the tiny pouch you see next to the pack above. We've added bungee cord to the front of ours but this Eddie Bauer Stowaway Backpack is ALWAYS with us when we travel no matter if its a camping trip, weekend adventure, or flight.
The Everything Power Cord
Let's face it, there are never enough outlets, or outlets where you need them or charging blocks available when you travel. What we call The Everything Power Cord goes with us on every trip. It wraps up on itself, has two traditional USB ports and one USB C port, AND two regular power outlets. This bad boy is also cruise approved. 10/10, buy one.
Packing Cubes
Packing cubes were REALLY popular a few years ago, but I'm here to say they're legit. We have several sets of these exact packing cubes and we've used them for 4 years. They keep everything organized and make packing super simple.
Our daughter has used them since she was 8 and can pack all her own stuff. She lays everything out on her bed, we go through and make sure she's not missing anything and then she packs up her cubes.
Portable Power Bank Charger with Built in Cables
We have two of these and we LOVE them. This backup battery charger has all the cords built in so its a grab and go situation. If we know we're going to be out all day, this portable power bank charger gets tossed into our Eddie Bauer Stowaway Backpack for the day. I think every family member of ours has bought one after using ours. They're great and we can usually get two or three phone charges off of one full battery.
Refillable Hand Sanitizer Bottles
We picked these up during pandemic travel days and have kept using them. These refillable hand sanitizer bottles hang on each of our backpacks and are a cheaper and easier solution than buying a tiny bottle a having to dig it out of a bag every time. Highly recommend, especially if you're doing travel where hand washing stations are limited.
16 Pack Travel Size Toiletries Kits
Buy this now. Don't wait. It's awesome. Over the years I've gone through many variations of travel toiletry kits and this one is my favorite. There's a container for literally everything and it makes packing SO easy, because I just grab it and know everything is there. Pro tip, refill after a trip and before you put it away so it's always ready to go.
3 Pack Canvas Bags
Ok, hear me out. The true key to easy packing and unpacking is keeping things organized. We have at least half a dozen of these canvas bags. They're great for holding all the things, think: all the chargers, snacks for the plane, carry on meds and toiletries. Put like items in each bag to make packing a lot more simple.
Backup Battery for Apple Watch
We keep this around durning every trip. If you're tracking your hike through the mountains or your long walks through Rome you're going to run down that Apple Watch battery. This little backup means you don't have to carry a charger or find an outlet.
First Aid Kit
Let's face it, airport prices for a bandaid rival hospital prices. Having a first aid kit on hand means you're prepared for everything and don't need to spend precious vacation time at the drug store.
Silicone Luggage Tags
No more filling out those paper luggage tags at the airport baggage check. These luggage tags have gone on several trips with us and have held up to all the madness of travel.
Travel Pill Organizer
You can certainly use these organizers for vitamins, but our's is filled with common medicine. We have Advil, Tylenol, Pepto, Zyrtec, and more in here. Makes things a lot easier and you never have to go buy things on the fly (or pay airport prices for one Advil).
And that's it friends, these are our favorite 12 travel gear items. We've used each one for years and it's made packing, travel, and unpacking so much easier.
Cheers to more adventures.