I have this awful affliction, the need to carry my life in my handbag. Day to day this is doable, although I often get the question ‘What have you got in there? A dead body?’ but when travelling I struggle to minimise what I carry to match the weight requirements. If you’re like me, then this post might help you cut down to the minimum while travelling. By no means is this the gospel for travelling handbags, I'm still learning but if like me, nosy, then peek away.
Firstly, my priority on a flight or bus journey is to avoid boredom so pastimes are a must. A good book (or three, as I tend to go a bit overboard in WHsmiths in duty-free) helps pass the time. My go to is a travel book to add some more fuel to my wanderlust - currently reading Revolutionary Ride, Lois Pryce.
Second is a good playlist, click here to find my chop&change travel playlist. In the unlucky, but unavoidable, event when my phone is low on battery then I always carry a backup iPod with me. Downfall? I usually forget to update my iPod so end up listening to music from the last journey that I did remember to update it!
Now as much as I'm sure we’d all love to go on holiday without electronics and wires galore it’s pretty much unavoidable in 2017, everything has wires or everything needs electric. So, let’s talk about electronics.
Click here, to find out about that little white Tile. It’s revolutionary, has settled my mind so much while travelling - especially when travelling in big cities and busy places. You’ll see it make its way into all of my flat lays and travel photos, and if you don’t then remind me to clip it on!
I feel that with eternally, and frustratingly, low power on my iPhone a battery pack is an essential. There are many you can get, and if you’re travelling as a couple or family, the larger ones are better as they hold more than one charge, however, as I usually travel solo I carry my tiny, practical and light, Charge Card. It holds one charge and is great for those times of absolute emergency when I'm on 5%. However, don’t forget to charge it!
Another electronic essential is an adaptor and a phone charger because it’s better to charge the phone than it uses the charge card within the first half of the journey. Yes I know, I'm being drastic now but you can never be too prepared, my phone is an extension of my right hand, where would I be without it?
Headphones. Now my relationship with headphones is love-hate, my ears are abnormally small so most headphones don’t fit, and I end up wedging headphone bits in my ears to make them stay and not fall out, earache? Yes. I also tend to lose every pair of headphones I travel with and it drives me insane, one second there attached and in my ears, the next they’re gone… so my solution? Travel with cheap, crappy headphones that will last me the trip (if I don’t lose them) and can be lost without a tiny piece of my heart breaking off.
Makeup. I’m pretty anti-makeup. I’m a firm believer in the idea of giving your skin a break on holiday, and especially on a plane so I very rarely wear makeup while travelling, and if I do it’s a light foundation-moisturiser mix to give me a fresh face and keep my skin hydrated in the air while being drowned in recirculated plane air. However, I will always carry a few essential bits of makeup which for me are, primer, foundation, bronzer/blusher, eyeliner, mascara and highlighter just in case. You can never be too sure and on the journey home, sometimes, it’s nice to do your makeup on the last leg of the flight to look fresh and polished for meeting family and friends at the airport.
Jewellery is a must (for me), I usually wear it but when travelling, put it on once I'm on the plane as I wear a lot and end up having to tirelessly take it off and put it on while going through the security. Therefore, it’s easier to keep it in my bag. No, not hold luggage as if I lost it, I'd be lost - each ring and the bangle holds a meaning or reminds me off a memory.
A scarf and sunglasses are the easy carry-ons to prepare for whatever weather is awaiting me at landing. Cold? I can throw a light scarf around my shoulders and make it to the hotel/apartment in style while also smug as I was prepared for every eventuality. Sunny? Sunglasses on jacket off and I've arriving prepared, in style and again, smug. Cold and sunny? I have a use for both! I can now give myself a pat on the back for preparedness.
Finally in this article, the obvious. A travel wallet and spare cash, in modern day Britain you can make it anywhere without cash as it’s pretty much card based now. I often forget this on arriving at new destinations as we take the ease for granted. So I always carry with me some spare cash, in the right currency, and some GBP in case I need to exchange any money. This is great for grabbing a snack in the airport, paying for food on board the flight, catching a taxi at point of arrival, extra and unforeseen expenses and any irresistible purchases in duty-free.
A travel wallet? Get one, stop cramming all those oversized boarding passes, passports, travel cash cards, health insurance cards, and id’s or licences into that regular day to day purse. A travel wallet changed the way I experience travel, it satisfied my need for hyper organisation, stopped me from losing boarding passes or frantically digging in my bag for my passport at border control and all the different compartments allow you to separate home money, holiday money, flight passes and insurance documents. I know they’re expensive but once you’ve shelled out the money once it’s worth it a little bit more with every trip you take - more incentive to travel? Yes, please.
Thanks for reading & I hope you all enjoyed. Sorry for the day delay and hopefully I'll have something coming Monday!
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