Useful travel items that make short and long haul holidays easier

[Missohnoyoubetterdont]

Does anyone have any tips for really useful things to take away with them when travelling. It’s just a short haul trip bit long haul too? Things that have made life easier. I have just discovered packing cubes…but late to the game but have really organised my suitcase!

An N95 mask for the flight out and back, to avoid catching any viruses on the flight. Air quality on planes is terrible. You never know if your neighbour might be harbouring a nasty virus or even knowingly traveling while infectious. Don't ruin your trip with sickness.

You need to get a body puff (net sponge thingy) if you need a bottle of shower gel each as that is just ridiculous. You’ll use an awful lot less then. Even with two showers twice a day for four people for a week, one 250ml bottle is more than enough. In fact we still brought nearly half a bottle home.

The problem is more that we are three people with very different skin, DH can use whatever is the cheapest on offer while I would scratch my skin off.

DD has sensory issues and can't use my cream ones, she needs gel.

The body puffs are a breeding ground for bacteria and mould unless you dry them properly each day and for that I don't have the time and patience.

I am notorious for buying mugs on holiday.

Fold up travel mirror ... often mirrors are on the wrong place to do makeup/hair.

I never buy toiletries on site. I have really sensitive skin so can't risk it. I also find a tiny pot of Sudocrem is a must.

I do because
A) I buy my shampoo in litre bottles and won’t change to a rubbish shampoo just for a small bottle

B) I prefer to travel light, I don’t take stuff for the sake of it because I have a luggage limit.

A small-ish Tupperware box of basic meds/supplies (plasters, Calpol, paracetamol, allergy meds, antiseptic cream). I know that everyone probably does that but it's saved us so many times when on holiday with young kids, especially the Piriton!

I sometimes build up a stash of the little ketchup/sauce packets you get if we've been eating out so we can take those with us if in self-catering rather than buying a whole bottle of something we won't use much while we're away, e.g. salad cream or mayo.

If you do the kind of trips where you stay in seven different places in two weeks then it makes keeping your bag organized so much easier. I agree I probably wouldn't be that fussed if I was staying in one place for the duration and so unpacked my bag properly on arrival.

Tiny torch - really useful if you're the sort of person who wakes in the night and can't find light switches in strange rooms! Especially since the nearest power point for your phone may be on the other side of the room...
I also tend to take a corkscrew if I'm travelling with a hold bag or on Eurostar (I've had it taken off me when flying).
Small notebook and pen.

Photocopies of tickets/boarding cards, insurance documents, passport, hotel booking info including their address. So, if your phone gets lost, runs out of charge or you can't get a signal, you'll be absolutely fine.

I have just bought a tiny zip up jewellery box to house my rings and earrings in. Stops delicate studs getting bashed about at the bottom of my toiletry bag!

Wet wipes
Travel wash - use for swimwear
Fold up hangers
Packing cubes - brilliant if you're on a multi stop holiday
Power bank but do not put it in your hold luggage
Alexa
Firestick
Small cafetiere - if self catering and there's no coffee machine (or you don't want to pay for pods) this is great
Hammam towel

I have these. They are expensive so took me a long time to actually buy them but I was fed up of others breaking zips and getting holes even though they hadn’t been used much. These are super sturdy, really well made. Cuib packing cubes

Last holiday (2 weeks worth of clothes, and train travel to port), we used packing cubes for DS‘ clothes, which we split between DH and I. It meant that DS was in charge of a suitcase small enough to actually manage on his own, but we could find his stuff easily enough when unpacking the giant cases.

I‘ve also used them if it’s useful to keep certain items together. DS‘ sports stuff if he’s going on a sports camp, for example.

Otherwise I just roll my stuff and put it in the suitcase.

We took a paddling pool on our villa holiday, it was great for the baby to play in. Could be used as a bath if there isn't one.

What's a towel clip / band for?

Holding a beach/pool towel onto a sunbed so it doesn't blow away or fall off.

Ohh do you have a shampoo bar for curly hair you would recommend?

For longer trips:

• compression packing cubes for the kids. One cube per location.
• emergency medical kit
• backpack with two drink holders
• champagne stopper
• large ziplock bags for storing snacks
• print outs of all bookings just in case
• foldable wide brim hat

Lots of things people have already said.
Travel list so we don't forget anything, ticked off when packed.
Eye mask, I like it really dark, Timex indiglow watch for sleeping in case I wake up and don't remember where the light switch is.
My own pillowcases
I use contact lens pots for creams when going on short breaks.

If self catering a decent spatula, if we have the car too many things to mention.

A small sewing kit - the sort some hotels give customers - is useful if you lose a button, etc.

I also have some ziplock bags and bags clips. Put bottles of liquid in ziplock bags then if anything leaks it doesn't go everywhere.

Definitely a sewing kit-sterilised needle once came in handy for lancing a whitlow. The travel bottle of Wype toilet lotion. Its basically aloe Vera, so useful for that, but if you get holiday tum cools everything down.

A bit random, but I usually pack:

• a laundry mesh bag - zero volume/weight and great to separate clean from dirty clothes when you fly back
• a bar of soap (we do use soap bars at home -vs showergels- and it's just so more practical when travelling: no risk of spilling, less weight etc. However, I always research what's available in the hotel room/B&B. If soap/shampoo is provided I don't bring it
• a couple of ziplock bags (to get a wet swimming costume back, to put a rock collection, for a bottle of something that is leaking....you never know), an empty lunch/snackbox

In my bag I keep:

• a small pouch with paracetamol and antihistamine tablets, tissues, wet wipes, lipbalm, one tampon, travel toothbrush/toothpaste, one or two plasters
• an empty reusable bottle (I fill it at the airport)
• some emergency small snacks
• a book and my kindle in a book sleeve
• a pen a a small notepad
• airpods
• a charger, with plug and adaptor
• my son's emergency medications (he needs to bring Epipens and inhaler, but I add a couple of sachets of Calpol and Nurofen. Lately I switched to fastmelts as so mess free and portable)

If you're going to Spain definitely take meds, including antihistamines, with you. You can't get antihistamines without a prescription there.

A couple of times in EU countries (post Brexit too) we've found pharmacists were prepared to sell meds to us on the basis they showed as prescribed medicines on the NHS app when we had forgotten things.

I once forgot a “souvenir” corkscrew I’d bought on holiday and had left in the bottom of my backpack (would’ve been fine in the hold luggage), even though I’d gone through it before we left for the airport to make sure there was nothing in there that shouldn’t be, but somehow missed that 🤦🏻‍♀️ so that was taken off me at security. Would’ve been fine had it been ferry/le shuttle. My oh has a penknife with corkscrew etc on his keyring, which is also fine for anything other than air travel, and is very handy to have sometimes when there isn’t one in the sc accommodation, or even in a hotel.