Planning a trip and wondering what’s actually worth packing? After multiple long trips, including a month-long honeymoon and a 4-month adventure around Europe, these are the travel items we genuinely use (not just things that sound good on a packing list). This isn’t a minimalist list or a “pack everything” guide, it’s what actually made our trips easier.
There are a few travel-specific items that we have found SO handy on our longer trips that we would love to share with you. By no means do you “absolutely have to have these or else your trip will go up in flames”. However, they do make our longer trips easier, and we’d prefer to bring ‘em along.
We have included everyday travel essentials, packing and organization gear, and travel tech and accessories.
If you’re still planning your trip, check out our detailed itineraries!
Who This List is for
This list is based on how we travel — longer trips, mostly carry-on, and a mix of city exploring and day trips. If that’s similar to your travel style, here’s a quick look at the items we always pack:
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products and services we trust and personally use.
Our Can’t-Live-Without Travel Essentials Quick List
Everyday Travel Essentials
Packing & Organization Gear
Everyday Travel Essentials
Wanderlog Subscription
We tried Excel Sheets, Google Maps, and other organizational techniques, but nothing beat WanderLog for organizing our month-long trip. It’s so handy to pull the map up and see everywhere you’ve tagged to eat close by. Or to choose what order you want to do your attractions in based on the smartest route. We paid for the premium subscription and thought it was well worth it.
Travel Clothesline
Game. Changer. The clothesline made it so easy to dry clothes anywhere, without having to find any possible surface to drape your wet clothes over.
It is especially useful when travelling carryon only for a long trip. I think we used this in every location during our month-long honeymoon trip, and on our 4-month Europe trip it was invaluable.
Laundry Detergent Packs
Do your laundry anywhere! All you need is a sink full of water, and you’re good to go. We used the Tide Travel Sink Packet, which was cheaper at Walmart than on Amazon. Any laundry sheets will work just as well. You can find them at camping stores like MEC or REI as well as in the laundry detergent section of any department store like Walmart.
Hydro Flasks
We researched and researched which water bottle was best to travel with. It really seems to be personal preference and what you want out of a water bottle. Since we were bringing ours to Europe during a heatwave, we wanted something that would keep our water cold but not be heavy.
Enter: the Hydro Flask. We prefer the standard mouth bottle, but they also have wide mouth and ones with built-in straws. We had also considered a collapsable bottle to save space, but keeping things cold in the heat took priority. In Canada, you can buy these at MEC, Atmosphere, and Sport Chek.
Cooling Towels
If you’re heading for a hot destination, or travelling in the middle of the summer, these are a life saver. Get them wet, twirl them around, and use ’em to keep you cold. There are tons of options on Amazon, and they’re probably all made in the same factory. We’ve linked the ones we liked and used while in Greece during a heatwave.
Electrolytes
We weren’t sure how easy it would be to get our hands on electrolytes in Greece, so we brought some with us. After having had the misfortune of having to search in Mexico for them – not fun. Because these were tablets and the packaging was sturdy and small, it made packing them easy. We brought enough just for an emergency or for severe dehydration that can come with summer travel (especially with lots of walking/hiking). We were really glad we had these, and they didn’t taste completely terrible.
First Aid/Medical Kit
Depending on where you’re travelling, you may not have access to the same first aid essentials you’re used to using at home. This especially goes for any sort of over-the-counter medication such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen, or Gravol. We travel with a mini, homemade first aid kit. It includes a small supply of these medications as well as items such as tweezers, alcohol wipes, bandages, cotton swabs, and safety pins. You can include anything else you feel is necessary.
Travel Towel
Now, you might not need one of these depending on where you’re travelling to. We find these super handy to bring on any sort of beach vacation because they are small and light. Often hotels won’t allow you to take their bath towels with you to the beach. Also, these little guys can fit into a daypack no problem.
We choose the brand Pack Towl and purchased the beach size from the “personal” line. There are many sizes and colours you can buy. Sand brushes off of them easily. They also have a little loop you can use to hang them on a hook or a rod. You can buy them on Amazon, or places like MEC, REI, and Valhalla Pure Outfitters.
Packing & Organization Gear
Compression Sacks
Listen, we tried the cubes. However, we felt restricted by how they fit into our international-sized carryon suitcases. Plus, they didn’t seem to compress as advertised (and we tried like 3 different sets). The benefit was the cubes provided great organization, but we preferred the compression sacks for allowing us to squeeze in those last few items we felt like we just couldn’t live without (okay, okay, those last few clothing items Suzanne needed to bring). We prefer the Eagle Creek brand to others we’ve tried.
PacSafe Travel Gear
We have quite a few PacSafe items, and although no one has tried to pickpocket us yet, it has made us feel a bit more secure as we make our way through airports, busy city centers, and metro stations.
The items we have are: camera straps, Citysafe CX Anti-Theft Backpack, Citysafe CX Anti-Theft Convertible Crossbody, VentureSafe backpack, a money belt, and a bra pouch (though I haven’t use this yet). We especially love the CitySafe purse and the VentureSafe backpack, and use these pretty much every day while travelling.
Electronic Organizer
Everyone travels with so much tech now that you end up with cables and headphones all strewn about in your bag. Using a small pouch or tech organizer will help keep your extra SIM cards, charging cables, and extra batteries organized. We have one from BagSmart, but there are many available online (even an old makeup bag or such will be better than nothing!)
Travel Tech & Accessories
If you’re looking for a more detailed breakdown, you can read our full travel tech guide HERE.
Travel Charging Adapter
If you’re travelling in a continent or region, a universal travel adapter is essential. We recommend getting one with multiple USB ports so you can charge your phone, camera, and other devices at the same time instead of rotating through outlets. Our favourite also works with many types of power outlets, which is a bonus.
eSIM Card
When you travel internationally, having reliable data makes a huge difference for navigation, bookings, and communication. We’ve used Airalo eSIMs across multiple countries, and it’s been the easiest way to get connected as soon as we land without swapping physical SIM cards.
Power Bank
Long travel days drain your phone quickly, especially when using maps, tickets, and translation apps. A portable power bank means you’re not stuck searching for outlets in airports, trains, or cafés. Our favourite is from Anker, which also serves as an in-wall charger for devices. The only downfall with the Anker one is that it only works with North American plugs, so if you’re bringing it elsewhere, you’d need to first plug it into an adapter to charge it.
Phone Lanyard
If you’re prone to dropping stuff like Suzanne (arguably the world’s clumsiest human), or plan on having your phone out a lot to take photos, a phone lanyard might be worth investing in. We bought two types: ones that go around your neck and ones that go around your wrist. The advantage of wrapping your phone around your wrist or neck is that you can’t drop it, (never to be seen again), and no one can snatch it out of your hand in a busy city center while you’re taking that perfect Insta photo (or whatever social media site is currently popular).
Waterproof Phone Protectors
Great for a beach vacation where you and your travel partner both want to go in the water at the same time, but don’t want to risk having your valuables stolen from the beach. Put your phone, hotel keycard, credit card, or maybe some cash all inside and bring it in the water with you. Get one that floats, like we did!
Air Tags
With everyone’s luggage getting lost so often, we followed the trend and bought Air Tags for even our carry-ons (you just never know if they’ll make you check them!). We luckily didn’t have anything get lost, but we do have family friends who used an Air Tag to track their lost luggage all over the world before it was finally returned to them. Now, we don’t travel without putting one in at least our checked bags and larger carry-ons.
iPad (or other small tablet)
Not all planes have screens on the seat back in front of you anymore. And phones really aren’t big enough to watch movies on for an intercontinental flight. This is why we recommend an iPad or other small tablet to watch movies on the plane. Make sure you load your movies in advance so you can watch them offline!
For more travel tech, see our Travel Tech we Recommend article!
Tools We Use to Plan Our Trips
These are the tools we personally use when planning and booking our trips:
Thanks Suzanne! Great advice!
Thanks for sending me your Blog..I’m loving it!
Glad you’re finding it useful so far! I hope some of it can come in handy for your trip 🙂