Items You Need in Your Carry On
If you’re anything like me (Type A control freak), you love organizing especially for a trip. Nothing makes me happier than when everything has a home! But if you are not like me, I’m here to make your life easier with must-have travel items you need in your carry on luggage.
I have tried a lot of different products over the years and these are the ones I can NOT travel without. In order of importance, obviously.
Supplements & Medicine
Starting with what I think can make or break any trip: medicine, supplements, vitamins. Traveling is not easy on your immune or digestive system and nothing is worse than feeling like crap and trying to locate the nearest drugstore (or struggling to translate medicine packaging in another country) so these are my tried and trues that I have in my bag at all times:
Ibuprofen/Advil
Probiotics
Activated Charcoal - to soak up all the toxins from the alcohol or foods that you are not used to eating, this will ease your nausea, upset stomach, any bugs, etc.
Multi-vitamins
Imodium - Just trust me on this one
Dramamine - For all my motion sickness peeps out there
Melatonin - For long flights or if you’re like me and have trouble sleeping anywhere but your own bed
I used to keep medicine in a Ziploc bag until recently, when I found this pill organizer on TikTok and became obsessed! I recommended this to a friend who is taking her kids to Disney and she loved it so much she bought 3 of them! Here are the two I love:
Electronics and Gadgets
There are so many nowadays it’s hard to keep track of them. Personally, I used to throw them in random places in my bag and could never find what I was looking for when I needed it so let’s change that.
#1 Cord Organizer
This cord organizer fits every single cord you could possibly think of or need in one place. They will no longer be lost in the abyss of your bag. I even put my house keys in here. It fits your phone charger, wireless and regular headphones, portable phone charger, the charger for the portable phone charger, watch charger, pens, kindle charger, mouse (if you’re on business), the list goes on. It’s also cute which I like.
Tip: Buy the bigger one, not the smaller one. The smaller size does not fit a lot.
#2 Kindle
If you do not have a kindle or an e-reader already, get one. I went back and forth for years because I love to have actual books in my hand. But they are SO heavy to travel with and one of mine got swept away by the ocean last year. So a kindle it was! It’s lightweight, easy to travel with, gives you something to do on planes, trains, and buses (motion sickness girlies, that’s what the Dramamine is for). You won’t regret the Kindle.
#3 Portable Charger
Nothing causes anxiety like a low phone battery! This one will stay charged for days and you get 2 for 1.
Carry On The Plane
#1 Under the Seat Luggage
Obviously you need something to put all of this in! This is hardest thing for me to find and I’m still searching for the perfect one. A lot of the “under the seat” luggage does not actually fit the measurement requirements internationally. I’ve tried 10+ different travel bags over the years and these are the ones that have worked so far.
#2 Neck Pillow & Eye Mask
For anything over a 3 hour flight, I bring a neck pillow. I like this one because it’s compact and you can fold it to fit in your bag. The cover comes off and is washable.
It also comes with a sleep mask and earplugs. I used a sleep mask for the first time on my flight to Germany last week and it was a GAME CHANGER. You might feel silly using it but you won’t care once you get some good sleep after the fact.
And that’s a wrap on my essentials. If you have a travel essential I missed that belongs on this list, please let me know!
disclaimer: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.