Things We Would Never Travel Without
1) Baggallini—Traveling creates a need for a secure, compact bag for essential items. At home, a satchel or purse would fit the bill but these aren’t comfortable when walking long distances and could be easily targeted by pickpockets. No one is their most photogenic wearing a fanny pack and they are limited in their space. A backpack is too big to be allowed at many attractions and will have to be checked in a locker. The Baggallini has worked great. It feels secure since the strap runs across the body and it is full of cleverly designed pockets for holding maps, guides, keys, phones, and even a water bottle. They are pricey but occasionally can be found at a TJ Maxx where we bought ours.
2) Quick Dry Clothes—Inclement weather is much more of an inconvenience when your wardrobe is limited. We have switched from cotton pants and shorts to synthetic fibers that dry quickly in case we are caught in a downpour. For long trips when you need to wear outfits multiple times, this prevents walking through the city in damp pants or smelling up the rest of your wardrobe by having to pack wet items in a suitcase. These pieces of clothing tend to weigh less which also saves weight for airline requirements and for dragging luggage through cobble stone streets.
3) Lightweight Pants—Your quick dry wardrobe should include some lightweight pants. These are essential, even in the summer in hot places, because you never know when decorum will require covered knees. For instance, it is a requirement to dress modestly at many churches and cathedrals in Italy, regardless of the temperature outside. These obviously cover that requirement without the bulk and weight of blue jeans.
4) Luggage Dividers—These bags allow you to pack individual parts of your wardrobe and keep garments separate, a huge organizational win when you are traveling for extended periods. Having all pants, shirts, socks and underwear in their own compartment saves you from having to riffle through the entire suitcase every time you get dressed. This saves time when looking for your outfit in the morning and reduces wrinkles at the same time.
5) Suitcase with Any Direction Wheels—Travel requires a lot more walking than you anticipate and your luggage needs to follow you easily. It should be able to roll more than it needs to be dragged. It needs to go through crowded airports, down the aisles of trains, and across narrow sidewalks. Wheels that roll in any direction are the only way to stay maneuverable and nimble.
6) Ziplock Bags—Besides being a requirement for holding your liquids in your carry-on bag, plastic bags are just handy. Since they don’t take up any space and weigh close to nothing, you can pack a bunch in a variety of sizes and then thank yourself when you have leftovers, souvenirs, wet socks, or dozens of other things that need to be bagged up over the course of your trip.
And for travel outside the country:
7) Passport and Money Belt—These belts strap across your waist, underneath your clothing, to allow you to have your important documents, credit cards, and cash in a place that is very difficult to pick pocket. This peace of mind allows you to focus on what you are experiencing instead of feeling anxiety every time you are in a crowd.
8) Burner Phone—Buying a local SIM card is the cheapest way to use your smartphone abroad but that still has some potential drawbacks. You will still need to protect your everyday SIM card during your journey. To avoid protecting this tiny chip and to not risk damage or theft of phones, which are critical to our businesses back home, we brought an older model phone out of retirement to be our travel “burner phone”. It might not be up the task of heavy use at home but abroad we use it less, mostly for navigating, translating, and hailing taxis. Stripped of extraneous apps or personal information, it handles the lightened workload perfectly and is not a liability should something bad happen to it.