Our Favourite Travel Essentials
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We’re always looking for gadgets that make our travels easier and more fun, and have compiled quite the haul over the last few years. Scroll and shop our favourite, must-have travel essentials below!
Looking for the perfect travel gift? These would also make great presents for adventure-obsessed friends and family!
Magnetic Board
If, like us, you’re a bit of a fridge magnet hoarder, then one of these boards could be the perfect solution for displaying them! We’ve collected so many magnets from our trips that our fridge simply would not handle them all without casualties when it is opened and closed. Now, we display all of our travel trophies on these magnetic boards!
Ryanair Friendly Personal Item Backpack
Ryanair is notorious for its stringent baggage policy. This backpack has always passed the dreaded bag sizer with zero issues and opens up butterfly style so you can ram it full of clothes, toiletries and electronics. Our record so far has been a 10-day trip with just one of these bad boys!
BACKPACKER Card Game
We LOVE a good card game, and nothing suits our travels better than ‘BACKPACKER’. No round is the same, with twists and turns with every card flip – we’re yet to tire of playing this card game on our travels. It’s also the perfect game to play in hostels or guesthouses when you’re looking for an easy ‘in’ for socialising with new people.
Maponimoes
Another one of our firm favourites in our games cupboard is Maponimoes. As the name suggests, it’s similar to the classic dominoes, but rather than dots, you have to connect countries. It’s also pretty compact, so easy to take away on a trip to play with friends and family. This would be a great gift for a travel lover!
Mixed Currency Wallet
Juggling new currencies is always a bit of a pain, but this currency wallet has saved us from doing that awkward fumble around at the cashier’s desk on many occasions. With separate compartments, you can store multiple currencies in just one wallet or split your cash from your change. This has come in real handy when we’ve been hopping around several countries in just a few days.
Insta360 Action Camera
While most of our social media content has been filmed on an iPhone or Google Pixel Pro camera, we do love stopping to get a 360-degree view of some of our favourite spots during our travels. The Insta360 is definitely the gadget for the job and is one of the most popular cameras among travellers. While it’s pretty expensive, the quality is definitely worth it!
Extendable Phone Tripod
There’s nothing worse than standing at a world-famous attraction and having to do the awkward “Can you take a photo of us?” interaction with a random member of the public. While we still do this when we’re in a rush, it’s nice to bring this tripod on some trips so that we can get some great shots on our own terms.
Bigfish Universal Travel Adapter
Gone are the days of rummaging through that bottomless drawer of plugs and wires to find a suitable adapter for your trip. We’ve ditched our single adapters for these universal ones that will fit into several different outlets across the world and allow us to charge up multiple devices at a time. * Do note that they don’t cover every outlet shape, but you can use them across most of Europe, the Americas and Asia! We had to buy separate adapters for South Africa for example! *
Mini Perfume Spray Bottles
These miniature bottles aren’t like the typical ones you see every summer in the pharmacy or bargain shops. They are specifically for siphoning off your perfume or aftershave, allowing you to bring your favourite scents with you on your adventure. They free up so much room in your toiletries bag and save you from worrying about your expensive glass bottle getting broken in transit!
Apple AirTag
No one likes to deal with losing things – especially not when you’re travelling! We keep Apple AirTags in our luggage to help us keep track of them when we need to leave them somewhere unattended. We also have one attached to our smaller day bags that has our essentials like our wallets, passports and phones in. If you’re planning to gift an AirTag, then a small keychain holder would be the perfect addition!
Packing Cubes
Packing cubes really come in clutch when you’re trying to save space – especially if you use the tried and tested rolling method too! We typically use packing cubes for our bigger trips to help us stay organised and compress our clothes to make more room!
Loop Earplugs
Let’s face it, the foam earplugs given out on planes and in hostels often just don’t cut it. When we’re trying to zone out, focus or catch a few winks while travelling, we love using Loop earplugs. With adjustable sizing and a wide selection of volume filters, they’re the best solution for blocking out unwanted noise.
Memory Foam Neck Support Pillow
No one wants to arrive at their destination with a crick in their neck, and those airport bean bag neck pillows just do nothing. A firm memory foam neck pillow has saved us from a lot of pain while travelling and helped us catch up on sleep during busy transport days.
Phone Safety Strap
While we all like to think we have eyes on our belongings 24/7, sometimes attention can slip. No one likes to think they’ll be a victim of pickpocketing, but it happens – in some cities more than others. If we’re heading to a particularly renowned area for pickpocketing or petty theft, we like to attach our phones to safety straps, which give us a firmer grip on them and keep them closer to our bodies. They’re also super useful for sporty activities while away, like horse riding or dune-buggying, where you want your phone for quick snaps but need both hands free.
Digital Luggage Scale
With strict limits on baggage weight being enforced by more and more airlines, we like to be ‘in-the-know’ with our bags so we don’t get any unexpected charges at the airport. A small, digital scale that can be tucked in the front pocket of your suitcase or backpack helps you avoid the awkward reshuffling of your clothing between bags when you reach the check-in desk.
Combination Lock
If you’re staying in hostels, then a combination lock is an absolute essential for any trip. While many hostels now provide locks, you’ll still come across a few that require you to bring your own. They also come in handy for locking your suitcase or backpack during transit so that no one can gain access.
Portable Handheld Fan
The heat is often a glorious commodity when travelling, especially if you’re from the UK, like us. But sometimes, it’s just too hot. This portable handheld fan has been our saving grace on many trips when we just couldn’t bear the sun and humidity any longer, and the air conditioning just seemed to make things worse. It’s USB rechargable so no need to worry about batteries, just charge up when you’re charging your phone!
Fast Charging Power Bank
With more and more travellers relying solely on their phones for their maps, flight tickets and accommodation bookings, it’s super important to make sure you constantly have juice. We never travel without a fast charging power bank like this one!
Sony CX240E Camcorder
There’s nothing quite like grainy video footage to help you feel nostalgic about your travels in years to come. We document all our adventures on this Sony camcorder, stringing together all the clips to make mini movies of each trip. So far, it’s lasted us at least 5 years and 50+ trips and is still holding up well – even with a few tumbles onto the concrete!
Lonely Planet The Travel Book
While we do most of our travel research using blog sites, we often consult our Lonely Planet library that we’ve racked up over the years. The Travel Book is one of our favourites and helps you to nail down the basics about a place before visiting, like the best time to visit, what to see and where to stay.
Scratch-off World Map
Avid travellers like us love keeping tabs on their adventures and ticking off new destinations one by one. We each have a scratch-off map to document our travels and love coming home to unveil a new coloured country. You can pick them up pretty cheap, but this is the set we have – one world map and one European one. They have a great amount of detail and the flags to scratch off, too!
