A travel editor shares the 12 things you should always have in your carry-on
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Need me to rush out on a last-minute travel assignment? No sweat. I always keep a few hundred bucks in ready money handy, an up-to-date passport with extra visa pages, and a carry-on kit with these essential items I never leave behind. Ever.
Eye Mask and Ear Plugs
I sleep on planes. Or try to. Sometimes, though, I need a little help. In my experience, nothing works better than an old-fashioned eye mask and foam ear plugs. They usually don’t last too long before the elastic wears out, so buy a few cheap sets like these. Optional: Add a shot of Johnny Walker on the rocks just before you’re ready for dreamland.
Extra Ear Buds
Your ear buds are crap. My ear buds are crap. Even the best ear buds, which are crap, last about as long as your average drummer for Spinal Tap. So go to the local dollar store and buy the cheapest set you can find and throw ‘em in your carry-on for future trips. Then, when your current crappy ear buds break, you’ll have an extra set ready to go. They may be crap, but at least they’re there when you need them.
Photocopy of your passport
Never lose your passport, especially in a foreign country. Your world will be turned upside down; it will be the end of any vacation fun you hoped for; and you will feel like throwing up for the next 18 hours. The solution: Don’t lose your passport! However, if you ever lose your passport (advice: don’t), you will vastly improve your chances of getting a quick(ish) replacement from the local U.S. embassy or consulate if you have a color photocopy of the first two pages—the ones with your personal details and photo—and another piece of government-issued ID, like a state driver’s license. (Read the State Department FAQ on the subject here.) One more thing to remember: don’t lose your passport.
Universal Adapter Plug
When you travel as much as I do, you often find yourself considering such cosmic imponderables as, How can we, the human race, ever achieve world peace if we can’t even agree on freakin’ standardized electrical outlets?!
My solution? The Compact Universal All-in-One Travel Power Adapter Plug — a single, compact unit with a USB adapter that you can use almost anywhere in the world. And it's under $20.
Rain Poncho
Eminently packable and practical, a rain poncho, unlike an umbrella, leaves both of your hands free to do whatever it is you were doing before the skies let loose and the local fauna started marching down the autobahn in pairs. I like ones with drawstrings to help the hood stay on when the wind is blowing. You will look like a dork, most assuredly, but a dry dork.
Bottle Opener
I know all the tricks to open a bottle cap. I can do it with a house key. I can do it on a table edge—sometimes without even damaging the table. I had a friend who could do it with his teeth, but please don’t try that. I can even do it on the strike plate of a door latch, but since that requires turning the bottle sideways I usually lose half the contents before I can get it in my mouth. Better than all these methods: A good ol’ church key like this. You can buy one for a couple of bucks and keep it in your kit bag. Come to think of it, your mom probably has one in her kitchen junk drawer. She’ll never miss it.
Travel Document Holder
I am insanely organized. You would hate traveling with me. I always have to have everything in its place. (Please don’t touch that; it’s just where I want it, thanks.)
And I like to keep all my travel documents together — passport, boarding pass, hotel confirmation, itinerary, oversize foreign currency that won’t fit in my wallet (yeah, that’s right, I’m looking at you, Pounds Sterling!), and the like.
Resealable Plastic Bags
You need a quart-size baggie for your liquids when you’re going through airport security, right? So just put another one or two in your carry-on. They’re good for organizing, as well as when you have to pack anything damp, like a bathing suit that didn’t quite dry all the way while hanging on the hotel shower-curtain rod overnight.
Snacks
Ever wake up in the middle of a red-eye flight, hungry? Or it’s near midnight in your hotel room and you’re starving, but you don’t want to pay the preposterous charges for room service or the minibar?
I’m telling you, a pack of peanuts or an energy bar in your luggage will seem like a godsend. My favorite snack to bring with me for when I’m feeling peckish is an Oreo six-pack. What’s yours?
Pain Reliever
Too much sun at the beach. Too much wine with dinner. Too much stress from rushing to the airport. Whatever the cause, a headache can be misery — especially if you’re on a plane, in a hotel room at night, or otherwise far from a pharmacy. Talk to your doc, but in my case I always — always — pack a bottle of no-name, no-nonsense, 500 mg aspirin.
Travel-Size Toothpaste
This might sound like a no-brainer, but after exhaustive research (asking some editors over after-work drinks) I’ve concluded that toothpaste is the single most forgotten item to pack. And most hotel amenity baskets don’t have toothpaste, for some reason.
Exotic hand lotion that you’ll never use and with a name you can’t pronounce, almost certainly. Tiny little soap bars that look like some sort of Turkish candy, yep. But no toothpaste. I go to the dentist twice a year, and he always gives me a little plastic bag with a new toothbrush, some dental floss, and a small tube of toothpaste — just the right size to meet TSA requirements for liquids and gels.
A Magazine
How quaint. How 1990s. How deliciously analog. We at T+L love magazines, not least of all when our iPhone goes dead and there’s no place to recharge it. Suggestion: Throw the latest copy of T+L in your bag (better yet, get a subscription!) for those times when Wi-Fi goes bye-bye or your battery bites the dust. You might even find you like the occasional magazine better than a nonstop diet of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Wow, print — what a concept.
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