Travel is something I have been passionate about for as long as I can remember. I used to often wonder if I should have been a travel agent, that was until the glorious day I stumbles across blogging as a concept. This gave me a wonderful platform to share all my travel and travel essential tips.
And then came Cruising With kids, a place to talk about cruising to my hearts content. And the more we travel the more tips and hints we pick up.
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Things have changed over the last few years, the boys have got older, priorities have changed. But we are also becoming more environmentally aware which has started to have an impact on how we pack and travel.
So I wanted to share a post with some of the travel essential tips I have picked up along the way. If you can make travel packing easier then it makes such a difference to your pre holiday stress levels.
Here Are My Top Travel Essentials Tips:
Travel Essential Tips For Packing, Packing Cubes
I am new to packing cubes and bought my first ever set off Amazon recently. OMG they are game changers. When I first looked at the lightweight flamingo bags, I truly doubted they were going to be of any use whatsoever.
How wrong could I be? They fit so much in and are so easy to transfer from your suitcase to a drawer without a huge unpacking drama. And I am one of those people that can’t relax on holiday until I have unpacked. I love that everyone has their own cubes, it makes life so much easier.
They also revolutionise how you bring dirty washing home. We packed ours in colours, darks, whites. Thus meaning when we arrived home I stack them next to the washing basket to be emptied straight into the washing machine.
Travel Essential Tips, Always Have A Toiletries Bag Ready.
A good friend of mine once told me she always had a holiday toiletries bag packed ready for impromptu trips. What a genius idea?. And these Y Not flip flops and bag are just gorgeous. Perfect to have ready for your next trip.
The key is to always have a supply of holiday essentials packed and ready to go, just in case. And if you have the “You Never Know” attitude about life and travel those lovely surprises and travel opportunities do occasionally come along.
Environmental Travel Essential Tips, Shower Gel Bars
Who wants to weep at the mere thought of hand luggage only? Its enough to bring me out in a sweat. I have so many products that I travel with and getting all of that into a little bottle is a nightmare. Baron Shower Bars are an amazing way of taking an amazing shower gel without compromising on liquid allowance.
There is also a huge environmental factor to these bars. There is no plastic packaging! And having environmentally friendly travel essentials such as shower bars and bamboo toothbrushes is a great place to start to reduce plastics.
And let’s not forget the smell, the Baron shower bars come in a variety of scents and they smell divine. My favourite being Verbena. And they also come with a plastic lined everlasting bags to transport without mess.
Health And Safety Travel Essential Tips, Pack A Carbon Monoxide Detector
This is something I would have never considered taking on my travels years ago. I have always felt I have trusted the companies we have travelled with. But there has been a lot in the news in the last couple of years about carbon monoxide poisoning in hotel rooms and villas.
I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry if you are staying in a villa or apartment, carbon monoxide alarms are lightweight and portable.
Sometimes these horrific fatalities are caused by freak incidents out of anyones control, its worth being prepared and staying safe.
Travel Essential Tips For Keen Photographers, Extra Storage For Photos!
If you have followed me on a trip, you will know I take sooooo many photos. Now thats all well and good, but as I now mainly take photos on my my iPhone storage is a huge concern. The iXpand flash drive is a great travel essential for photographers.
This handy use device connects directly into your phone, ( android and apple versions available) And allows you to plug in and transfer photos over to store until a later date. This can be directly transferred to a photo printing machine, pc or back onto your phone.
The only thing I would say is do it in stages, I recently transferred 890 photos from my last week long press trip! I told you I take a lot? The transfer took 20 minutes and I could not use my phone in that time. However there were quite a few video clips in there. In the future I will back up daily to save time in the long-run.
Travel Essential Tips For Keeping Hydrated, A Refillable Water Bottle
This is something I am trying to change at home as-well as when we travel. Sparkling water is my go to drink and I drink loads of it! It’s become somewhat of a habit to buy a couple of packs a week but I need a way to combat this.
Buying larger bottles and refilling a refillable bottle would be a great way of cutting down on the plastic. I am not sure if a soda stream would be my next step to totally eradicate plastic altogether.
When we travel it works to get my refillable bottle filled with soda water to save on rubbish, its also great for topping up with coffee rather than getting disposable cups. My top tip here is test the bottle at home first to ensure it is leak proof.
To Keep Track Your Belongings, With The Tile Pro Bluetooth Tracker
The tile pro is a wonderful invention and is one of my new favourite travel essentials. Designed to track valuable items such as suitcases, pc’s or passports as you travel. It comes with an app to allow you to locate items or even set an alarm to find keys etc.
We have attached ours to Jack medication bag, it’s something we always keep with us when we travel. However losing it is not worth thinking about. It really gives us peace of mind that if it’s ever misplaced the app will track it and give us a map location. You can also use it in reverse and track your phone from the tile should you need to.
Always Be Prepared With Sun Cream
I have recently been trying out Evy Suncream. It’s mousse consistency and unlike anything I have ever used.
Offering up to 6 hours protection, it is water resistant and does not rub off. At first I was sceptical as it doesn’t feel like any suncream I have ever used before. However I used the factor 30 on our recent river cruise I never burnt, I loved the consistency and it goes a long way. Evy Mousse sunscreen is thick to apply so no dripping, it’s not greasy and has no smell so won’t interfere with your perfume.
Always Carry A Portable Charger
And lastly something I don’t leave home without, can you imagine anything worse on a trip that a flat phone battery. Having teens we take a few, I have a pink one as I find the boys are less likely to swipe it! Although they will suffer a pink charger rather that have a flat battery.
I have trained the boys to always take a fully charged charger out with them, especially Jack when he travels. From a safety perspective its so important.
And there you have it a few favourites and some new discoveries to make travel easier and help you prepare a little better. And trust me when I say packing cubes will change your life.
Disclaimer, Some of the items in this post have been gifted but all opinions are my own. This post also contains an affiliate link.
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Some great ideas and I am really going to invest in a Shower Bar as like you I despise the plastic but cannot face not having toiletries.