Ditching your checked luggage doesn’t mean you need to be unprepared.
Some of our trips, like our trip to Southeast Asia, involve getting on multiple planes, boats, and automobiles. I don’t want to worry about lugging tons of luggage through narrow city streets, nor do I want to waste time trying to find necessities in foreign cities. Here’s a list of some of my favorite carry-on friendly products that can make your vacation more fun and less hassle.
Bug Spray Wipes
These bug spray wipes were a life-saver when traveling through South East Asia. They take up minimum room, and they don’t need to count towards your liter (U.S.) of liquid products you can bring on a carry-on. If you are hoping for a more natural product, these wipes by Natrapel repel insects without the DEET.
Carry-On Friendly Sunscreens
If you are looking for a high-quality sunscreen that’s great for traveling, look no further than Supergoop! I love all of their products (I swear by their CC Cream), and they are one of the best sunscreen/ skincare products out their right now. Many of their sunscreens come in travel-friendly sizes, but my favorite is this foaming sunscreen mousse that applies easily and smells great. Best of all, it’s free of parabens and oxybenzone. They also make cute travel size tote sets if you want to try a bunch of their products for a discounted rate.
Don’t want to take up valuable liquid space? Search for a sunscreen stick. Trader Joe’s makes one I really like. Neutrogena also makes one, which you can find here. My only warning is that I sometimes struggle with putting sunscreen sticks on evenly, so I can end up a little patchy. But I have never had an issue getting it through security.
Packing Cubes
There’s no better way to keep your clothes organized than using packing squares. Compression packing squares, like these by Eagle Creek, can also help you maximize your packing space! I’ve easily fit 6-7 sun and maxi dresses in the large one, which gives me more space for other things!
Safety First
Packing a light-weight hiking first-aid kit is one way you can make sure you have essentials you might need in a pinch (like alcohol wipes, bandaids, etc.). Sean laughed at me when I insisted that we throw this first-aid kit by Life-Line in one of our carry-ons. Two weeks later after some pretty nasty falls into some drainage ditches in Ubid, he was pretty thankful! It’s a great way to make sure you have all your essentials without sacrificing space.
In addition, I buy travel-size packs of any over the counter medications we might need: Tums, Tylenol, Dramamine. Having those products at hand sure beats trying to find an open convenience store in Bangkok at 2 a.m.
A Microfiber Towel
You’ll be grateful you brought along this travel accessory for those spur of the moment beach trips or for when you accidentally discover an outdoor hot spring. We didn’t bring these on our trip to the Azores for our honeymoon, and regretfully spent hours searching for a place to buy beach towels. A regular towel can kill your packing space, but these microfiber towels fold up to barely nothing.
A Collapsible Water Bottle
In some countries, where you won’t want to drink unfiltered water, you are probably better off investing in a filtered water bottle like this one from LifeStraw. I love that it comes with a caribiner so that you could just attach it to the outside of your luggage, like I did. Make sure you take the cellophane protector off of the straw. It’s nearly invisible, so the first part of my trip I thought I had a faulty product and it didn’t nearly get enough use!
If you’re traveling in a country where water purification is not a problem (like Iceland or Croatia) then you should definitely try my favorite purchase this year. The Hydrapak Stash Waterbottle fits one liter of water and then shrinks to a fraction of its size for easy storage and minimal space taken up in your luggage. We saved money and waste from not having to buy plastic bottles everywhere we went.
A Kindle or Other Portable E-Reader
I love reading books, and it definitely makes those long flights,rides, and layovers way more palatable. I do get motion sickness, but for some reason popping some Dramamine seems to cure that (and makes me sleepy, which for me is a win-win).
On a three week trip, I usually read 6-7 books. After our trip to Asia, however, I realized that bringing physical books was just not worth the packing space they took up. I started resenting the books I’d read for making me lug them around!
Enter the mighty Kindle. It’s so easy to download tons of books ahead of time, and if you run out, just find a good Wi-Fi connection and get some more! I actually lost my first Kindle to an unexpected trip down a waterfall (more on that later), so I just purchased a Paper White Kindle for our upcoming trips to Colombia in March and Scandanavia in June! If the price-tag is too hefty for you right now, Amazon just started payment plans for their bigger items so that you can pay in monthly installments without interest!
Maximize your “Personal Item” Space
Most airlines let you bring a personal item in addition to your carry-on. With this in mind, I searched Amazon for the biggest carrier with wheels that would also count as a personal item. This bag by Delsey is small enough to fit comfortably under the seat in front of you while also having tons of space for clothes, shoes, toiletries, books, etc. Even though it’s definitely on the larger side, I’ve never had an issue when flying, even some of the smaller or discount airlines. It also comes in a slew of cute colors.
Backpack/Duffel Hybrid
My backpack/duffel hybrid bag from Eagle Creek has weathered three month-long trips so far, as well as a myriad of short trips to places like Vancouver, New Orleans, and home to the East Coast. Paired with some packing cubes, it’s easy to stay organized and be able to pack and unpack in a breeze. I don’t feel like I’m wasting time or energy trying to find things.
The small is perfect for a carry-on. I would not purchase this for long hikes or situations where you are going to be wearing this for long distances. There isn’t great support, and the shoulder straps will feel taxing on your back, neck, and shoulders. But for travel from one terminal to the next, or even walking from the airport to your Airbnb, this small but mighty carry-on has served me pretty well! It even folds up into a very small bag if you want to store it in a bigger piece of luggage for extra space.
Shop Beauty Boxes
Beauty boxes have come a long way from when Birchbox was the only player in the game. Now there are beauty boxes geared towards nearly everyone, including ones that specialize in makeup, hair products, skin products, and nail polishes.
While I like the surprise of beauty boxes from Birchbox or Ipsy once in a while, I usually end up giving about half the products away since I can’t see what is coming ahead of time.
That is why I like Allure’s monthly box (only $15). Allure shares the contents of their boxes sometimes months ahead of time, and if you order it through Amazon, it is easy to subscribe and unsubscribe based on whether or not you want that month’s box. You can usually get a deal buying a first-time box directly with Allure, but from my experience, their customer service does not make it as easy to pause and resubscribe.
Target’s (monthly?) beauty box is my favorite new find. Usually released on the first Monday of the month, it will run you only $7, including free shipping! These boxes usually sell fast (within a day or two). Last year I ordered their April box right before our 25 day trip through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Iceland. I used every single item, and they were the perfect size for travel. The best news is that this isn’t a subscription, so you don’t have to worry about receiving boxes you don’t want!
Why the Effort?
While it’s true that you can usually purchase all of these products on the go, if you are spending a limited time in each destination like we do, the last thing you want to do is waste precious hours looking for bug repellent (and usually paying an arm and a leg for it) instead of exploring or relaxing. If you’re smart about it, that extra effort won’t weigh you down as you hop from one place to the next.