Travel Essentials
I travel quite a bit doing what I do, and I travel internationally a few times a year. In preparing to jet over to Paris last week to renew my visa I picked up a few travel essentials and I thought I would share these with you!
The Flight
Packing Liquids
I would love to know whoever it was that forced us all into 100ml bottles of liquid for our flights. This is the hardest thing about flying for me – figuring out how to squeeze my favorite products into a teensy little ziploc bag. I’ve learned over the years to only take what’s necessary and take as many solids as possible. Here are my 3 oz liquid rule life savers:
Silicone Travel Bottles
I’ve used a lot of different travel shampoos but these are my fave. I don’t like harder plastic bottles because it can be difficult to get the last of the product out. And with these I don’t have to constantly buy more tiny shampoo bottles – I can just refill them from my everyday stuff. (I like having several colors – blue for shampoo [bc it rhymes and I can remember it] and the other is conditioner.) And I hate those packets you get as samples – I can never open them in the shower when my hands are wet. (The struggle is real.) Obviously these work for a multitude of products – moisturizer, volumizer, etc. But I find them a bit bulky so I like to use some other options as well for other products.
Little Plastic Container Thingies
This is what I use for my face moisturizer. This allows me to take my really heavy moisturizer (this is what I use) which is great because my skin tends to be way dry when I’m traveling. I also use one of these for Vaseline, which I keep in my bag while traveling (more on that when we talk about the flight).
Perfume
If you’re a perfume kinda girl sometimes you can find travel or rollerball sizes of your perfume. If you’re not so lucky as that, you can try this little gangsta – basically you fill it with your perfume and tada – a magical travel size of your own perfume. (If you’re not a perfume kinda girl, live yo life.)
Soap
You can totally use one of your refillable silicone bottles for this, but I like to use some different stuff than my every day stuff because I like to make my life as difficult as possible. Also most places you go will already have soap but hotel soap makes my skin feel like sandpaper so whatever, I like to have a little luxury in my Holiday Inn Express shower. Anyway, the above is what I’m using right now and I really like it! (Also I think having some different shaped bottles helps with maximizing your tiny tiny ziploc space.)
Face Cleanser
Again – this bottle works out to be a lot smaller than the refillable ones. I like it just fine. I will refill this one with my larger bottle of the same product when it’s out. (Who cares about this? I am asking myself. My sister is reading this somewhere and going, “No. One. Cares.”)
Spot Treatment
This is the last item in my ziploc. (Other than contact solution but I’m sure you can handle that one yourself. Buy a tiny one. Okay.) This is more insurance – when I have this with me I rarely break out but when I leave it at home I almost always break out. Anyway, don’t leave home without it! That’s my motto (now).
In-Flight Necessities
This is more for international or long-haul flights – this stuff doesn’t go in my liquids bag, but it has to come onto the flight with me. I’ll try to talk you through my jet-lag tips and ‘routine’ also. (YES I am high maintenance OKAY I know what I like, I can’t help it.)
The first thing I do when I get on the plane (again this is flights 6+ hours) is remove my makeup. I like to wear full makeup when I’m traveling because I already feel like a troll and I need my face to argue with that a little when I look in the mirror. But once I’m in that plane seat, bets are off. I like to use these, although I’ve found the Neutrogena brand to also be fine:
Then – if I am flying west and I need to sleep (my flights land in Paris in the morning and I have to stay up all day) I pop two dramamine. No watching movies – no plane food. Sleep. I eat dinner in the airport before I board. Usually I’m out before they even serve dinner. (If I’m flying east or don’t have to worry about being rested I watch movies or read. Or listen to the Hamilton soundtrack. Again.)
So another trick with the Vaseline is this – after a few hours of flying you will start to feel really dehydrated. The Vaseline is my best thing for my lips, but also for my cuticles. AND – once you get up into the 7-8 hour range – you can feel the inside of your nose get really dry and I’m always worried about a nose bleed. Swipe a tiny bit of Vaseline onto the inside of your nose and it will relieve that. (Is that gross? I don’t care.)
About an hour before the flight lands I usually excuse myself to the bathroom and prepare for battle. This entails another swipe with the makeup wipes, another coat of moisturizer, and then I do really minimal makeup. I like to use redness-reducing eye drops like these:
Also get you some headphones that cancel background noise. I love these and they are super cheap:
These work great for covering up the sounds of plane engines, babies crying, or people throwing up. Ask me how I know. #glamlife
Other Crap I Bring
This stuff has nothing to do with the flight but it’s travel stuff I swear by.
Body Butter
I hate lotion. But this stuff is okay. If I don’t bring it my skin will be so dry – so it’s nice for hotels and it has a fresh scent. (PS When flying I put a little of this into a little plastic thingie.)
Mineral Makeup
Travel Dryer
I held out a LONG time getting one of these and then a couple weeks ago in Pasadena I suddenly was like “I CANNOT LIVE ANY LONGER WITHOUT A HAIR DRYER.” So I nabbed this one and I. Love. It. I’m using it at home as well. And it’s $15, get real.
More to come maybe, if I think of more stuff.
What’s your can’t-leave-home-without-it item? Or your favorite travel tip?