These are my favorite tools that I found for travelling for a long period of time.

I did not like this tip for toiletries

One person was very insistent that instead of bringing a big toiletry bag to instead pack your toiletries into three or four smaller bags, because then you can kind of stash them into little nooks and crannies in your suitcase.

This was true. It took up less concentrated space. However, it was way too hard for me to remember which item was where.

So, for instance, I’m was like, “uh, which bag is my comb in?”

And I’d have to fish out all three bags to find my comb!

 So, no. I will not be doing that again. I will definitely just bring my normal toiletry bag that I love and I know where everything is in it.

“Junk Drawer” Packing Cube

My favorite packing cube tip was to have a junk drawer cube, meaning like random things that you might need in the trip.

For instance, I had my HDMI cord in there, some hand sanitizers and wipes, nail clippers, laundry detergent strips, etc… Then I knew where things were. I could just say, Oh, that’s in the junk drawer.

And honestly, I like that so much. I kept those things in the junk drawer cube, and I’m just going to bring it with me every time I go somewhere, because it’s just those items you always want to have on hand and having it in the junk drawer cube, you know where they are!

Portable Chargers – get a good one!

Portable chargers, of course, are needed and. Important to have, but sadly, the ones that I bought, they had built in cords, which mine lasted only about a week and Rob’s lasted about three weeks.

The charger itself worked, but the built in cords stopped working. I then had to carry an extra cord with me.

Lotion holders

I really loved these stackable clear plastic jars.

I put my moisturizer and some other lotion that I like to have in each one. And then I could have it in my toiletry bag AND in my day bag so I always had these on hand.

Waterproof Shoes – wish I had these!

 One thing I should have done is gotten some waterproof shoes. There’s nothing worse to me than being wet, except being cold and wet.

If your feet are dry, it helps you feel better. I don’t have a great recommendation for this because I didn’t have them and I wish I did.

SAFE Backpack

I did spend a lot of money to get a packsafe backpack.

It was small, but I really Loved it.

It was a little awkward to open, but that’s kind of the point. Then people definitely cannot just pickpocket you and it made me feel very safe when I was in public places.

I still put it on my chest when I was on the metro, but everywhere else I felt super confident.

Having this little backpack especially the days I had to carry my passport with me, I knew it was safe.

Best Neck Pillow for Plane!

Okay, I tried two different neck pillows for the airplane ride.

Turtle neck pillow No one liked this one.  2 thumbs down!

The Cabeau neck pillow was a winner. Definitely made it more comfortable to sleep on the plane and on the train.

Rain Ponchos

Another thing that I got, but we actually didn’t use but was well worth the $15 for peace of mind was a set of five disposable rain ponchos. I just loved having those with me and now they’re here in my house. And if I need them, I have them.

Air Tags for Bags!

Another thing that was worth the peace of mind were air tags.

I also got cute holders for them.

We checked one bag for the six of us, and the rest were carry-on. But a few times we had to actually check our carry on, so it was really great to have the air tags in all of our luggage, just in case we were separated from it, and then we knew where it was.

Collapsible Water Bottles

Collapsible water bottles. I could have survived without those. I found them a little too flimsy and they didn’t fit well in my side pocket of my backpack.

Power Strip

Another great thing was I did get a surge protector power strip as well as an adapter,

but I loved having the power strip because then we could plug so many things in and it was very, very useful, especially in the Airbnbs when we were there for a few nights. Everyone could get things all set up to charge and I really loved that.

Personal Bags to Carry On Plane

Ooh, I tried two different carry on personal bags. I actually bought two and still have both. Because when you’re gone for five weeks, by the time you get home, you can no longer return things to Amazon. And I kept switching which carry on personal bag I was going to use. I bought a cool laptop backpack, I should have gotten the smaller size!

but

I was worried it would be too big as a personal bag for our Europe flights.

Last minute I switched to this other one.

It worked really well.

Both had a strap that would slip on your handle of your big carry on, which I loved.

I didn’t love that the one that I went with ended up not being able to be used as a backpack, but it ended up not being that big of a deal except the one time I had to gate check my, my carry on.

Relief Band

I got a relief band, which is an electronic device you wear on your wrist to help you not get nauseous or seasick or motion sickness.

We went on a very small cruise ship around Iceland and I was very worried.

I thought I might get seasick because I get seasick on big ships.

I thought it was worth buying and trying.

And honestly, I loved it.

I carried it with me everywhere on the ship. And basically if I ever started to feel the boat moving, I would just put it on. I never felt sick at all.

Two thumbs up! 

And I still use it, I love having it in my purse.  For instance, we went on a ride up a windy mountain road and I wore it and felt great.

If you ever suffer from motion sickness, I say it’s worth the money.

Apple Watch

I got an Apple Watch so that I could use Apple Pay during my trip as well as see texts come in and respond without having to get my phone out or my wallet out while I was out and about, and this was a perfect solution for that.

Probably any smartwatch that you can use Apple or Google Pay would work,

I could use it anywhere I went. There was only two times on the whole trip that I couldn’t use my Apple Watch.

Apple Card

Another thing I did is I did get an Apple card right before the trip because there’s no international fees and I earned 2% Apple cash with every purchase. 

I also loved it because I could share it with all our other Apple users. In a pinch. They could use the Apple card and sometimes I was like, Hey, can you go to the store and buy something and just use the Apple card?