Ten Travel Necessities

My Friday night flight home from the creativity workshop in New Jersey was cancelled due to snow, and I found myself with an unscheduled night in an airport hotel. I was SO glad that I’d brought my usual “necessary travel items,” a list developed from trial and error as I’ve traveled to keynotes, workshops, and academic conferences over the years. Here’s my list of ten things I always make sure to pack. Please comment and share what’s on your own list!

I saved the best and most unusual one for last! 

1. iPhone, with the travel apps TripIt, FlightTrack Pro (it receives airline updates minutes before the staff at the gate know), and Booking.com (find and book last-minute hotel reservations, at guaranteed lowest price available)

2. An extra set of underwear and socks

3. Lots of ibuprofen

4. A stack of all the magazines that I never have time to read while at home

5. A shoehorn, for getting my shoes back on after getting through security

6. Bose QuietComfort 15 noise-cancelling headphones (so expensive that I waited years to buy them, but so totally worth it and now I can’t imagine traveling without them)

7. Eyecovers and wax earplugs, for better sleeping

8. Tide To-Go Stick instant stain remover (am I a klutz or what? I end up using this on every single trip)

9. Bandaids (for foot blisters, finger cuts…something always comes up…see “klutz” above)

10. A three-plug wall outlet so you can always share with one of those people who’ve already taken all of the wall outlets in the airport terminal (this is a fancy one from Belkin but you can buy cheap ones at any hardware store)

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