For the last six months, a family matter has sparked multiple trips across the country. I’d thought I had my travel essentials down to a science, but that was when I took maybe two flights per year. Since last August, I’m up to six flights. With that much back and forth, I’ve become quite precious about the limited space I have in my carry-on, and I’ve been working on balancing practicality with making what have been quite challenging trips more enjoyable. So I’ve whittled my kit down to a few gadgets I truly can’t live without, plus a few extras to make my trips more enjoyable, like a fun game and a way to give myself a portable digital picture frame.
Onyx’s phone-size e-reader has been my go-to for over a year. It’s replaced my phone as the device I keep in my right pocket, and I’m reading a lot more these days thanks to how handy it is. Since it’s so small, I can keep it in the top of my backpack for easy access when I’m seated on the plane; Kindles are too big for that.
I wish I could replace my phone with the Palma, but I still keep my iPhone handy for taking pictures and ignoring calls. This bag is big enough to hold an iPhone 16 Pro Max plus a wallet and some keys, but it’s light and small enough to fold into a backpack before a flight (since fanny packs count as one of your items now).
I usually load my phone with enough podcasts, audiobooks, and playlists to get me through even the longest flight delays. Still, sometimes it’s nice to change things up and check out the in-flight entertainment. In addition to excellent sound and noise-cancellation, these JBL earbuds have the ability to connect directly to a plane’s entertainment system — no cheap airline earbuds necessary.
I’m always looking to cut down on the number of cables I have to stuff into my bag. I’ve cycled through a few multi-device wireless chargers, but this three-in-one option from Anker has earned a permanent place in my bag. It has spots for a phone, wireless earbuds, and an Apple Watch. Best of all, it works with Apple’s StandBy mode, which lets me turn my phone into a digital picture frame when I’m away from home. Since I’ve been traveling so much lately, it’s nice to see my dogs, niece, and nephew at a glance when I’m away.
While the JBL earbuds are great for getting around the airport, I prefer these over-ear headphones for listening to music and podcasts on a flight — their noise cancellation is unmatched. The only times I’ve heard any significant noise come through is when I’ve sat directly next to a plane engine, and even then, I’ve been impressed with how quiet these headphones kept things.
There’s rarely anything good on the hotel’s TV when I’m traveling, so I like to bring along this rugged drive that can hold enough TV shows to get me through any flight or extended trip. It has a nice rubber casing, so I drop this drive into my bag worry free.
This wallet is my quick ticket out of the TSA line. All my cards go into one slot — ID at the front, main credit card in the back — and you press a button in the bottom corner to eject all the cards at once. It makes them easy to grab, and it’s unbelievably satisfying to play with if your hands tend to get fidgety. I also have the company’s tracker add-on, which allows me to track the wallet via Apple’s Find My app in case I lose it.
Since I like to write and draw when I travel, I always travel with my iPad Pro. This stand (paired with a nice wireless keyboard and mouse) lets me turn my iPad into a desktop-like monitor when I’m at my hotel working, or gives me a place to prop it up like a TV to watch movies before bed. And you can collapse it when you’re not using it, so it fits nicely in a backpack.
I always carry a handheld console with me when I travel to kill time in airports, but for an upcoming trip, I know my family and I are going to be spending a lot of time in our hotel, so I’m trying to bring some more interactive games along to keep us all entertained. This game works as well for a solo player as it does with a group. Each player gets a stack of cards with paint chips, each of which has a word attached, and you use these cards to write a poem based on that round’s prompt. It’s a nice way to spark creativity and see a different side to those in your life who may not always express themselves creatively.
I’ve recently joined the cohort of Strategist runners, and Garmin’s Fenix 8 is my new favorite way to track my workouts. It doesn’t have all the fancy notification and app features of my Apple Watch, but it does have weeks-long battery life so I don’t have to fret too much about keeping it charged before leaving my hotel for the day. It also has a built-in flashlight to use in a pinch.
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