Must-Have Items for Convenient International Travel

What Items Can Make Your International Trip Easier?

Are you a traveler who doesn’t get easily annoyed? Are you one of those folks who can pack a bag in about ten minutes and take off for parts unknown without any worry about forgetting something? Well, even if you don’t really give a lot of thought to your packing, there are some things you might want to consider packing for your next international trip.

Not only can these items make things a little easier for you while you travel, but you might find yourself saving money, saving time, and enjoying yourself with a little less effort than you expect. These items are definitely things you can take on a minimalist journey, so don’t assume you have to pass over these conveniences because you’re only taking a personal item and one piece of carry-on baggage on your flight.

I actually keep several items that I only really use on vacations in one of my smaller travel bags, which I then nest within larger bags. All I have to do when I travel is go to that bag, pluck out all the items that I’ll use for that trip, and then add my toiletries, snacks, and clothing to the mix. I’ve gone on a lot of flights in my life, so I have packing on auto-pilot at this point, but it still helps to have all my little travel items in a bag, ready to go when I need them.

I also keep some of the items my traveling partner uses in my bag while it’s in storage. When we pack for our journeys, it’s helpful to have these and other items sitting there so we don’t forget anything while packing our luggage. I’ve long since stopped worrying about forgetting something on my trips (like, it’s not a big deal if you forget your toothbrush! Just pick up another . . .), but I also like having my travel items all together, ready for when I pack them for my next trip.

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Take a Travel Printer To Avoid Extra Fees At the Airport

One item that I wish I found way earlier in my life is a travel-size thermal printer. These little printers use a special kind of paper, so you don’t actually have to add ink to the machine. You can get the paper in rolls or in sheets, but I find it’s most convenient to print things out on a roller and then rip the paper on the teeth of the printer like I would a piece of aluminum foil.

A travel printer is about the size of three soda cans if you put those cans on their side and lined them up end to end. Carrying one around will add a little weight to your personal item (that’s where I store mine during travel), but the convenience of getting to print out your boarding passes on the go is truly a no-brainer, especially when many small airlines will charge you a significant fee just to print out boarding passes at the gate or airport.

Sure, there are a lot of hotels that have printers in some sort of business center or where you can make a special request for printing, but what if you stay in a bed and breakfast that doesn’t have that sort of capability? I always check in for my flights as early as possible, but that’s tough to do when you’re traveling, and you won’t get to the airport until the next day to get your boarding passes.

A small thermal printer (this is the actual one I use) means you can print from anywhere – even if you don’t have access to an outlet. These printers will use the power from your smartphone and a USB connection to print documents. This is particularly convenient when you check in via an airline app on your phone and get your boarding passes in the app. Now, you can print them out and have them on hand without worrying about accessing them or paying extra fees at the airport.

Pack Eye Masks and Ear Plugs for Great Sleep

There are some folks out there who can sleep through anything. It doesn’t matter if there’s rush hour traffic rolling by a mere three feet from their hotel window. These people will get a great night of rest almost anywhere. But for most of us, sleeping in an unknown place, especially if you’re sleeping in a different hotel every night, can become difficult.

It’s so easy to get discombobulated by the location of the door in the room in relation to your bed. Opening your eyes in the middle of the night only to see blackness where you expect to see the outline of a window can feel jarring. And it’s pretty tough to rearrange all the furniture in a hotel or motel room to match it to however you sleep at home.

To combat these issues, I always pack eye masks and earplugs. The eye mask I use has a raised area on each side, which ensures the mask doesn’t rest against your eyeballs all night, which can cause discomfort. You won’t need to worry about accidentally opening your eyes and getting all weirded out in the middle of the night. It takes a bit of effort to take the eye mask off, which will give you enough time to regain your bearings should you feel odd about the room configuration.

Another item I take that’s related to sleep is a set of ear plugs. Well, actually, I take an entire box of ear plugs, because the ones I use are these mushy disposable ones that fit into your ear. If you’re at all vulnerable to noise, I recommend having some ear plugs, because you never know when you’ll end up getting a room that’s right on the street or that has thin walls and a noisy neighbor.

Power Converters & Plugs for International Travel

Over the years, I’ve bought a few different sets of plug converters so I can plug in my electronics wherever I go. Europe has an entirely different plug style and voltage level from the United States, and plugging some American electronics into plugs in Europe can mean disaster. Let me share an example from when I made my first international trip to England.

The plugs in one of the hotel rooms I stayed in when I visited London had this cool feature that allowed American-style plugs to fit into the wall. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that you had to have a dual voltage item for that plug, and I burned up my white noise machine the first night of my trip. Whoops! I almost also burned out my hair dryer, but I was savvy enough to figure that one out before I destroyed that item, too.

So, the moral of the story is always to check on the style of plugs in your destination country and get a plug converter and a voltage adapter if necessary. Note that some plugs don’t convert the voltage, so you have to look at the packaging or item description for that info. Also realize that some items don’t actually need a voltage adapter because they already run on both 110 and 220 plugs.

If you look on the side of a modern hair dryer, you’ll probably see a little wheel that you can rotate back and forth from 110 to 220. When you’re in another country that uses 220 voltage, just make sure the little wheel points toward that option. And then switch it back when you’re using 110 voltage plugs. In many cases, items like modern smart phones don’t need conversion. They run anywhere on anything, as long as you have the right plug for the wall socket.

Travel Towels for Airplane Travel & Swimming

I was convinced by an online advertisement to buy one of those huge travel towels that are supposed to work for a variety of places like the seat in your airplane, the deck chair by the pool, or anywhere that you want to have a thin coverup. I don’t normally find myself taken in by those advertisements, but I figured I’d try one out because of a pending trip.

When you fly in premium economy, the airline usually gives you a blanket, but you don’t always get one when you fly in regular economy. I figured I could try to use my towel as a blanket while on the airplane, as well as when I visited the beach during my trip. It turns out that the towel/blanket thing actually worked out exceedingly well, and the towel became something I always packed for trips.

Obviously, there are a lot of options out there for these sorts of towels, but if I was buying one again, I’d search for a towel that was both large yet easy to roll up into a small bunch. I’ve taken my towel in my personal item bag on my last few trips, and the small size of it has been pretty convenient. You just never know when an airplane will get cold, and it really helps to sleep, too, when you have a blanket over you, even if your seat is uncomfortable.

One thing to remember, though: if you do use your towel/blanket for drying off after you visit the pool or a body of water, try to make sure you have time to dry it before it has to get rolled up again in your bag. In the event you can’t avoid having a damp towel, just pack a small plastic bag (like one of the reusable ones from the grocery store), which you can use to wrap up the towel during travel.

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