Travel Preparations – What You Need to Know!

“A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” is quote from ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. There are several different meanings to this quote, but I thought that it was fitting for this post because I will be discussing my Travel Essentials that I find useful when I travel. Memorial Day typically starts off summer travel season! I will be returning to my beloved Italy on May 27th for our 3rd year anniversary! I feel getting your travel essentials together is one of the first steps in preparing for an upcoming trip whether you are going across state or across country! In this post, I show you what some of my favorite travel essentials that I like to bring whenever I travel and discuss travel preparations!

Before I go on any trip, I love to do my research on the area and what is there to see, do, eat and enjoy! I do not make a detailed, daily schedule of what we will do each day. But its more like creating “wish lists”- meaning what all would we like to do while in that particular city. I do my research online as well as occasionally will buy a travel book and Rick Steves’ one of the bests! Our trip to Italy includes going back to the Amalfi Coast and spending more time there!

The other MUST HAVE when traveling, especially in Europe, is a Luggage Scale. I bought mine from Stein Mart for $6.99. This is a quick easy way to check the weight of your luggage to avoid overweight fees and it comes with a tape measure too to avoid oversize fees. The scale shows both kilo and pounds. Another item that I bought from Stein Mart (not shown) is an Inflatable Neck Pillow from Lewis & Clark. I love this convenience of inflating a soft pillow and when you land, you can quickly and quietly deflate it and put in your purse. Its a pillow that does not take up space and great for well you are on buses and train too. Only $5.99!

My next item is simple and its a coin purse. When you travel to Europe, you will notice that their currency includes a lot of coins. 1 euro & 2 euro are both coins. I find it easer to have separate coin purse for my foreign currency to keep it separate from my US currency. This coin purse I got from Target $5.00! I like this one because it is a soft material and can easily fit in your pant pocket.

Soft Coin purse for foreign currency

Another Item I like to have a little makeup bag for smaller items such as lip glosses, liners, lipsticks, nail polish, etc. It is nice to keep them all together in a little bag in case you want quickly switch purses. This cute bag I bought at H&M in-store for $5.99! I love the phrase on it!

When I travel I always bring different color options for nail polish! I love Revlon & KIKO Milano. Try to bring about 2-3 options that I know would look good with the majority of the clothes that I am bringing. Its a good idea to bring some for touch ups. I don’t bring a bottle of nail polish remover, but buy nail polish remover pads/wipes. Ulta carries some starting at $1.49

An absolutely MUST when I travel is to bring USB hub to charge all my devices! In Europe most rooms do not have a lot of sockets. So these hubs that you can find at Staples allows you to use 1 socket and charge all of you devices. You can find some as little as $6.00!

4-Port USB hub

In the previous photo, you saw two skinny devices. These are called Portable Power Banks. Because most of the time on vacation, you are out and about and not at a place or hotel where you can charge your phone. Having a power bank is quiet convenient for you charge your devices while on the go. Best Buy carries them as little as $8.00. I highly recommend purchasing one.

The other item that I recommend to anyone traveling where you will be near water (i.e. beach, boating, lakes) is getting a dry bag. Dry bag is basically exactly how it sounds – keeping your items dry. They come in various sizes and there are some that can be fully submersed in water and everything in the inside will stay dry. I bought mine from DICKS Sporting Goods for about $10.00. It came is 3 different sizes and what is shown in the picture is the smallest size.

A must have on a trip is always a good hat to keep the sun out! Most of my hats I buy from either Forever 21 or Agaci for under $15! My striped one is my favorite because its floppy with no hardness so I can easily pack it in my bag without worry about it getting smushed. Hats with shape I tend bring them on the plane or just wear them to keep its shape.

So you have 4 different pairs of sunglasses that you want to bring along the trip because there are some sunglasses that will match better with certain outfits that you are bringing along. But bringing multiple sunglasses on a trip can be stressful because you are constantly worried about it breaking or where to leave it especially when traveling overseas. Don’t you wish someone created a light weight carrier for multiple sunglasses?!?!?

Well someone did! I stumbled across this on Ebay when trying to search to see if anyone created something like this. I have bought quite a few sunglasses and I needed somewhere to store them safely when traveling.  I found a couple of boxes online, but I don’t believe they are travel friendly.

Portable Sunglasses travel box

However, this is cute box is made of faux leather and you have the options of white, black or brown.  Go to the link for specific measurements on the box and spaces. To help give you a better perspective, I took a picture with a Kleenex box next to it as well as a bottle of nail polish. This item is shipped from China. I have ordered plenty of things from China without any worries. Shipping was great with this company. It came 8 days early so I received it in 12 days from the day I placed my order. This price was only about $20 USD!!!

It is light weight yet sturdy. I believe my makeup bag actually weighs more than this box with my sunglasses in side. The top part is plastic and not glass but still pretty sturdy. All my sunglasses fits in there comfortable and I have a couple of sunglasses considered oversized that fit just fine!

Headbands I always bring because its a nice way to change up your look and its great when you go on boat rides/tour! I love boats, but it gets windy on boats and sometime we look like a peacock with hair flying every which way. Headbands are a good way to tame your mane without having to opt to tie your hair up or tied back in a ponytail. All my headbands I buy from H&M and Forever 21!

Now we all love those cute little shampoo and conditioner bottles that we have in our hotel rooms, but let’s face it…sometimes they are not the best products for our hair even if we are staying in a nicer hotel. OGX has a great line of products for your hair and you ca find these smaller bottles in the travel section of Target and near the registers at Ulta. They are about $2.99 This one is my favorite especially when I know i will be going to the beach or pool. There is the matching conditioner as well.

OGX Coconut Water Shampoo

If perhaps you have a particular shampoo or conditioner that does not come in travel sizes, I buy these travel container kits in the travel size section of Target!  You can use this containers for your favorite shampoo or facial creams so that what you do not have to bring the entire bottles adding weight and taking up space. It comes in a TSA ready clear bag which I love because it is zip to close instead of the pinch to close bags that you get at the airport.

Lastly, my favorite travel essential is a mirror and facial wipes. I love this mirror that you  can find at any beauty store such as Sally’s Beauty Supply. I bring in my carry-on because I always redo my makeup right before landing in Europe since we always land around 9am in the morning. I like to have a fresh face-camera ready face! 🙂 The blue handle is sturdy allowing for the mirror to stand up on its own. In this way, I do not have to hold the mirror with one hand and makeup on another.  I use the makeup remover for the plane ride when I redo my makeup or after a long day sightseeing! You can find these makeup removers at Target, Ulta or Walmart in the travel/trial size sections for under $2.00.

I hope you found this post very helpful! Please comment below and let me know if we share similar travel essentials! For more travel tips as well as fashion inspo, sign up for my newsletter on the side of my page. And as always….

Stay fresh + FIERCELY you!

P.S. Let’s meet up on Instagram and Twitter!

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