Travel: My carry-on flight essentials

With
another long haul, multi city trip ahead of us, I’ve been starting to plan the
things that are essential for travelling, mostly by plane but we’ll also be travelling by train and grayhound too. There are things I won’t leave behind
but go in my checked in luggage (no – I am not a 40 weeks in a carry on kind of
girl) and there are some things that I’ll make sure I have with me on the plane (train, automobile)
and in the airport.



Because
the flights on this trip are with BA we get two carry on bags (for women it’s a travel bag and
a handbag, for me a travel bag and laptop bag I think) which is really useful.
It means I can make sure I have my essentials with me and organised. 90% of the
stuff I take with me will be in my rucksack, and then I’ll keep a few of the
bits I need to keep close to me in my handbag and I like to make sure that my
handbag will fit in my rucksack if needs be. This also means I have bag options
on holiday without having to pack loads of them.



What I
keep in my handbag.



The
handbag I use most often is this soft, black leather, JL handbag. It has a long
strap for across body and a short one for shoulder action. It’s got a couple of
zip pockets inside and a clasp on the top. It’s big enough to keep my camera
in, but not huge.



Day to
day at home it’s full of all sorts of rubbish. It’s a handbag. It collects crap.
But at the airport it’ll be really empty. It’ll just contain:



  • Passport & tickets (if not on my phone)
  • purse,
  • phone,
  • Ipod (yes I know it’s from the dark ages but it still works) & headphones
  • flight liquids bag.



All
these bits need to be easy to get to so having them here means no looking
through a back pack for them.  



My
flight liquids bag (you should always grab extra of these when you’re at the
airport and they are free) is never very full but has all the essentials in it:



  • Moisturiser decanted into a little pot. Flights are so urg for skin aren’t they.
  • Lipbalm. I always forget to take one out of my pocket though and get beeped at security.
  • Pepstart. If you haven’t tried this yet. It feels amazing.
  • Vitamin E face spray (this is decanted from a big bottle) 
  • Under eye concealer. Just for a quick touch up at the airport at the other end so I don’t look dead.
  • Mini deodorant. Not for use of the plane, obviously. But that time waiting for luggage at the other end needs spending somehow. 
  • Rollerball perfume. No-one wants to get out of the airport smelling stuffy.
  • Toothbrush and toothpaste.
  • Hairbrush.
  • Invisibobbles.
  • Painkillers and IBS tablets. I keep them all in this little advil tube so they don’t take up much room.




What I
keep in my Rucksack.

I picked up this super cute bag from a French company called G-Ride. I think it might have popped up in my pinterest feed at some point. It’s probably not the most practical bag to travel with as its not go loads of pockets but I love it.  
When it comes to packing it – First
up I add in my tech stuff. There are somethings I’d rather have with me than
checked in.
  • Laptop and charger – I love my Surface Pro as it’s so light and small. It takes up no room what so ever.

  • SLR and lenses in a padded case – this one fits a couple of lenses and general other crap in it!

  • Phone charger & plug – Loads of places have USB points now though.

  • Kindle – I’m debating putting my books on my laptop for the trip, but  then again might just take the Kindle. It’s stocked up with some books that have a theme of the places we’re visiting. I thought that fitting.
  • Instax printer & film (I don’t want to risk putting it through the big bag scanners)

Then I
have a few other essentials that just get thrown in where even they will slide
in. It’s like bag tetris in there.
  • Sunnies – these are a must have summer or winter. Especially long haul.

  • Scarf – weight depending on location. Whatever the weather it’ll be useful on the plane as a pillow, cover up, bib if you’re a messy eater and wearing white (never wear white on a flight!)

  • Beanie – a must have for a winter flight

  • Eye sleep mask (I forgot to photograph it but it’s a freebie from a past flight)

  • Empty water bottle to fill post security / pre flight. I drink so much water I can only imagine how annoyed the plane staff would get with me binging them.

  • Notepad and pen.

  • Spare undies. 1 if you’ve got a long flight there is nothing better than fresh clothes. 2 if your bag gets lost at least you have one pair!

And written down like that it seems like a ton of stuff goes in my travelling bags but I promise you it’s not that much stuff in real life.

What are your flight essentials?

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