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A to Z of Travel Essentials You Need for Your Holidays


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Whether you are a seasoned traveler or an infrequent traveler, there are always a handful of items that you’ll inevitably forget. Frustratingly, it’s always something that you can’t live without. For instance, I forgot my toothbrush last time. While you may get it from the hotel but some hotels like OYO Townhouse charge an exorbitant price for it. And that truly hurts.

Also, what you pack or rather not pack can make your journey a delight… or distressing. A neck pillow will leave you rested and refreshed after a long flight, while absence of comfy shoes will make you hunt for a shoe store as soon as you arrive in a new city.

Here’s the list of travel essentials from A to Z that you must never leave behind.

  • Apps on Your Smart Phone that help with maps, language, directions, time, money conversion, weather are a must. Other travel related apps like Airbnb, Skyscanner, Uber, Foursquare, Zomato, MakeMyTrip etc are a blessing too.
  • Backpack or an extra bag to keep a pair of clothes and other essentials with you and also for the gifts and goodies that you may buy for yourself and family.
  • Cash, Cheques, Cards – Credit/Debit
  • Document Wallet with Documents that holds all your travel related information for easy access.
  • Electronic Devices and their Chargers. Since I travel for work mostly, I even carry my hard drive along with laptop and sometimes projector too.
  • Footwear. Freaks like me not only carry sport shoes but heels and flip flops too.
  • Glue? Yes, it has a thousand uses, apart from sealing a flapping shoe sole and a cracked suitcase.
  • Headphones to not only cancel the noise around but also to listen to your favorite music in peace.
  • Insect Repellents are a must especially if you are out in the wild.
  • Journal to record your travel stories, adventures, memories and moments.
  • Kindle to read books.

A to Z of Travel Essentials You Need for Your Holidays

  • Lock to keep your valuables safe and also when your combination lock on the suitcase wouldn’t work.
  • Medicines, both prescription and over the counter drugs like antacids, anti-diarrheal, anti-allergic, bandages, motion sickness tablets, pain reliever, cough drops etc
  • Nail Clipper. I forgot it once, and borrowed a blade from the hotel and ended up cutting my finger.
  • One-Stop-Shop Tool and that’s the Swiss Army Knife. From filing nails to dealing with stuck zippers to cutting fruit, this is a complete toolkit in a pocket-size pack.
  • Personal Hygiene Items
  • Quick Drying, Anti-Microbial T-Shirts, UGs, Towels especially in humid climates where clothes might not dry all that fast.
  • Reusable Water Bottle… a simple step to take towards being more sustainable while traveling.
  • Sewing Kit and Safety Pins to mend a tear or loose button.
  • Torch
  • Universal Adapter Plugs
  • Very Positive Attitude. Ok, I made this up, but you need to have this in oodles when on the road.
  • Wet Wipes
  • Xtra UGs. You need them. Period.
  • Yoghurt. Ok, you need not carry this in your travel kit, but you must have it when traveling. Your tummy will certainly thank you for this.
  • Zip-Lock Bags to prevent the shampoo and conditioner bottles from leaking and also to keep mobiles and cameras safe from rains.

What are you favourite travel essentials that you wouldn’t travel without? Share with us in the comments below.

My theme for this year’s Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is Notes from the Road, which has my thoughts, views, experiences, tips, stories inspired by my years on the road.

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60 Responses

  1. Great. Would appreciate a blog post on items that are not allowed in carry on bags like liquids, scissors, blades, cigarette lighter, matches, and of course guns.

    1. Zip lock bags are pretty handy especially to protect gadgets from wet and humid weather and of course keeping other things safe from liquidy stuff! Thanks Debbie!

  2. While traveling, making list of things we will pack used to be the favorite activity of me and my siblings when we were kids. It did become a hot shot scoring list game on who will remember the most and whose list will be longest at a certain point. I felt nostalgic after reading this post.
    P.S. I too used to forget my toothbrush along with comb, but then husband happened (***giggling). I do revise these things in my head before leaving home. That is a great list.

    1. Aha! I can imagine the fun and banter while making these travel lists. Your husband helps with packing… lucky you!! 🙂

    1. Lists are life saviours, arent they!?! I always make a list before packing and includes listing clothes too. 😀

  3. This is indeed an exhaustive list. I keep forgetting my toothbrush exactly like the characters from ‘three men in a boat’. Almost every time I travel, I have to rush to a store to buy a toothbrush.Trust me on that. At times I use the airline pouch’s or hotel’s toothbrush but they usually have hard bristles that hurt my gums.
    Reusable water bottles and wet wipes are my angels, I use them whenever I travel abroad…I am very Indian about my toilet hygiene and can’t do with tissue, so they come in handy..once my Canadian friend was quite amused to see me carrying a plastic bottle inside the washroom, she just couldn’t figure out why I needed a plastic bottle inside the bathroom 😉
    Enjoying your posts a lot..looking forward to more.

    1. Oh yeah, they can never understand why we need plastic bottle in the loo 😀
      Thanks for sharing your must carry travel essentials, Balaka 🙂

  4. I do make a list of items for the travel before I start packing my bag, and list to Dorothy too.. Never thought of glue, sewing kit, torch and yogurt:) I will add this in my list.. thanks for sharing!

    1. That’s wonderful, Genevive. Making list before packing ensures that you dont forget anything.

  5. GREAT post thanks Shilpa! I’d add photocopies of all docs eg passport, ID,credit cards etc kept in separate place. Plus leaving that info with ‘someone’ .. I’ll check this list again and USE it. Lists are important 🙂

  6. this list seems too long to me… Actually, the only “essential” things are the passport and the money (or the way to have it). Almost anywhere in the world you can get the rest of things. Travel light!

    1. Yes, that’s another way of traveling. But there are things which you dont get or are over-priced in another city/country!

    1. Yes, we all have that anxiety before the travel. Thanks Rohan, glad you find this list useful.

    1. Thanks Melanie. Yes, it isnt easy but I managed, as you can see, I made up things for some of the letters 😀

  7. An extremely useful and complete list of essentials. It’s a cut and keep, actually. I am straightaway taking a printout of this. 🙂

  8. Good one Shilpa… a most exhaustive list and you have covered everything… I loved the ‘yoghurt’ bit.. to keep the tummy happy and relaxed is an important thought while travelling!

  9. Hi Shilpa,
    A comprehensive list indeed.
    May I add one item to your list? It may be considered primitive by the app generation but a little notebook with important phone numbers can be extremely handy when phones break down/get stolen/or just refuse to co-operate in an unknown place. It happened to me at Brihadisvara temple (one day I will write about it, perhaps).
    https://artismoments.blogspot.qa/2018/04/e-is-for-expresso-atozchallenge.html

    1. Oh yes, that’s so important considering that we dont remember phone numbers now-a-days. Thanks for sharing that, Arti 🙂

  10. Wonderful list. Nail clippers–I’d die without those! And the Swiss Army Knife–can’t bring that anymore because I never check baggage. Very sad about that.

  11. Whenever i travel I write everything and stick it somewhere, I guess i can take a printout of this and stick it now, instead of writing every time :P.

  12. If you were to choose any bag for traveling, I would recommend the Anti-Theft one from discountretailed.com – I’ve had mine for a while now and it has not failed me once! Plus the USB charging keeps my phone alive for days.

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