Hi all! Happy Tuesday! This blog is a day late because we got 60-degree temperatures on Sunday, and we spent all day outside! It will be back down to typical “February in the Midwest” temps tomorrow, so we had to take advantage of it while we could! We took the dog for a long walk and Gene played with his new drone so he can be a pro at flying it before we take it on vacation. He has dreams of getting coastline shots from a bird’s eye view!
As you may have heard (😊), we will be headed to Costa Rica in about 2 weeks. We have started gathering all our travel gear and thought today would be a great time to walk through everything we travel with that we cannot live without. Amazon links below are NOT affiliate links, and none of these “reviews” are sponsored. The opinions are based on our usage of these items.
A good, checked luggage suitcase
We just purchased a new suitcase for this trip, so we have done luggage research very recently. We chose hard-shell over cloth. The newer hard-shell luggage is both lightweight and rugged, so we didn’t have to sacrifice weight for durability.
We looked at some of the higher-end luggage, with the thought that if we bought a really good suitcase, it would last us for years. We looked at the Away, Briggs & Riley, Solgaard (which is like a rolling closet – we really liked that one).
In the end we went with the Samsonite Wayfarer 3. Samsonite is a brand that has been around for as long as we can remember. They have a 10-year warranty and the Wayfarer 3 cost a third of what the other brands were asking. It is also really roomy inside!
A basic but well-made backpack
We try really hard not to bring wheeled carry-on luggage when we fly. Overhead bin space is both finite and a pain to use. We typically travel with backpacks only on the plane. We each have a really good, roomy backpack that we have had for years. Gene’s is a Swissgear that he bought at Sam’s Club about 12 years ago. Steph’s is a Nfinity backpack that our middle kid got as a cheerleader 4 years ago. That thing holds so…much…stuff!
Toiletry bag
Steph – being a girl – brings a lot of extra stuff on a trip: makeup, lotion, hairspray, etc. A good toiletry bag is harder to find than you would expect. Most toiletry bags just dump all of the items in one bag, forcing the user to dig through to find the thing they need.
Steph found a great hanging toiletry bag that allows full view of all of the items inside and will hang in the bathroom for easy access. It fits everything she needs for a week-long trip with room to spare. It folds up into a compact cube that fits easily into a backpack.
Packing cubes
We love packing cubes and literally cannot pack for a trip without them. Just trust us and buy them! You can pack so many more clothes when using packing cubes that without them.
Amazon has a ton of different options for packing cubes and honestly, they are all pretty much the same. Just make sure they are deep enough to hold a lot of clothing.
Steph also really likes this hanging packing cube. It goes straight from the suitcase to the closet for easy access. And it fits a ton if stuff!
Dry bag
We bought a dry bag for a snorkeling trip in Belize a few years ago, but we find that it is useful in a variety of places. A dry bag will keep your valuables safe from sand at the beach, dry around the pool, and, of course, dry when out on a boat.
Luggage scale
Any checked bag over 50 pounds is typically subject to a hefty overweight fee – up to $100 per bag! We used to use the highly sophisticated method of weighing Gene and then weighing Gene again while he holds our packed suitcase, and doing the math. But that doesn’t work as well when traveling back home, as most hotels and Airbnbs don’t provide a bathroom scale.
A luggage scale is a game changer. Just hook it on the suitcase handle and lift it off the ground. The scale will tell you how much the suitcase weighs so you won’t be that person opening your suitcase at check in to transfer things into your carry on.
Non-liquid toiletries
We did a review of shampoo and conditioner bars a few months ago (link here). Recently we also moved to toothpaste tablets. Full disclosure, we’re not in love with them, but they take up way less space in luggage and are much less messy than toothpaste tubes. We’ve never been clear on whether toothpaste counts as a liquid, so we’ve always put it in our checked luggage.
We use Bite toothpaste tablets (with fluoride), but there are quite a few options on the market, so feel free to explore and try a few!
Oofos sandals
If you haven’t tried Oofos sandals and shoes, you are missing out. They are like clouds for your feet. We both have several pairs and wear them almost exclusively when we travel. We can walk for miles in them without any foot or joint pain. They are pricey, but completely worth it.
We could go on (and will likely post a Part 2 with more things after our trip), but these are the top things on our list.
What are your favorite travel items? Let us know in the comments what you think of our list and what we missed!
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