Travelling for the first time, by yourself or with someone else, can be scary. Even more so when you’re not sure what to pack, what you need and what you don’t need. I know when I went on a trip for the first time, I was so confused about what to bring with me so I thought this week, we could go through my top 10 travel essentials. Of course, if you’re an experinced traveller, I’m sure you will also have certain things that you love to take abroad or even just for road trips in your own country so hopefully this can give you some fresh ideas that maybe you haven’t thought about or maybe for a first time traveller, it can help you feel a little bit more at ease about what to bring. Let’s get started:

1.  The first thing for me has got to be my Kindle. I bought one before I went to Croatia in 2023 and it was brilliant. I used it everywhere, however before going on our last trip I realised that I couldn’t actually find it anywhere. My plan was to buy a new one before going to Morocco, however, my parents were kind enough to surprise me with one at the end of May. This was honestly so unexpected and I was very grateful for it. Since then, I have mainly been using it for non-fiction books as I feel that they are cheaper on there. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a proper book. I have always been the one to say books are better than a kindle and I still firmly stand by that. They are much better but when you’re not in one place, they can become more of a hinderance as you have to carry more with you, find book exchanges that are in English or a language that you understand. Whereas with a kindle, you can just download whatever book you like, whenever you like and read as you go along so this is something that comes everywhere with me and I will definitely be keeping tighter tabs on this one than the last one. 

                2.  A good water bottle! Now I used to have one with a water filter in it but it was plastic, didn’t really hold a lot of water and honestly, broke after about 3 months of use which just wasn’t really what I wanted or needed. So Dave and I bought new water bottles from Decathlon about 2-3 months ago and honestly, we are obsessed. We use them all the time, take them everywhere and when we go travelling, they come with us. It just makes it so much easier as you don’t have to keep spending money on water bottles. Especially if you’re in a country that has not got safe drinking water, you just buy a couple of very large bottles of water, you can usually buy 5l ones for very cheap, and then just use that to fill your water bottle up every day. Saves so much hassle and stress and honestly, I do think it is one of the best things you can take with you when you go abroad. I have only ever gone on 3 trips without a water bottle and I have missed my bottle every time. It is also really beneficial if you’re staying somewhere that doesn’t have a kitchen as then you have something to drink from the second you get there. 

3.   The next one is kind of random, but this is one of my favourites. A good bumbag / fanny pack / a small bag that goes over your shoulder, whatever you want to call it really. I bought my one before going to Peru and I think it has been one of the best and my favourite travel purchase that I have ever made. It carries so much and because it’s so tight to your body, it’s really hard to steal. It is brilliant. I have pictures of me carrying mine in Peru, in Holland, in Paris, in Slovakia, I honestly just take it absolutely everywhere with me and I think I’d be lost without it. For reference, I don’t carry mine around my waist, it’s always over my shoulder. So my one has a pocket at the back, an inside pocket of the big compartment and then another pocket at the front. Typically for the airport, I keep my passport, my card wallet, my phone, my kindle, my headphones, a snack, plasters and a portable charger in my bumbag and there’s still plenty of room, its not saggy or aching on my shoulder, it is so useful. My one also has a clip just inside to attach my water bottle strap to as well so I don’t have to carry that if I don’t want to. If you take one thing from my list, let it be this! 

4. This may not be essential for everyone but for me, I definitely think this is beneficial, I use a passport cover. I know a lot of people use these to make their passports look nice and it can be a pain when you have to take the cover off every time you go to the airport but this isn’t so much of an issue for me. I personally love having this as I have other documents that go with my passport, for example, a UK health insurance card and a yellow fever vaccination certificate, it also means that when you do have luggage, the extra sticker that they give you, you can just stick it on the inside of your passport cover and dispose of it when you no longer need it rather than it ruining the back of your passport. I find it easier just to keep all of it together at all times and so having these all tucked inside my passport cover means that there’s very little risk of them falling out and I know where all my travel documents are. My one is a bit old and battered now and I will definitely be getting a new one soon but for now, this is the one that I use, I think its just a cheap one off Shein that I bought years ago. You can get them anywhere though so the link is for a similar one on Amazon as I no longer shop on Shein.

5. A lanyard or cord that attaches your phone to you in some way. Now this is only for a specific type of people and I don’t use mine as much anymore but I cannot tell you how helpful this was for me in the past. I am the type of person that constantly loses my phone when I have had a few drinks, I have actually left it on the floor in the street before and my fiancé had to go back and find it for me. I was incredibly lucky that an honest young man found it and returned it to us. Because of this, when I went clubbing in Peru, I made sure to buy a cord that attaches to my phone case and then also attaches to me in some way, usually on the belt loop on jeans. This meant that no one could steal it because it was literally attached to me and I couldn’t put it down somewhere and lose it. I actually went out one night in Peru and didn’t take my cord with me and my friend ended up keeping hold of my phone most of the night as, even after only knowing me for 2 weeks, they knew I couldn’t be trusted with it! If you’re like me, I really recommend getting one of these. It was such a lifesaver. I don’t go clubbing as much anymore, even less in other countries but if ever I do, either my fiancé keeps hold of my phone, or I dig out my old cord and use that again as better safe than sorry. 

6. A small RFID coin purse or card wallet. So for those who don’t know, RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, basically, people can use electromagnetic fields to automatically track data and information without physical contact. This means that people can steal your bank details without ever taking your card. So we use RFID blocking card wallets so that our cards are safe from all of this. Where we live, it’s not such a problem as we live in a very quiet village, however, we do use them whenever we go abroad or into any major cities to protect ourselves. This is something that doesn’t cost much money and you may never need it but it’s something you won’t know you do until you need it and by that point, it’s probably too late. So I would definitely recommend one of these. 

7. A universal adapter. I cannot tell you how beneficial this has been for me. Don’t just get one for each individual country/continent. Spend the money and buy a universal one. This is brilliant, I have used it in every country I have been to and love it so much. I bought mine in Peru so I can’t post the link for mine specifically but this one is just from Amazon. I got mine for probably around £55, it has lasted me since 2022 and I have used it in 16 countries so definitely worth the money. My reason for preferring a universal one over multiple different little ones is that for starters, my adapter that I took to Peru was just a cheap one that would only work in that area of the world and it broke within 2 days of being there. As well as this, if you’re someone like me that wants to go everywhere, then you have to have multiple different adapters for lots of different countries or continents so it is just really useful to have one big one that works for everywhere.

8. A small, waterproof jacket. When you’re travelling with very minimal luggage, you don’t want to have you coat take up such a large amount of space. I bought mine, again, before going to Peru in 2022. I paid a fair bit of money for it at the time, I think around £150 or something? But it has gone everywhere with me. I have used it on every trip I have been on since then and I use it around the UK too. It folds up really small and is very lightweight. It is windproof and waterproof, I think it did say thermal on the page when I bought it but I can’t say for certain as I haven’t had to wear it in really cold weather yet. But it does definitely keep you warm when it is wet and chilly outside. I feel like there’s almost a bit of a debate as to whether it’s better to get a waterproof jacket and then layer up underneath when its cold or to get a warm and waterproof jacket. Honestly, I think I fall on the side of warm and waterproof in one because if you’re packing light and don’t really have that many layers, when the weather turns then you’re going to get cold and if its raining but its warm then, I don’t mind getting wet. Depending on the situation of course but I think, if its nice and warm weather but there’s rain, I’d rather just not wear a jacket at all and then keep my waterproof for when its cold and wet. You have to just decide what works for you in your situation and what you are happy with, this is just my opinion. I have not linked my original coat as I have searched the internet so many times and cannot find the one I bought years ago however, this one is with a reputable brand and honestly looks really nice to I would definitely give this one a try. 

9. SNACKS! I am the type of person to always have food in my bag. If you need a snack, I will always have something, especially in airports or when I’m out on a day trip of some sort. Breakfast bars, chocolate snack, bit of fruit, protein bar, whatever you like, bring something with you. One of the worst things is when you’re on a long travel day and haven’t got any food and then you get to where you’re going, or you get to your next train stop and there is no food there. I know I can be the girl that gets hangry so I am always making sure we have something with us whenever we go anywhere for long periods of time. I feel like a lot of people do this when they have kids but no one ever considers doing it for themselves which is crazy to me but bring a snack box, a meal deal, whatever it is that you like. I promise, it will come in handy! Its usually better to bring something non-perishable as then if you don’t eat it that day, it can stay in your bag or your coat pocket and it’ll be fine for the next time you go out. It can also save you money on buying loads of random bits here and there because you’re hungry. We learnt this the hard way, when we went to Slovakia, we had a long-ish train journey to Brno in Czechia and had to get up early for it so we didn’t eat breakfast and just jumped straight on the train with no food. We were so hungry by the time we got to the next city that we ran to the nearest food place we could find, which was a Burger King, of course. After eating, we then started walking around this christmas market and they had some amazing food but we were too full to eat much of it because of the fast food we had just eaten. If we had been prepared and had some snacks on the train, we would have saved ourselves money and would have got to enjoy the traditional foods instead of Burger King. Since then, I make sure we have snacks on every train, bus, plane, even long car journeys. It has really helped us and hopefully, it will help you too.

 10. Our final thing on this list is a portable charger. Now I cannot say how many times this has helped me over the years. A lot of the time, we are using my phone for things like maps, translate or as a camera and the battery just drains so quickly. Keeping one of these in my bag just means I don’t then have to worry about wandering around an unknown place with a dead phone. Again, I learned this one the hard way too. My best friend and I were on a beach in Croatia, when some girls came up and invited us on a party boat, this was around 1pm and the boat left a 2pm. We really wanted to go but neither of our phones had much battery in them and so we had to go back to the hotel, charge our phones and by the time we would have made it back to the beach, it was too late as the party boat would have already left. We were so disappointed and after that, I just made sure to always carry a portable charger with me so that we wouldn’t miss out again. I haven’t added a picture or a link for this one as, to be honest, I haven’t found a good portable charger to recommend. I have gone through so many and am never fully happy with them. I have noticed that they either don’t last long, get too hot, don’t charge your phone very well, there’s so many things. If anyone has any recommendations for good portable chargers, please leave a comment for me.