Headache Free Travel Packing Guide Part 3: What to Pack in Your Carry-on Bag

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According to the annual report published by airline IT and telecommunications provider SITA in 2017, about 6 in 1o00 checked in bags are mishandled every year. Although this may seem a small number, the chances of this happening go up when you are making a connection, with the report stating that 47% of all bags that were mishandled were being transferred.

When you travel, there’s a chance that you might have to deal with the inconvenience of not having your checked baggage for a bit. This highlights the importance of being able to survive in travel situations with just a carry-on bag. Thus, here is a list of 8 absolute must-have travel essentials you need in your carry on to survive any travel situation!

1. Passport Protector – Keep Important Documents Safe

Is a passport protector necessary? Let me make the case for it. Passport protectors make your travel so much easier.

Firstly, they offer protection to your passport against wear and tear and accidental spills. Secondly, it makes it easy for you to identify your passport in your carry on bag.

In addition, they make your passport look chic and sleek and allows you to carry and organize all your other important documents.

The Kraft Paper Passport Protector ticks all these boxes as it is made from durable Kraft Paper – a material that is also water resistant. The passport protector also looks sleek with its modern aesthetic and color tone.

2. Daily Medicine – Stay Healthy

This goes without saying, but you’ll need to carry the daily medication you need on the flight. It’s better to be safe than sorry, as there’s no telling what may happen before the flight, on the flight and when you reach the other country.

Just be sure not to bring liquid medications in containers that are more than 100ml in capacity. For your pills and solid medication, there is no such restriction.

3. Valuables & Money – Keep it Safe

We would recommend that you keep your valuables and money on your being while traveling, as you would need ready access to it in case you lose access to your checked in luggage. Not to mention the risk that you take when you leave all your money in the checked in luggage.

To mitigate the risk of carrying all this money and valuables on your person. Split them up into at least 3 different bags. For example, you could store some money in your check-in bag, put some money into your wallet and keep some money in your passport protector so that you would not lose everything at one go.

4. Vacuum Tumbler – Keep Hydrated

Be sure to bring a Vaccum Tumbler on your flight to stay hydrated. Although flights will be serving you water and drinks on the plane, we would advise against asking for water in-flight. The water that is served to you onboard will have the tendency to be filled will bacteria, as the water tanks that store the water in the flight and not cleaned very frequently. I’ll rather not take the risk and bring my own bottle of on the flight. Be sure to empty out the bottle before check-in and head over to the water coolers in the departure hall where more regular cleaning and maintenance is carried out.

Once you’ve touched down, you can use the tumbler to store hot and cold drinks that will stay at the same temperature, warming you up and cooling you down respectively.

5. Pen For All The Customs Forms – Don’t be That Person

Unless you want to find yourself scrambling on the flight and be the one always asking for a pen, bring a nice reliable one on your flight. Aside from the customs forms that you need to fill when entering or departing countries, you can use the pen to doodle, write or do that sudoku puzzle in-flight. Carrying convenient writing material is always useful, so stay prepared.

6. Change of Clothes – Emergency Wardrobe Change

Remember to bring a change of clothes and underwear as you may not know how long before you are away from the check-in luggage. Minimally, the change of clothes will last you two or three days until you have time to go out to buy more clothes or hopefully get your luggage back. Also, spills and accidents might happen during the flight and your journey there so you’ll have something readily available to change into.

7. Portable Charger – Keep Your Phone Alive

In the modern day and age, it is hard to survive without a smartphone. This modern marvel is a great travel companion as it can be used to take notes, navigate, check your flight details, store your itinerary and more. However, your phone will be just a useless brick without power. You never know how long more before you can access the next charger so why not bring one yourself and eliminate the uncertainty. Personally, I carry a Xiaomi Powerbank as it is durable, reliable and value for money.

8. Noise Cancelling Headphones – You Deserve Peace

Crying babies, the rumble of the airplane, people having conversations like it was their own home – all this can disturb the peace and serenity of your flight.

But what if you could cancel all this noise and revel in the peace of a quiet flight? You deserve peace, block out the wailing of the babies at the opposite seat with a great pair of noise-canceling headphones. If I didin’t know better I would think this is magic. Here’s how the technology works.

Noise canceling headphones have a microphone in the earpiece that detects ambient noise. The electronics in the headphones than produce a sound wave that counteracts the ambient noise without reducing the levels of the audio you want to hear. This means you can also listen to music at lower volumes which is great for your ear health.

Normally, these types of headphones are usually really expensive due to the noise canceling technology, but the IV190 Lite Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones retails for just $69.90!

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With this packing list, you’ll be able to conquer the hiccups that happen on your travels and have a more relaxing and smooth flight.

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