My Travel Favorites
13 things I bring on every trip, plus my 4 must-haves for traveling with kids & a couple rental house ideas, too...
I went on a really special trip earlier this month—one of my closest and oldest friends was celebrating a milestone birthday, and she invited her sisters and friends from all different parts of her life to spend a long weekend together at a beautiful beach house. It was a dream, basically—we ate lobster and scallops and we snorkeled and hung around by the pool, and like any group of women, we talked and talked and talked and talked. We talked about friendship and parenting teenagers and aging parents and skin care regimens. We talked about music and books and movies and travel, and of course we traded one million recommendations—that hair product Maria loves, those sunglasses that look so cute on both Kristi and Kara.
Of course, most of my recommendations were for books, cookbooks, and restaurants I think they should visit the next time they come to New York, but several of them were about travel stuff—my carry-on tote, the monogrammed makeup bag Aaron bought me in a travel-heavy season to make being away so much feel a little less tough.
Here’s something you might not know about me: I’m sort of famous in our friend group for being a very very light packer. I grew up traveling a lot, and for most of my adult life I traveled multiple times a month for work, so along the way I learned exactly what I needed and what I didn’t. I travel carry-on-only 90% of the time, and at this point I’m pretty picky about what I bring…
These are a handful of things that always, always make it into the bag:
Bag-all makeup case. I love this brand, and one Christmas Aaron got me a handful of their pieces all monogrammed with my initials. I was going into a travel season that I wasn’t looking forward to, to be honest, and those sweet little pink cases always felt like a little love letter from home—just seeing them on the hotel bathroom counter lifted my heart a little bit. These also make excellent gifts—who wouldn’t love a refresh on their travel makeup case, especially with a monogram?
Cal-Pak—the absolute best carry on. I did a lot of research to find a carry on that had all the things I wanted: a slide-on strap that you can slide over the handle of your suitcase to keep it from slipping off, a laptop pocket, an outside pocket for a water bottle, a zippered inside pocket. It has all those plus a shoe pocket underneath, and it’s really big, so it feels like I can almost double what I’m bringing when I use it.
Cincha strap to secure your carry-on tote to your suitcase. The only drawback to the Cal-Pak bag is that it’s not always the bag I want to carry once I get where I’m going—it’s perfect for the airport, etc., but a little big/puffy for a day bag to carry out & about in a city. When I want to bring a lighter weight tote for that reason, I swear by the Cincha. A couple years ago, a friend of mine brought these for all of us at a favorite things party, and it’s so, so helpful because you can secure any tote to the handle of your suitcase.
Cozy cardigan This isn’t the exact one I have, but I think it’s pretty close. Not only do I wear a super cozy cashmere cardigan nearly 100% of the time I’m at home, I bring one with me every trip I go on, no matter the time of year or temperature of the destination. Hotels rooms are always cold, especially at night, and the sweater can double as a cozy pillow on the plane, and also it’s the perfect warm layer when you want to sit outside for morning coffee or an evening glass of wine. My go-to cardigan was a gift, and it’s nearing something like security blanket status in my life.
Lightweight water bottle Please don’t kill me for not being a Stanley girl—I do have one, and I also love a Yeti especially, but they’re too heavy to lug through airports. One of my favorite places to stay gives you bottles like these in your room to refill at water stations around the property, and I’ve fallen in love with them—lightweight, durable, the perfect thing for traveling.
Extra tote I mean, I don’t even go to the coffee shop on the corner without an extra tote—YOU KNOW I’m not traveling without one. Yes, I do pack light, but I always have another tote in case of shopping ;)
Kindle For my purposes (reading! Reading is my purpose!), the Kindle/Kindle app/e-book is the greatest technological advancement of my lifetime. Being able to have an unlimited amount of books all in one tiny device brings me so, so much joy.
Extra brick charger Have we discussed the fact that one of Aaron’s great passions in life is charging solutions? Nothing makes him happier than having the right charger for the right situation, and he makes sure I always have this one charged and with me before I head out the door.
Perfume sample/discovery sets like this one or this one. I love these for two reasons—first, what a great way to test a fragrance before committing to a whole bottle, and also I love them for travel, both to wear and to freshen up the scent of a stale hotel room.
Burt’s Bees wipes I use these all the time at home to remove makeup and also I always keep them in my carry on to refresh my skin after a flight but also they work to clean up a spill or stain, too.
Uniqlo crossbody I think every single woman in New York has one of these. I use mine all the time, and I’ve given them as gift exchange gifts and they’ve been a hit every time. The perfect size, super light weight, perfect for both airport and city adventures, also great for a walk on the beach or a bike ride.
Uniqlo puffer Another Uniqlo favorite—the perfect lightweight but warm layer, and it fits into its own little bag, so you can tuck it in your crossbody have it with you all day.
Cozy socks Same as the cardigan: hotels are often so cold and I’m always happy to have a pair of cozy socks with me.
With kids:
Question Book My children pretend they’re mortified every time I pull out the question book, but I’m not kidding you when I tell you that just last night we were introducing my brother-in-law to our favorite neighborhood pizza place & Henry asked if I brought the question book. It’s a guaranteed tone-changer around the table, especially when teenager energy is flagging.
Zip Chip There was a season in our family when we carried baseball gloves and a ball with us everywhere we went—that was kind of an unwieldy way to do things, but it means we’ve played catch in parks and parking lots, in cities and small towns, on beaches and in fields, and those are some of my best memories. Once Aaron discovered the Zip Chip, the tote got a lot lighter (phew!) but the running around and the memory-making continues.
Allll the snacks in a tote with lots of outer pockets: I mean, of course I love a tote made of recycled sail cloth, and this one with external pockets is my favorite one for road trips—I fill the outside pockets with each of our water bottles and also a bag for trash, and then the inside is full of apples, nuts, chips, fruit leather.
Mini notebooks and pens that don’t explode on planes. Another one of those parenting things that I thought was just for little kids but is definitely for teenagers and even grown-ups. How many times have I handed a little stack of notebooks and pens down the line—of a pew at church, of our seats on a flight or a train, during a long wait at a train station or airport? One million times at least.
Also: I always throw in swimsuits for all of us, no matter the weather—and tbh, when I’m traveling with the kids, I always make sure I have a baseball cap, a hoodie, cozy socks and sunglasses that the kids could wear in a pinch, because as much as I hope they follow the packing list I write out, somehow there’s always something they decided not to include :)
Things to Bring to a Rental House:
Especially when we’re arriving late-ish at night, I’m always glad when I bring the basics with us: cheese & crackers, fruit & nuts, wine & sparkling water, coffee & cream, bread & butter for toast. You can do the big shop in the morning, as long as you have those essentials.
And before you do the big shop, look around for storage/tupperware-ish options…I feel like rental houses rarely have them, so either pack or pick up plastic wrap or large and small ziplocs with the rest of your groceries. Also look for coffee filters, a wine opener, and salt & pepper, and if you can’t find them, add those to the list, too.
I’m not quite at the point where I bring my own cutting board, chef’s knife and favorite pan to a rental house, but there have been a handful of times when I’ve wished I had, so if you’re driving and have space in the car, think through what things from your own kitchen would make you feel really at home and comfortable in a new kitchen—I have a friend who travels with a robust basket of condiments, and I respect it!
Weekends away—especially someplace kind of cozy and upstate—make me feel a little nostalgic, so often my grocery list for those weekends has things like slice & bake cookies, pizza rolls and weird flavors of potato chips…not that I grew up with those things, because I grew up in an extremely healthy health-food house, but they remind me of sleepovers snacks, which I think is just exactly the right vibe for a weekend getaway.
One of my favorite things about being in a new place is shopping at a new grocery store, and I especially like to peek around at the local favorites—does the deli section have ham salad or pierogis or pimento cheese? Does the bakery have king cake or kolaches? Venison jerky? Tamales? If there’s anything handmade or locally made, I’m 100% buying it. What else is travel for?!
Bonus: if you travel for work a lot, here are two things I’ve learned to make it more manageable:
Keep home stuff and travel stuff separate. Here’s what I mean: there was a stretch when I traveled every weekend for a speaking tour, and one of the ways I kept myself sane was by wearing the same things every trip, and never wearing those clothes at home. When I got home, I emptied my suitcase straight into the laundry, and then repacked the suitcase as soon as everything was clean. I also got two sets of toiletries and makeup, which may seem a little excessive in the moment, but if you think about it, you’ll eventually use up both sets, right? It felt soooo good to have all my travel makeup and toiletries always ready to go, and all my home stuff unpacked and easy to get to.
Make routines for as many parts of your travel as possible. Here’s an example—again, this may sound extreme, but for that speaking tour, I was leaving town every Friday morning and returning every Saturday night or Sunday morning. I priced out a car service and it wasn’t substantially more than an Uber, and I requested the same driver for every pick-up and drop-off. What that meant is that the same lovely man (Hi Larry!) picked me up and dropped me off about a million times that fall and we developed such a great friendship over those months, and the sense of relief and familiarity that I felt every time he pulled into the driveway made an intense season a little easier.
Okay, bonus-bonus: if you’ve made it this far and you’re like, excuse me, ma’am, what are you talking about? I’m here for reading and eating recommendations! then here you go:
One book I’ve loved recently: The Girls in Queens by Christine Kandic Torres. Catherine Newman recommended it in her latest Crone Sandwich newsletter , and I find that I always love the books she recommends. It’s a beautifully written story about women and friendship and growing up, and also it has a sub-theme about race and representation and Mets baseball that I especially loved.
And one grocery item I’m really into these days: Little Sesame hummus—super smooth texture and lots of great flavors. I’m especially into the Preserved Lemon and Herby Jalapeño flavors.
Okay, phew! Have a lovely spring break, traveling or not—I hope whatever you do includes a great book, a cozy sweater, lots of laughter & at least one nostalgic snack :) XO—S