Planning your family adventure and actually booking the flight that will deliver you to your destination can be simple enough, but when it comes to packing up your suitcase, you might find yourself dithering over items that you really don’t need to take with you. Despite the fact that most of us will find room in our suitcases for toiletries that we’d have access to in our hotel room anyway, we frequently forget about some of the most important must-have vacation accessories out there.
Regardless of where you’re headed, the following must-have vacation accessories will help you to get the most out of your next trip.
1. A Travel Umbrella
If you’re flying to an exotic destination, you might convince yourself that a durable, windproof travel umbrella is the last thing you’re going to need. However, when it comes to must-have vacation accessories, umbrellas are a great choice. After all, you can’t be sure what the weather’s going to be like when you arrive in your destination, and the last thing you want to spend money on is an overly-expensive and flimsy souvenir umbrella that you’re never going to use again.
2. A Power Strip
Struggling to find a place where you can charge up all your essential devices at the airport, or in your hotel? A multi-socketed power strip with a universal plug adapter will help to share the juice from a single outlet amongst your various pieces of tech. What’s more, plugging all of your electronics into the same place should mean that you’re less likely to leave one behind.
3. Duct Tape
Perhaps not the most glamorous of must-have vacation accessories, duct-tape is more useful than we often give it credit to be. From patching up a broken part on your exploded luggage to getting rid of the unwanted lint that gathered on your clothing, duct-tape is a great all-purpose tool. Carrying a small roll with you will give you everything you need to baby-proof a hotel room, patch tears in bags or clothing, and hold together a guidebook when the spine falls apart.
4. Moist Wipes
You don’t have to be a mom to think that these wipes are a good idea. Not only can hygienic wipes act as a great way to sanitize your hands when you’re too far away from a sink, but they can also kill the germs left on doorknobs, tray tables, and other public places. You can even use them as a refreshing face cloth after spending a day traveling.
5. Safety Pins
Safety pins are one of the best multi-functional must-have vacation accessories, they can be used to close the zippers of your backpack together so as to offer extra protection against thieves, or you might use one to fix your clothes when you lose a button or zipper pull. The chances are that if you have a couple of safety pins handy, you’ll find a good use for them.
6. A Tote Bag
Finally, many stores charge extra for single-use plastic bags in foreign countries, thanks to a global effort to reduce waste around the world. An expandable tote bag will mean that you can store your souvenirs without paying out extra cash. What’s more, you can use this bag to store your dirty laundry at the end of the trip, and preserve the freshness of clean clothes that are left behind.
