Stuff We Like: Making Summer Travel Easy

Between family trips, summer music programs for Freebird (who, if you are playing along at home, graduated high school this year) (!!!) and preparing for college (!!??) I have been doing some shopping.

Here are a few things that have made vacations, family travel, and even overnight stays so much more comfortable.

NB: Some of the links are affiliate coded, so if you use them, we may earn a commission – and if you don’t use them, that’s totally cool, too. Thanks! 

I have accepted that I have specific needs to get comfortable sleep, and one is air movement. This battery operated fan charges with a micro USB (included) and according to the info included, at low speed it should run for at least 7 hours.

I didn’t need to turn the fan up past medium on a recent trip and it ran all night, no problems. It does make a soft noise, but I have earplugs because my brain LOVES to monitor for all noises, no matter where I am. The base on which it stands up rotates down so it can be packed flat, and it weighs hardly anything. I love this fan and bought one for everyone in my house.

Speaking of sleep comfort, this rec is from Adam:

Contour Legacy Knee Pillow, $25

Says Adam, “If you are a side sleeper, and if you find it uncomfortable when your knees rub together, then yes, recommend. A lot of other folks use them for hip or back pain to help body alignment in sleep, but that’s not my issue so I can’t speak to that.”

“It’s memory foam so it’s a good medium texture – squishy enough but not too squishy – and the cover is removable and machine washable.”

I was traveling with a friend recently and she mentioned her hip pain, for which she’d had surgery. I told her about this pillow, and she said she had one, she loved it, and she regretted not bringing it with her. I know Adam travels with his because it can squish down in a suitcase pretty easily. This is a thing that happens as I age I guess: I find out people I know love knee pillows and we discuss them at a bar. As you do.

I’ve written about these before, but the 10′ one saved my bacon recently so I must mention again: a variety pack of USB-C cables is absurdly useful!

5-Pack of USB C Cables in 3, 6, and 10 foot lengths, $8.50

There were zero outlets near my bed and I needed my phone nearby to wake me up (and for reading before bed, let’s be real). Keeping a 10′ USB C cable in my electronics bag solved that problem. I’ve had to order a few sets because the 6 and 10 foot lengths tend to migrate elsewhere.

And if we’re out and don’t have outlets, I usually have one external battery per person. This is the big flat one that can recharge my phone at least twice:

Anker portable battery, $37

But I also have this wee one for when I know I’ll be using my phone but I don’t want to carry a purse or bag:

Anker mini battery, $18

These are very small, and according to Anker,  they are “enough to provide over an entire replacement charge for iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9, or almost 2 charges for iPhone 8.” They only weigh 136g/4.8oz!

I recently bought these and took the time to decant all my usual products into the bottles:

Silicone travel bottle set, 12 pieces, $14

I had been using an old travel size shampoo bottle but it was rather old and started leaking, which made a big mess. Taking the time to fill these bottles and then using the labels was worth the trouble, though, because everything fit easily into my toiletry case, and the different colors meant I could tell everything apart at a glance. And they did NOT leak, thank heavens. They seem to seal really well, in fact, and I’m very happy to be using them off and on this summer.

The set comes with a tiny funnel and two little flat spatulas for filling the containers, which was a big help, too.

Tara: I like to keep sample size moisturizer containers after I’m done with them, specifically for travel. I use them for skin care and hair products.

I also like the toothpaste tablets from LUSH when I travel and micellar water makeup remover wipes, because neither end up counting towards my liquids.

Sarah: A friend of mine loves the micellar water wipes from Burt’s Bees:

Burt’s Bees Micellar Water towelettes, 30-count, $14

And speaking of helping my skin:

Spot My UV Sunscreen Stickers, $16-36

I love these sunscreen alert stickers. The description does a good job of explaining how they work:

“Cover SPOTMYUV with sunscreen and outdoors in direct sunlight, your SPOT will turn clear, showing you that your sunscreen is protecting you from the sun’s harmful UV rays. As sunscreen wears off, the UV Detection layer in SPOTMYUV turns purple again, so reapply your sunscreen!

Each sticker lasts up to 12 hours or 6 sunscreen applications. The color-changing ink is reversible with each sunscreen reapplication, so you don’t need to use a new sticker each time you reapply.”

I found these last year and took them on vacation with me to the Canary Islands, and WOW did they help. I did not get any sunburn because when the spot turned purple, I knew to reapply. I love them.

And, if motion sickness is a problem, these have helped my younger child with car sickness, and bus sickness, too. You know those big coach buses that sway and kind of bob up and down on the highway? Those buses make me and my younger child feel queasy, but not when we’re wearing the MQ patches:

MQ Motion Sickness Patch, $9 for 28

Some reviewers indicated that they thought the patches smelled strongly, and while there is a faint sort of herbal scent, I have never thought the odor was strong (and I can usually smell everything everywhere all the damn time). You can wear them for up to three days. I put one behind each ear when I was on some rough seas, and my nausea went away quickly. So we don’t travel without a few pairs of these tucked into our baggage.

What about you? Any summer trips planned? Anything you are absolutely taking with you? Please tell us about it!