The holidays are drawing ever closer and many of us are heading off
to visit family, friends or simply on a hard-earned end of year
break. One of the least fun and time-consuming parts of travelling
is packing. But we’ve got your back, just refer to this bookmarked
checklist page the next time you’re in need of a PA to remind you
of all your handbag travel essentials!
Image: Showbit
#1 Your passport
Honestly, it’s the most essential item on the list and the worst to
forget, so make sure you have it before you lock your apartment
door! We’ve all been there, especially if you travel
somewhere regularly or aren’t boarding a plane, it can almost feel
like you’re just doing a routine journey, not an across-borders
trip. Put it in a place you can always find it with an easily
identifiable cover so you NEVER forget it!
#2 A warming cover-up
A pashmina is another essential, planes are like the office air con
on steroids, so you don’t want to be caught without a chic cover-up
and have to use the horribly static plane issued ones.
See here for chic
cover-ups or shop our favourites from
Burberry here.
#3 A really, really good book
As much as I love to catch up on my glossy mag reading whilst
in-flight (make sure you’ve got the latest edition of Her World, of
course) there’s nothing better than a really, really good book to
while the hours away on a long haul flight and get so engrossed in
that you forget about the snoring nightmare two seats away from
you. My recommendation as a natural bookworm? Americanah by
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, if you haven’t read it, it’s a total must
before Lupita Nyong'o and Brad Pitt finish producing the movie, one
of the most well-written books I’ve read in a long while! Download
to your Kindle if you’re looking to save on space and
weight.
#4 A portable charger
The WORST thing when travelling is being stranded without battery
on your phone, I know because I’ve been there, at a Berlin airport
when I travelled separately from my friends and had to make a
guesstimated two-hour journey into the centre of town where our
hotel was from the way-out-of-town airport with my very rusty
German (all the while not being able to contact my friends to tell
them I was safe). It’s not a situation you want to find yourself
in, so if your phone always runs out of juice, invest in a good
portable charger like a Xiaomi and always have it
charged with your cable on hand. It’s a good idea to pop
a plug in your bag too in case you ever have a chance to use a
power socket or the plane has one by your seat.
#5 A beauty pouch
Always keep a cute beauty pouch which you can easily find in your
bag with your mini or decanted essentials in to adhere to baggage
restrictions. Then follow this detailed
in-flight beauty routine to ensure you wake up and
disembark looking like you just had 8 hours of refreshing
sleep.
#6 A notebook and pen
Yes yes yes, we’re almost in 2016 but paper
isn’t dead when you’re on a long, languorous journey. Often travel
gives us a chance to reflect or allows crazy and potentially
wonderful ideas to pop into your head, note them down with a
physical pen so that as you inscribe those words, you can allow
your game-changing ideas to take real root, or just write some
old-school postcards to your best friends, there really is nothing
as novel as receiving snail mail in this day and age! A black
Moleskine is a timeless classic.
#7 Wet wipes
To be honest, living in Singapore you should never leave the house
without them (with hawkers and their delicious but messy food)
and they’re essential in-flight too. If you’re a germaphobe,
you’ll want to wipe down air con vents, your handrest,
ecetera to ensure you don’t catch bugs from a long-haul
airborne virus! Remember you should also always wipe down your
phone, earphones and other heavy-contact devices to avoid
bacteria build up which can lead to acne, see more advice
here.
#8 Your sunnies
Okay, call us divas but we don’t mind looking like a
paparazzi-ridden celeb when disembarking a plane if it means noone
sees our bags before we have a chance to seriously recover from our
jet lag. We take our tips from airport-pro Victoria Beckham
who always has hers firmly glued on her face as she exits the
terminal
#9 A key, transport card and phone
pouch
There’s nothing worse than touching down and being about to grab
the subway/tube/metro to your place (this applies to returning back
to Singapore also) to find that your keys or EZ-link card are
buried deep in the depth of your double-padlocked suitcase. Pack
your destination essentials: currency, transport card, keys
etc. in a small, brightly coloured pouch in your handbag to
ensure they’re to hand when you need them, not requiring the
embarrassment of opening your suitcase to onlookers in the middle
of the airport.
#10 Download Google Translate
If you’re heading to territory where you ‘comprends pas’
(EN tr: don’t understand) you’re going to be in need of this
app before you head to a land of no 4G without a high cost. It’s
pretty amazing as you can type a phrase in your mother tongue and
get it translated instantly, as well as hover your camera over text
like signs, restaurant menus etc. and see things roughly
translated, amazing!