Travel Non-Essentials

I travel quite a lot. Not jet setting around the world or anything but regular short trips around the UK. I think it's important to spread your wings every so often and get out of the same old same of your home town.

I would in no way say I am a travel expert. What I am good at is over packing. I'm always the person with the biggest bag. On the flip side I'm also the person friends come to when they need things like pain killers, plasters or lip balm.

So, after years of sore arms from carrying around bags full to the brim of things I didn't need here is my short list of the top 5 travel non-essentials that you may or may not have thought about before.

1. Headphone divider – Nothing more annoying than sharing headphones. Headphone dividers are cheap and easily available. Their also small and compact and don't take up much space in your handbag. Useful!

I got my headphone divider from Primark a few years back. 

2. Notebook – As I said above I'm an over packer so I always carry a notebook with me but probably the times I use it most is when I'm travelling. If you've read our “Train Journey Thoughts” post you'll know that I tend to think a lot when I'm travelling. Having a notebook to record all these thoughts is very handy.

The notebook I'm using at the moment is this gorgeous Paperchase notebook.

3. Mirror – A pretty obvious one, but there's nothing more nigglingly annoying than sitting on a train wondering if your lipstick is still okay (vain I know) and sometimes using your phones camera just doesn't cut it.

My compact mirror is a cheap one from Primark. From experience I've found that mirrors that close over are much safer than ones were the mirror is facing outwards (I have a couple of scars on my fingers that can attest to this!)

4. Oversized scarf – Is it a blanket? Is it a makeshift pillow? Is it a scarf? How about all three.. I get so excited for autumn for many reasons but getting to whip out my favourite scarves is up there. On my most recent trip I ended up using my scarf as an extra pillow when the bed a was sleeping in had the most pathetic pillow I'd ever had the displeasure of using. My favourite scarf is this one from Zara that I got a couple of years ago and doesn't seem to be available anymore. Some similar options can be found here and here.

5. Speaker – I got my mini portable speaker a few months ago and I can't believe how often I use it. I don't often use it when I'm in transit but more often when I'm actually staying away from home.

I got my frog speaker from Tesco a few months back and their still available now.

SKx