I’m writing this post from the Park Hyatt Tokyo, here with my 7-year-old. Japan is my 48th country with kids, and in the course of all of that travel we’ve learned what to take and what not to take on trips – to the point where we typically don’t start packing until 7pm the night before we’re leaving for somewhere.
Of course every trip has its own requirements, and we’ll pack clothes and shoes based on weather and activities. But we also have a standard packing cube filled with extras that automatically goes into our suitcase, whether I’m traveling with just one kid or we’re traveling as a family. I’ll guarantee you that every trip we’ve needed at least a few things from there. We also have a few items that don’t fit into the packing cube that travel with us everywhere.
So what do we always pack?
Our Standard Packing List
Inside the Packing Cube
- Band-Aids and Neosporin.
- Blister Wool. eNZees Foot Soother is great. A lifesaver when we get blisters, and good at preventing them as well.
- Blue Painters Tape. For protecting new purchases (taping up bubble wrap), labeling water bottles, doing fast repairs, taping toiletries and sunscreen closed, kids crafts, and much more.
- A Bungee Clothesline. For drying clothes on the road. We can find a way to set this up in virtually any hotel room.
- Electrolyte Tablets. We’ve ended up in the hospital twice with dehydrated kids – in Hawaii and southern France. Now we carry electrolytes so that it hopefully doesn’t happen a third time.
- Extra Earbuds. If someone forgets earbuds/headphones, or they break (which happened often with the kids’ headphones especially), we have a small backup pair.
- Feminine Products. Ok, I may take these out if I’m just traveling with my son.
- A Frisbee. Whether we’re at a city park or a beach, it always comes in handy.
- Hand Sanitizer and Baby Wipes.
- Insect Repellent. If we’re going somewhere with a lot of bugs we’ll pack a larger spray bottle, but we make sure we always have a small 2oz tube of repellent (lotion with DEET) with us.
- Instant Coffee. Starbucks Via is our default when we’re somewhere without convenient coffee options. I wish every hotel room had a Nespresso machine, but they don’t…
- Kids’ Medicines. Specifically we always travel with Children’s Pepto, Children’s Advil, Aquaphor (for eczema) and Children’s Zyrtec (for allergies), since they’re not easy to find on the road.
- Playing Cards.
- Small Scissors. These seem to be allowed through airport security, but no guarantees. Obviously if you’re checking a bag, check them.
- A Sharpie.
- A Thermometer. We use the Nokia Thermo. It’s fast/accurate and connects to my iPhone for temp trending and health information based on age and symptoms – helpful when abroad. No idea if they even make it anymore?
- Travel Detergent. For doing laundry in hotel sinks. Tide Travel Sink Packets work well, although a hotel’s body wash or shampoo can work too.
- Ziplock Bags (Quart and Gallon). Useful for packing new liquids (e.g. purchased honey), and keeping electronics dry when it’s raining.
Outside the Packing Cube
- A Parental Consent Letter. I take one-on-one trips with my kids all the time, and some immigration officials have asked for a notarized letter from my wife. My letter is HERE.
- Antibiotics. Very frequently we’re nowhere near good medical care, so we pack an antibiotic kit.
- An Extra Duffel. Our default is the 45L Patagonia Black Hole Duffel, since it’s light and fairly small. We don’t do much shopping when we’re overseas, but it’s nice to have the extra space just in case.
- The Right ATM Card. In most countries you’ll need some cash. I have two ATM cards that both waive ATM fees and reimburse me for foreign ATM charges, tied to two different accounts (nice to have a backup). Schwab is a good place to start if you want a no-fee ATM card. You may already have one through your bank.
- The Right Credit Card. If you’re traveling internationally, have a credit card that waives foreign transaction fees.
- A Linen Towel. This comes in handy as an actual towel if you have an impromptu stop at a beach or the kids play in a fountain, but more often we use it as a picnic blanket.
- Power Banks. I like the power banks with built-in lightning cables – one less thing to remember.
- A Power Strip. I always take along a 220v strip with a European plug and a converter (if necessary for countries without European outlets). Plus several USB chargers and cables of course.
- Sunscreen. SPF 30 or 50. I still prefer Coppertone Sport.
- Travel Information. I still love old-school, hard-copy travel guides. And AFAR is my favorite inspirational travel magazine. You should subscribe!
If there’s anything on a trip we’ve thought we could have used, we’ve added it to the packing cube / list for the next trip. But we may still be missing something obvious? What would you add?
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I’d like to add “bottle of Melatonin pills” for adjusting to new time zones. It’s handy especially when you arrive and are expected to sit across from a client or vendor the very next day and desperately need a good sleep. The pills work for me, although I hear that they may not be effective for everyone. Can anyone say placebo?
Good tip. I rely 100% on coffee – wherever I am, I have a cup or two around 7am and seem to adjust fairly quickly…although I’m usually still wide awake from 1am to 3am for a couple days. Power naps work really well too. In between meetings I’ll sneak up to my room for maybe a 20-minute nap and it saves me for the rest of the day.
You’ve got a great list here! I would add sunscreen and chapstick!
You’re right, I should have included sunscreen. I’ll modify the post – we definitely take it on every trip. We’re not a big chapstick family though, other than periodically grabbing them from airline amenity kits.
We do lots of outdoor activities and use our LifeStraw water bottle all the time. Great for questionable water too! Also our solar lantern – we use Mpowerd. We have lost power a couple times in hotels and it is a great night light. It is perfect for camping and backpacking too. I list the companies because both give back to communities.
I never travel anywhere without my prescription of Zofran. It is an amazing anti-nausea pill and has saved members of my travel party from misery on numerous occasions. Ask your doctor about a small prescription before your next journey.
1. Carabiners. I use these for everything. You can hang a child backpack from an adult backpack, fix a broken high chair loop, hang your wet raincoat to dry, attach your head phone case and travel booster to your carry-on (see 2). With a decent backpack and carabiners you can almost always board and de-plane hands free (or with two free hands to guide your kids).
2. An inflatable travel booster seat. This is for post-car seat kids that should still be sitting on something. I wouldn’t use if every day but an inflatable booster takes up little space, is easy to use and comes with a stuff sack. Some destinations are a long way from the closest airport and these are good for taking the airport shuttle van or taxi to your hotel or resort. They are also nice when you do not want to pay $12/day for a heavily used rental car booster that retails for less than $20.
3. Children’s probiotic or children’s mild laxative. International travel can be tough.
4. A passport card. When we apply for a child passport we also apply for a passport card. It costs a small fee and all you need to do is check an additional box on the application form. What is the down side to having a secondary valid legal ID when you are in a foreign country? The passport card is also good when you are trying to convince a gate agent that your 4 month old qualifies as a lap child but you neglected to bring an original copy of her birth certificate.
Great suggestions! I’ve never thought about passport cards, since they’re only valid for a few countries close to the US, but I can see that they’d come in handy as a second form of identification.
We do this too. We use our passport cards as IDs in general when traveling abroad. Then safely store our actual passports. Yes they are only accepted as passports in North America but never had issue as second ID. We’ve had them since they first started issuing them.
Love these! Solid suggestions for useful things (most of which don’t take up too much room).
On our last trip, we discovered that having a sup compact packable picnic blanket was useful for us. We used it multiple times for picnics in the park, as an extra rain cover and as a blanket for a cold train ride!
Absolutely, we use the towel/blanket the same way. Except for being a rain cover, but at least it dries us off if it does rain!
What about your camera? 😉 It’s the first thing I make sure I have, along with batteries and spare cards. I figure I can always buy the kids undies if I forget them ( and I did manage too once,ha,ha ) but I’d be devastated if I didn’t have my camera gear.
Ha! I’d actually put that in the opposite category. Everything on this list is something that makes our trips better or comes in handy if someone is sick in an inconvenient place. I don’t think a camera adds to a vacation. I loved the days this summer when I didn’t take a camera with me at all, and the kids felt like I was more present. I like documenting our travel to inspire others, and in some cases promote hotels/destinations I’m working with, but I think it would be refreshing to go on a trip without a camera.
I alway pack 2 small LED flashlights. A few times this has saved us. Whether power outages or exploring nature walks.
I always pack a sealed 4 oz bottle of cough syrup (in a zip lock bag) and allergy eyedrops. It’s miserable to be in a foreign country and not have either if you get a cold or something is blooming. I tried a German equivalent on a trip and was very disappointed.