6 travel essentials for your next weekend break

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Last Updated on 27th July 2020

You’re about to head off on your latest weekend break! Well soon, all being well when it’s safe to do so. You’ve dusted down your little wheelie suitcase and started to pack some of your clothes. But then the fun/annoying part; finding your favourite travel essentials. Some you’ll use at your destination, others during the journey & quite probably most of them for both. First in my suitcase is always my Easyacc 20000 phone charger found at number 1 below.

In the many years I’ve been travelling what are my “go to” hand luggage accessories? Well here are 6 of them that you might like to consider for your next “staycation” or mini adventure:

1. Easyacc 20000 Power Bank Portable Phone Charger

There’s nothing worse than being anywhere with your phone dipping into single % charge figures, especially if you know you’re hours away from a charge. You want to use your phone for taking a photo or seeing what photos you’ve already taken … but feel like you can’t.

Well with this Easyacc 20000 power bank you can charge your phone 8-9 times over. You can even share it with a friend so they can charge up their battery at the same time. Charging your phone is then one less thing to have to worry about. Plus it allows you to keep your phone firmly in sight and not plugged into a wall in view of prying eyes.

2. Chilly’s Stainless Steel Water Bottle

How many plastic bottles do you use just the once, even if you have every intention of using it again? Or do you get pangs of guilt when you buy one of those emergency £1 bottles at the airport just as you’re boarding? If you have a refillable bottle not only are you keeping another plastic bottle out of the system, but they keep warm things warm and cool things cool too. There’s nothing quite like the original range of Chilly’s steel water bottles.

Many airports now have refilling stations and a list of the airport water filling locations can now be found online. Here are the UK airports’ water refilling station locations. You can take steel water bottles through check-in. You just need to remember to drink up before you go through.

3. Hulker Extension Cable with USB Ports

How many times have you checked into a hostel or hotel only to find just a single plug socket? And that’s hidden behind the bed and is already being used by the bedside lamp? Well a Hulker extension cable can double or even triple the number of available plug sockets for your hairdryer and camera devices, while still allowing you to charge up your phone(s) via the USB ports.

If you don’t have a power pack I’ve seen people sat on the floor at train stations using a solidarity plug socket while allowing everyone else in their group to keep their phones charged up … plus your new Easyacc 20000 from number 1 above too

4. Joby GorillaPod Action Tripod

The Joby GorillaPod is another useful addition to your gadget arsenal. How many times have you been travelling solo and want to put your camera/smartphone at a particular height but there just isn’t a flat surface available? Or as a couple/group you want to do a “jumping in the air shot” but don’t want to ask a passer-by? This is where a Gorillapod comes in handy! More mobile phone photography tips here.

Well with one of these tripods you can wrap it around a pole, a tree or even a slanting rock to make sure everything comes out horizontal. I once bought a similar one in Bangkok and yes – it did last for a short while. But soon after it couldn’t be tightened up sufficiently to hold the weight of the camera … and then it broke.

Click out the smaller Joby GripTight ONE if you want to use one just with your smartphone.

5. Microfibre travel towel

Just simply useful! If your accommodation is unlikely to have towels, or you want to have a splash around in the sea, river, lake, fountain(?) then a small travel towel is a great investment.

Small, light, dries quickly and is something to sit on or even drape round your neck on a hot day. I still have mine 10 years on and intend to keep it for 10 years more. You can buy the microfibre travel towels here too.

6. An actual book!

Sometimes you just can’t beat a good book. I’m ashamed to say I don’t get through as many as I should, but a long train ride, car journey or flight is the perfect time to tuck back into one.

I loved stumbling across well-thumbed ones in hostels while backpacking across SE Asia. Even more so when each reader had added their name, date and location. It showed how each book had had its own little backpacking adventure too.

I haven’t ever written one and surely never will but two friends of mine have! So check out Zoë Folbigg’s ‘The Note’ and my old university housemate Simon Lelic’s latest thriller ‘The Search Party’.

What are your top travel essentials?

So my top essential is the Easyacc 20000 power bank. It’s “saved” me so many times, whether that’s been on a train, on a plane, or in an automobile. There’s no point in having a smartphone if you can’t use it.

It also helped out someone else once when their phone died on the train we were on. They desperately needed to get hold of their mum. After a quick 5 minute juice it sparked into life and she kept it charging up for the rest of the journey. So all round the Easyacc is probably the most useful Christmas present I’ve ever received 🙂

But what’s on your “must pack” bits ‘n’ bobs list? Do you also get satisfaction out of packing light and packing smart?

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