My Top 3 Air Travel Accessories

What can I fit in my carry-on bag?

I'm one of those people who has a few little obsessions, such as, pretty stationery, high quality kitchen utensils and, of course, travel accessories. I love organising myself; I like accessories which make me appear organised; I like items designed for convenience. Because of my obsession for items of convenience, I do actually have a small collection of such items, including travel accessories. I love accessories that have a particularly useful purpose for the many trips that I'm lucky enough to be able to go on with my fiancé, The Photographer. I think it's because the travel accessories make me feel like the holiday is even more exciting – it adds to the excitement. Well, that's my excuse anyway! Below, I have compiled a list of my three favourite air travel accessories (because ground travel accessories are a whole other arena!) and why they're my top picks.

Koala ears headrests

1. Neck pillow

This is not just my favourite air travel accessory – I take this almost everywhere as a passenger. No matter how hard I try, when I'm a passenger, I almost always fall asleep on planes, in cars, on trains, on buses – basically on any journey more than about an hour long, to be perfectly honest. Regardless of how uncomfortable the ride may be, I am almost guaranteed to fall asleep. It probably helps that I have quite a small frame (I'm only five feet nothing (152cm)) so it's probably a fair bit easier for me to sit semi-comfortably on aeroplanes, unlike The Photographer, who is over six feet tall.

Let's face it, when you're flying, in transit/connecting, and waiting for hours, we all know it can be exhausting. As the saying goes, 'The worst part about travelling, is travelling,' right? Well, my solution to make the 'travelling' part of travelling easier for myself, is sleep. And, what better way to assist in getting a good sleep than having an awesome pillow!
Using a neck pillow means you don't have to rely on those koala ears headrests on the plane (the ones that fold out, away from the seat, and wrap around the sides of your head). You know how, when you rest your head on the koala ears, your neck and shoulders fall under the koala ears, thereby putting you in an extremely uncomfortable position with a kink in your neck – not ideal. Actually, as I write this, I am realising that, as I'm not a normal-sized person, this is a fairly unique problem for me. I'm guessing normal-sized people probably don't have this problem because they're tall enough so that the koala ears are at the right height for them and, therefore, support their whole head and part of their neck. For me, however, the koala ears are just a smidge too high and, consequently, they only support the upper third of my head, hence I have a tendency to slide right under them when I try to lean against them for support. With my neck pillow, however, I can sleep sitting up, in pretty much any aeroplane seat or airport chair.

Over the years, I've tried three different neck pillows: (1) inflatable, (2) memory foam, and (3) beads.

The inflatable ones are great for saving storage space (I used these for YEARS for this reason), however, they're uncomfortable and, if you're a frequent traveller, they're too fiddly to get it in and out of your bag and to inflate and deflate them.

As for memory foam, I have an aversion to that stuff altogether. Yes, it moulds to your body but that's the whole problem – it doesn't provide any support whatsoever; it just squishes under the weight of your body and doesn't push back – there's no resistance, which is what provides any hope of actual neck support. Meh. Not for me.

The perfect neck pillow.  Photo courtesy of DQ & Co.

In my opinion, the beads type is the best. The tiny beads move around inside the pillow's fabric in accordance with your neck/head placement but it doesn't collapse completely like the memory foam does – it actually supports your head and neck. Unlike the inflatable one, you don't have to fiddle around with inflating or deflating it. In conclusion, the beads type provides you with good support for your neck and head and allows you to have dreamy dreams as you fly away high above the clouds!

I bought my neck pillow at Auckland International Airport and it's made by a company called DQ & Co. It has a little stretchy tab at the top with a strong button, allowing you to attach it around a strap on your luggage when you're not using it – very handy. You can buy bead-filled neck pillows at most airports (mainly in western countries).

 

Travel bottle set.

2. Travel bottles for cabin luggage

Plastics companies have probably made a killing since the rules for the volume of liquids in your carry-on luggage was restricted to not more than 100 millilitres. In a way, I love it too – travel sized stuff is just so awesome!
It took me years to find the perfect travel bottles (sadly, this is true). After buying and testing loads of different travel bottles, I realised that, until a few years ago, none of them seemed to possess all of the qualities that I wanted in my travel bottles. I learned that I wanted bottles that are: (1) squeezable, (2) non-leaking, and (3) holds more than a measly 30mL.

There are loads of cute little travel bottle sets that come with their own see-through toiletry bag. However, the main problem with those is, the bottles are not squeezable. It's bad enough trying to get the last 100mL of your shampoo or moisturiser out of a regular sized bottle, let alone a teeny tiny little travel bottle that only holds significantly less than 100mL! In theory, the travel bottle sets are great – very convenient and space saving. However, the bottles in those sets are always made with a hard plastic, thereby rendering them non-squeezable. This is completely useless when you need to be able to squeeze your moisturiser or shampoo or conditioner out of them, right? Well, I certainly think so. So, yes, squeezable travel bottles are essential!

Now, how many times have I arrived at my destination, slightly jetlagged, and I open my toiletry bag (to freshen up after a long journey), only to find that a bottle full of sudsy or moisturising liquid has leaked all through my toiletry bag or, worse, if it's loose inside my check-in luggage, it has leaked all through my bag and all over my clothes! Ugh, so annoying! And, nobody wants to spend the first part of their trip cleaning their bag and clothes! I like to think I've learned a few lessons after all the trips I've been on and, consequently, now I keep any loose toiletry bottles wrapped up in plastic bags for my check-in luggage. For my carry-on luggage, I make sure I only use leak-proof travel bottles – this saves a lot of time trying to clean up a mess of liquids in your bag!

Another problem I've come across with many travel bottles is that they hardly hold anything. Many travel bottles only hold about 30mL. Personally, I don't see the point in only holding 30mL when your limit is 100mL. Okay, if you're only going away for a long weekend, then 30mL is fine. However, if I'm going somewhere for more than three weeks, I'm going to need more than 30mL! There are quite a few which hold about 50mL but I prefer the 88mL bottles, especially for long trips.

GoToob travel bottles: squeezable, leak-proof, large capacity.

As mentioned in a previous blog, I've managed to find the perfect travel bottles by GoToob. Again, these are available at most international western airports.

So many carry-on luggage options!

3. Soft carry-on bag with wheels

Yes, a soft carry-on wheelie bag. Not a hard shell carry-on wheelie bag but a soft fabric carry-on wheelie bag. I used to always use hard shell carry-on wheelie bags. However, I discovered that I preferred the fabric carry-on wheelie bag because, (1) they're easier to squish into the small overhead storage if it's already jam packed by the time you get to your seat, or it's a small aeroplane with small overhead storage lockers, (2) you can rest your head on them comfortably if you want to lie down to take a kip in the airport, and (3) their carry handles are more versatile. As for having wheels, they're essential if you're planning on doing any duty free shopping!

In my experience, it's not uncommon to have ended up sitting on the aeroplane near the people who have somehow managed to get 50 carry-on sized bags with them and, consequently, they've left you with almost no room for your single carry-on bag. If you have a soft shell carry-on bag, however, you can easily squeeze your bag in between the bags of the people who've hogged all the overhead storage with their 100 carry-on bags. Now, could you do this with a hard case carry-on bag? Definitely not!

Believe it or not but I've actually tried to use my hard shell carry-on bag as a pillow before (I know, how desperate was I! FYI, it's not recommended.) With your soft shell carry-on bag, you can arrange it so that your in-flight jumper, cardigan or jacket is sitting in the top of the bag so that you've got some extra cushioning for your sleepy head when you use your bag as a pillow while in transit. For extra comfort, I also put my neck pillow on top of my carry-on bag.

Unlike most hard case carry-on bags, my carry-on bag comes with three different strap options, (1) a long removable shoulder strap, (2) two side straps that can be strapped/hook and loop fastened (Velcro) together over the top of the bag, and (3) a small handle on the end of the bag, which sits at the top when you're using the wheels/trolley handle. Personally, I've removed the shoulder strap from my bag because the long, wide strap makes the bag swing around too much for my liking – I think that's got something to do with me not being big enough for it to sit properly. The side handles and the end handle, however, I use them all the time. I always pick up my bag with either the side handles or the end handle and often I hook the side handles together over my forearm so that the bag sits in the crook of my elbow, so that I can carry it just like a handbag – perfect!

Because I love the convenience of a trolley-style (on wheels) travel bag, the wheels on my soft case cabin bag are brilliant for when I have to traipse from one end of a massive international airport (think, Heathrow, KLIA, Dubai) to the other end – a good way to help save your energy for when you reach your destination!

Soft shell, carry-on, wheelie bag.

I bought my soft shell carry-on wheelie bag from Strandbags in New Zealand (also in Australia). Again, most western international airports will have a whole plethora of soft shell carry-on wheelie bags to choose from.


So there you have it – my three essential air travel accessories. Actually, to be honest, I take all three of these items with me on ground travel trips too!

What are your favourite air travel accessories? Leave a comment and let me know what your favourite accessories are and I'll see if I can give them a go too!

The Photographer (T-Rex Photography) in action at Twilight Beach, Esperance, Western Australia.

For some epic astrophotography, and landscape and travel photography, check out The Photographer's masterpieces on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.