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Intro
I review a lot of gear on my YouTube channel, but there are products I come back to over and over that I find myself bringing on every trip and using almost daily. This is a list of my favorite gear that I believe is some of the best you can buy, tested on the road after years of independent minimalist-style international travel. This isn’t a complete packing list, as I do bring other gear, this is just the stuff I like the most and take on almost every trip.
Electronics
Battery Backup: Anker Nano Portable 10,000
This little gem is so useful it has quickly become my go-to battery backup for travel. Usually batteries are kind of a meh item, they hold power and they charge your phone. This battery however has some useful features that while not anything I can’t live without, are actually very helpful. For example I love the attached USB-C cord, I no longer have to carry an extra and can just plug my phone straight into the battery’s cord. The display also isn’t necessary, but it’s helpful to see how much power is going into your device and battery health. 10/10.
Buy at Anker Official Website or Buy at Amazon.
Travel Adapter: Minix 100W Adapter
Another little gem I’ve been using for years. The Minix lineup has a range of power and size options, from laptop power to quick phone charging. The bonus is they all come with three international adapters: US (Type A), UK (Type G), and Europe (Type C). Use the one you need for short trips, or bring them all for longer trips to work in more countries. I use the 100W adapter as a replacement for my laptop adapter, it’s smaller and multiuse to charge all my devices.
Buy on Amazon 100W Adapter, also 66W Adapter and Smallest 33W Adapter.
Twelve South AirFly Pro
This handy little gadget is so useful on flights and so small, it’s almost silly to not carry one with you on your travels. The AirFly connects anything with an AUX cable via Bluetooth to your headphones. This works great on flights to watch movies without having to use corded headphones supplied by airlines. It connects to your earbuds, and the Pro version I have is able to connect to two devices at the same time, great for traveling with a partner.
Buy AirFly Pro on Amazon.
Ear Buds: Google Pixel Buds Pro or Soundcore Sleep A30 Special
These are both great quality ear buds that have different primary purposes. Pixel Buds I love for daily wear, the noise cancelling is excellent, they work great on planes to block out the other passengers, and have a long battery life. Sleep A30 Specials also have good noise cancelling, but these are much smaller with a very slim profile that don’t poke into your ear and work perfectly for sleeping, great to use in hotels in noisy cities.
Buy on Pixel Buds Pro on Amazon.
DJI Pocket 3 Gimbal Camera
If you’re shooting video, TikTok, YouTube, this is an essential tool. It’s tiny, takes great quality 4K video and has a gimbal feature which self rotates to keep the frame in view without shaking like phones will. Add the tripod for self videos with face/object tracking and you can use this for pretty much all your light video uses. It’s another item that I’m amazed at how great this camera is considering how small it is. I consider this camera part of my essential videography tech.
Buy DJI Pocket 3 on Amazon.
Toiletries
Toiletry Bag: Sea to Summit or Eagle Creek Quick Trip XS
It’s difficult for me to choose one of these beause I love them both and use them for different trips. Eagle Creek Quick Trip for short weekend or trips where I don’t need as much, Sea to Summit Hanging Toiletry Bag when I need a little more organization. The hanging hook feature makes the Sea to Summit win for most trips, but I consistently find use for the smaller one too. Get yourself one of these based on your travel style and you’re toiletry kit is set.
Buy Sea to Summit Hanging Toiletry Bag and Eagle Creek Quick Trip XS on Amazon.
Gum Folding Toothbrush
I’ve actually started using these at home because I like the style and shape of the bristles. I buy them in a 2-pack, one for travel, one for home. It’s so simple as to almost seem silly to recommend a travel toothbrush but I just love this one. It’s cheap, it’s small, it folds inside itself for easy transport and it’s ventillated so your brush doesn’t stay wet and get all weird, just perfect.
Buy Gum Folding Toothbrush on Amazon.
Soap Bag: Matador FlatPak or Sisal Soap Bag
If you want to travel light and fast transition your liquids to solid soap and shampoo bars as much as possible. Bronner’s Castile Soap is the easiest and most versitile product I’ve found. I actually tend to prefer the cheap, simple sisal bag because it’s breathable and dries my soap bar fast. But the Matador Flat Pak is incredibly useful, mini-dry bag that won’t leak, but breathable so your soap dries out (usually) by the time you arrive at your next destination. It makes a great gift too for a beginner minimalist traveler.
Buy Matador FlatPak on Matador Site or Sisal Soap Bag on Amazon.
Gillette Venus Extra Mini
My no-power alternative to the Norelco One Blade, which is a solid choice if you’re not a shaver. The Venus mini is marketed toward women, but it’s much more versitile as you can switch heads with Gillette Mach 3 Blades, a smaller and cheaper alternative. Plus any traveler can appreciate the slim & flat design that fit’s perfects in a minimalist toiletry bag.
Buy Gillette Venus Extra Mini on Amazon.
Humangear Go Tubbs
These have a myriad of uses from snacks in the larger Tubbs, to pills, clips or hair gel in the smaller. They’re not waterproof, but the lid stays shut and keeps anything in place that’s either solid, or thick enough (like a hair sculpting paste for example) that doesn’t run. I almost always carry a smaller tub of hair paste to keep my curls coifed on the road.
Buy HumanGear GoTubbs on Amazon.
Pill Organizer Box
The more I travel the more I find it’s incredibly useful to have a small amount of multiple over-the-counter medications: allergy meds, pepto, immodium, acetaminophen, advil, dramamine, and the list goes on. Rather than carrying big pill bottles around, or mixing them all up on a single bottle, this little $6 pill organizer gives you 10 small compartments to keep everything together and organized. Since I found this I haven’t left the country without it.
Buy Travel Pill Organizer Box on Amazon.
Miscellaneous Gear
Chums Surfshort Wallet
Attach a small cord to the keyloop and you have a virtually pick-pocket proof minimalist travel wallet.
Buy Chums Surfshort Wallet on Amazon
Eagle Creek Hidden Wallet
I combine this with the Chums Surfshort Wallet for a perfect combination of accessibility, security, and functionality. My video on keeping your money safe while you travel has a great breakdown of my method.
Buy Eagle Creek Hidden Wallet on Amazon.
Nite-Ize Micro Lock
Buy Nite-Ize Micro Lock on Amazon.
Nanobag (19 or 25 Liters)
Really if you don’t have one of these you’re missing out on one of the most useful products you could possible take on any trip, a miniature, tough-as-nails grocery bag. That’s right, next to your shoes a grocery bag is one of the most useful bits of kit you can take with you. Packing up on snacks for a flight? Stocking up on food for your airbnb stay? Grabbing some last minute souveniers before your flight back home? Unless you’re carrying a mostly empty backpack around with you everywhere, you need a place to hold your stuff, these are tiny and work perfectly. I have the larger 25L bag, but the 19L or the backpack work great too.
Buy Nanobag on Amazon.
Travel Backpacks, Cubes and Pouches
Tortuga Expandable Travel Backpack
I have tested hundreds of travel backpacks. Some are over engineered and unnecessarily heavy. Some are too small, too big, or don’t have the features I’m looking for, like comfortable backpack straps. Tortuga has managed to create some of the most functional travel packs in the market, over and over again. While the expandable bag isn’t going to be the perfect bag for everyone like it is for me, it’s likely that at least one bag in the Tortuga lineup will hit that sweet spot for you.
Buy Tortuga Expandable Travel Backpack on Tortuga Site.
Peak Design Packing Cubes
There are only a few features that I look for in a packing cube: fits my bag, compression zipper to keep clothes small, well made and durable, and a clean/dirty divider. The divider being key to living out of a backpack. You wear clothes, they get dirty, then what do you do with them? You could store them in a separate pouch, or laundry bag. But you could also store them in the other side of your regular cube, separating your clothes and not changing how you pack your bag. This is one of the only cubes that does all of these things perfecty. And while it’s expensive, I think the cost is justified here for the 👌🏼 packing cube.
Buy Peak Design Packing Cubes on Peak Design Site.
Evergoods CAP1 Pouch
A foldable, flat, magnetic clasping pouch that expands to hold whatever you put in it. This pouch is perfect for slimmer front pockets on travel backpacks where larger bukly pouches fail. It’s just big enough for cables, chargers, and daily tech gear. But it’s not bulky, overly engineered, or excessively padded, just the perfect middle ground pouch for small gear stored in small places.
Buy Evergoods CAP1 Pouch on Evergoods Site.
AER Slim Pouch 2
Sometimes the best gear is the simplest. Small, slim, durable and functional. You don’t need anything fancy in a tech pouch, but what you do need is something that has a lot of small organization and is durable to last for years on the road. I’ve tried a lot of tech pouches and this is the one I keep coming back to.
Buy AER Slim Pouch 2 on AER site.
Affiliate Disclaimer
I run One Bag Travels as an independent website, I am not directly associated with, nor do I take payments from any of the companies featured on this site. My opinions are based on my personal experience with these products, as well as years of experience as an independent traveler.
Any revenue I receive from One Bag Travels is from affiliate marketing relationships, meaning if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. I strive to review products that I like, or are popular in the one bag/minimalist travel community, not just brands that I receive a commission on. Sometimes a company will send me a free product to review, I am however under no incentive or obligation to give them a favorable review.
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