Hello, it’s me
I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet. Well, hear from me more than meet because I have faraway places to be.
I know it’s been a while; two years, four months and a handful of days, give or take. Almost the length of a pandemic.
But given I’m about to jump on a plane and head off on my first proper overseas holiday in years, I thought it was time to drop a little blog post of *seemingly* helpful things I’ve picked up to take with me for three weeks in Italy.
I’ve popped all the links in below for the exact items I’ve purchased, and while I haven’t yet used anything besides the packing cubes, toiletry bags and scales – I can report back after my trip and let you know what worked, or didn’t.
Please note: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links where, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.
Packing cubes || Hammock footrest (for the plane) || Insulated filtered water bottle || AirTag cases
iPhone compatible flash drive || Anti-theft zipper clips || Carry on approved toiletry bag
Portable phone charger (no cord necessary!) || Travel steamer || AirFly || Earplugs
Gorilla mini tripod || Luggage scales || Toiletry case || Klipsta || Wise card
While a lot of these pieces are pretty self-explanatory on what they do or why I decided to invest my hard-earned cash in them, here’s a few that I thought could use a little explanation:
Hammock footrest – I’m flying economy and Emirates don’t allow you to use those blow up footrests, so I thought I’d give this a go as I feel more comfortable having my little legs up a bit.
Insulated water bottle – It’s always good to be hydrated and it’s still sitting around the mid 30s temperature wise at the moment, plus Rome has safe, clean drinking water – and about 2500 drinking fountains to refill a water bottle while exploring this beautiful ancient city (plus saves money on buying bottled water).
iPhone compatible flash drive – If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll know I’m forever taking photos and making videos, this way I can upload them to the flash drive each night, just incase anything happens to my phone in between backups.
Anti-theft zipper clips – I saw these on the gram. They’re basically designed to slow down pickpockets, especially if you’re wearing a backpack – you just clip the zipper bits together.
Portable phone charger – the excessive photo taking and video making means I’m forever running out of battery power. I love that this little one (about the size of a lipstick case) clips straight into my phone eliminating the need for cords.
AirFly – This plus into the earphone jack on the plane so you can watch the inflight entertainment system but use your own headphones.
Klipsta – An Aussie brand – this little buddy clips onto your bag and can hold a hat, water bottle, jacket etc with super strong magnets. My bag can’t be packed so I’ll be clipping it on to my bag.
Wise card – My bank doesn’t have any great deals or rates in terms of international use – in fact it charges some crazy amount per transaction and also like $7 to withdraw from an ATM. Enter, the Wise Card – designed for International use (even crossing borders and currencies). I’ve loaded it with Euros and you have the option of getting a digital card (which you can add to your Apple Wallet for quick tap and pay) but also a physical card, which I did as a backup. If you lose the physical card, you can stop it immediately and they’ll reset the number on your digital card so you can keep spending!
Backpack || USB & Power Adaptor || RFID Credit Card protector || RFID Passport Protector
Okay, it’s officially 12 hours until departure so I better get packing! Well, repacking. Because I did pack, but then I pulled it all out looking for things.
Arrivederci!
Blonde Ambition 