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Flight survival kit
Six things, not forty. Everything here has survived repeat trips, and nothing here is a gadget.
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Compression packing cubes
Not regular cubes — compression. The difference between "it fits" and "it fits and I have room for what I buy." The single highest-return item on this page.
A dry bag or waterproof phone case
Boat days, kayaking, sudden rain. Cheap, tiny, and it saves a phone once.
Electrolytes
Heat plus alcohol plus not enough water is why day three of a beach holiday so often feels terrible. Cheapest fix on the list.
A universal adapter
Check the plug type first — the Caribbean is mostly US-standard, Europe and the Canaries are not. Buying the wrong one is a classic.
Travel detergent and a flat sink stopper
Many accommodations have no stopper. One sink wash mid-trip turns twelve pieces into an indefinite wardrobe.
A refillable bottle you can empty at security
Airport water pricing is the most reliable rip-off in travel.
What we deliberately left out
Travel pillows, compression socks for a four-hour flight, packing organisers for your packing organisers, and anything sold as a "travel hack." Most of it adds weight to solve a problem you don't have.
The exception worth naming: compression socks are genuinely worthwhile on flights over about six hours, or if you have any circulatory risk factors. Under that, they're mostly marketing.
The one that isn't gear
Book the accommodation with free cancellation and put the confirmation in an offline-readable place before you fly. Airport wifi fails at exactly the moment you need the booking reference, and it costs nothing to prevent.