GEARING UP for Spring Break Part 3: Accessories

Creature comforts can really make travel much more enjoyable.  BUCKY makes some wonderful travel pillows and for short trips I love the MINNIE.  It comes in different colors and patterns and clips right on to your bag.  The cover is removable for cleaning and it provides soothing comfort as well as a little pop of eye candy.

Outdoor Research has some great Organizers that are useful for as many things as you can imagine.  Use them for toiletries, a little travel kitchen for those of us who like to bring things along like real salt, stevia, tea bags, etc., a customized first aid kit, and on camping and business trips.  They're low profile and don't scream "valuable stuff in here."  They come in three different sizes to suit your needs. I love the way you can use them in daily life to transfer key things from one bag to the next without having to empty out all the contents.  I'm always changing purses and this is very handy.  They're well made, compact, light weight, and hold a ton of stuff.

For an easy packing strategy, I like these PACKING CELLS from SEA TO SUMMIT.   They have various sizes and shapes and colors to organize your stuff.  You can give each kid their own color coded cells and cubes and tell them to fill them up with what they want to take and that's that.  I think they'd also be ideal for camping--they are paper light and won't add to any tangible weight your pack.

Sea to Summit has some great travel gear in their Traveling Light series, including this wonderful  Travel Wallet.  I love it for the organization, with space for plane or train tickets, boarding pass, itinerary, credit cards, different currencies, and even some change.  The zipper pulls are ergonomic and it's light weight.

For packing jewelry, I like this JEWELRY ROLL from Travelon.  It keeps things from getting tangled up, holds a ton of jewelry and rolls up to stow in your bag, low profile. 

It's always nice to have some sort of entertainment with you.  Ipods, Ipads, yes.  But the batteries don't last forever, and sometimes you want to interact with other people.  Bananagrams has come out with a more compact portable version of their game: Zip-It.  This is like quickie Scrabble.  It's great for when you just need to pass a short amount of time, or keep it going as long as you want.  I used to carry around travel Scrabble (totally un-portable) and this is a huge improvement.  Small enough to go right in your purse or pack, it's perfect to take on the plane, train, or slip in your purse to occupy the kids at restaruants.

To organize your smaller electronics, I like this Personal Media Pouch, by Great Useful Stuff (G.U.S.).  There's a cute little plug on the front closure to tell you what's in there, and there's space for three items and corresponding cords.  If you need more space than that, they do have a larger version, but for me, the smaller one is preferable for travel while the larger organizer is fabulous at home.  The charcoal gray is travel friendly and looks great.

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

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