We’ve had our fair share of travel adventures! See “Team Trips” for our full resume. LOL!
Traveling with kids, traveling with kupuna, adult only trips and family trips with husbands, kids and parents in tow. Day trips to Hilo to month-long trips to Thailand – you could say that we’re qualified travel bugs. And after all of those miles we’ve racked up, we’ve narrowed down some things we think everyone who’s on the go should know about.
Here are 5 things that all travel bugs need:
WEEKENDER
A weekender? It really is the best bag for plane rides with long straps and lots of space for books, kaki mochi, passports, popcorn, a kindle, apple chips, AirPods and oh yeah, chocolate gummy bears. Come on, I said “apple chips,” which means I’m healthy. LOL!
Grab a weekender (we try to keep these in stock, but occasionally will sell out!), attach this magnetic trolley strap and VOILA, you got yourself the ultimate travel tote.
I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but honestly, the magnets are so ridiculously strong that I have to use a bit of force to pull it apart! Word of caution though, place the magnets on a flat surface (avoid the weekender straps) and make sure the surface is flat. Weekender to go? We think so.
don’t need another awesome “gadget”?
OK OK, we made it even simpler. Introducing the Weekender 2.0 with a built in trolley pass that doubles as a pouch for passports, boarding tickets and apple chips. Kidding! Apple chips can be held and eaten freely now that you’re a trolley handle-r.
When you’re on the go, you need a battery that’ll keep up.
Shooting in Fukuoka for two days for 12+ hours with a 6-year-old means one thing: Juice up! A dead phone = a dead shoot which is no good. We hunted high and low for the perfect phone batteries and settled happily on these two contenders.
PHONE CHARGER
Can we all take a moment to PAWS for our #1 battery winner? This one is an Eden favorite for so many reasons!
• It’s part of the MagSafe family, which means it just magnetizes itself to your phone. No cords needed to juice up.
• The lit up paw indicates the battery life. A full paw = a full charge, while each finger loses light as the battery drains. Paw-fect for us dog lovers who need to shoot on the go, but make it cute.
•We can get 2 full charges from this battery, use a USB C cord to charge it up!
MagSafe Paw Charger available here.
Running old school? Here’s a non-magsafe option!
CORDS & ALL
This is a classic battery charger. It’s an all inclusive, which makes it great for on the go shoots.
• Plug this directly into the wall and watch the percent go up (or down when it’s being used), select the cord for your phone from the left or right side of the charger and bam, charge on.
• We love the ease of extra cords, clear percent display and the cute color selection! This yellow is screaming for a shoot on location.
• We can get 2 1/2 full charges from this battery.
Portable Charger available here.
PS: While these are Amazon links, they may not ship to Hawaii! Nevertheless, these are the two “bats” we love.
TRAVEL STEAMER
Be the steam queen of the trip!
Ever since we had a boutique, steamers have played a large role in my life. You just can’t sell wrinkled clothes confidently! So trust me when I say I’ve spent a good amount of my life steaming clothes. There’s something extremely satisfying about getting a stubborn wrinkle out of a collar or seeing a dress breathe out in its full glory after a thorough steam.
When I travel, I always have a travel steamer. Always.
This steamer is the BEST. Her water tank is much larger and I can easily steam 5-6 pieces of clothes before refilling. Plus, it’s slightly lighter at 1.7 pounds but just feels easier to throw in my suitcase when packing.
It’s not dual voltage so I only take it to the US and Japan with me. Link here if you travel throughout the US mostly, she’s so good!
Travel abroad? Get a dual voltage steamer!
This is the dual voltage steamer I use. The water tank isn’t huge, but you can steam at least 2-3 pieces before refilling and it folds up so it’s pretty compact. The only negative is it’s not super light, weighing in at almost 2 pounds. That may seem light, but you’d be shocked how heavy 2 pounds feels! But, I’ve taken this travel steamer to Seoul, Bangkok, Prague, London and it never fails.
PHONE STRAP
This one is a new one but ever since Hokkaido, we’ve been rocking a ‘phone strap’ on trips. Hands free is the way to be, especially when you can barely feel your fingertips!
We saw a handful of cute ones on Amazon but ultimately decided to create some Eden patterned phone straps. Toss in this little neoprene pouch for yen, subway cards and more and you’ll be the cutest, hands-free, travel bug ever.
PS: These are easy to use. You slip in a little plastic piece behind your phone case, pop it out through the hole at the bottom and clip and go!
“This phone strap became my money and pasmo card pouch… since I don’t have a phone! My mom and Aunty TanTan can use their phones to tap in at the train station but me? I have to use an actual card. It’s ok though because I got to carry around my own yen and buy my own things. #alwayswinning”
TRAVEL PERCOLATOR
Here’s an item that comes commonly in most Japanese hotel rooms -a percolator! Yes that electric kettle? It’ll make travel soooooo smooth. It’s best to check if your room has one but if it doesn’t here’s one that we found.
For Brys? He needs this to steam his sinuses. For Char? She needs this for konbini ramen. ‘Cause anyone else get 4am jet lag hangry??
happy travels, travel bugs!
Check out our team travels here.