ON m
On my six-month trip abroad, I visited Sakurajima, a volcano near Kagoshima, Japan.
Since I normally spend six straight months of the year abroad, I’ve become a pro at packing useful items that make my travels easier. Recently, I was in Southeast Asia and Japan from August 2024 until March 2025.
Add these seven inexpensive items to your travel packing list. They’ve made my travels much smoother. The best part is that all these items are all lightweight and less than $25.
Affiliate links are used in this post. If you make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no cost to you, which goes toward blog maintenance costs. I appreciate your support!
UV Protection Umbrella
Since I spend most of the year in hot climates and the blazing sun, my absolute must-have item on my travel packing list in Southeast Asia is a lightweight SPF umbrella. It makes a huge difference and covers much more of my upper body than a hat. Plus, it keeps my head from getting all sweaty in a hat. I use this every day walking down the street no matter where I am. Plus, it doubles as a normal umbrella in rain. My favorite one is a lightweight one from Daiso (the Japanese dollar store), but I also love this sturdier Uniqlo one that comes in various colors. I pack the latter for more rainy climates.
Zip Mesh Laundry Bags
I lived out of a 28-liter backpack when I hiked the Kumano Kodo and used mesh laundry bags as my packing cubes.
In September, I trekked Japan’s Kumano Kodo hiking route for four days with only a 28-liter Osprey Skimmer backpack. I used zippered delicate mesh laundry bags as packing cubes to sort my clothing and dirty laundry. They are transparent and lighter than traditional packing cubes. (I also use them for short overnight trips like when I went to see Moo Deng, the famous baby hippo.) Originally, I started traveling with the bags to prolong the life of my sports bras and workout clothing. I usually travel with about four bags—a larger 15-inch by 15-inch bag and smaller eight-inch by 12-inch bags. (I like the ones from Daiso (the Japanese dollar store), but you can buy these anywhere.)
Plastic Poncho
On a work trip to Vietnam in January, I faced a week of cool, rainy weather. While visiting the Hue Historic Citadel, it was windy and pouring rain, so I busted out my trusty pink plastic poncho that has lived in my backpack for five years. I put it on top of my raincoat and over my backpack to keep my camera safe. Plus, it added another layer of warmth in the cool 50-degree weather.
While raincoats and backpack rain covers are great, they will eventually soak through unless they are rubber. Not only does the poncho keep my camera gear safe, but it also keeps my backpack from being soaked. It takes much less time for my plastic poncho to dry than a drenched raincoat and backpack. After my poncho is dry, I simply fold it back up again and put it back in my backpack. People make fun of me all the time for it, but I’m happy, warm and dry. I opt for ones with proper sleeves with no snaps or buttons.
A small bottle of Dawn Dish Detergent
I fill up a 1.2-ounce hand sanitizer bottle with Dawn’s regular dish detergent for my travels to get stains out of clothing while on the road.
After doing laundry in Chiang Mai, Thailand (where I live in the winter), I noticed several of my tanks had white rings or smears on them left by my mineral sunscreen, which were not removed by the washing machine. This was a constant issue in my travels because I prefer mineral sunscreen (zinc and titanium dioxide), so I started packing a tiny bottle of Dawn dish detergent because it’s great at removing grease and other stains. I simply squirt a bit on the spot and handwash it off. Before every trip abroad, I refill a tiny 1.2-ounce hand sanitizer bottle with the original formula Dawn with the duck on the bottle. It removes grease, sticky residue and other stains from clothing. Plus, it comes in handy if you ever want to wash dishes. (Walgreens sells 1.2-ounce Purell bottles that I love for this.) Dawn works better at stains than Palmolive in my experience.
Wired Headphones
I was halfway through watching an episode of Slow Horses on my phone during a long flight when my AirPod battery died. While they were charging, I switched over to my backup set of wired headphones because nothing is more miserable than not having headphones. (Let’s be clear—it’s flat-out rude to be watching anything on speakerphone or without headphones in a confined public space.)
This has also been handy in similar situations at the gym. I literally keep an old-school wired set of headphones in a cloth sunglass bag with my AirPods. (Also, I just upgraded to the latest AirPods Pro with the USB-C charging, which is a game changer not having to carry around a lightning cable anymore.)
Lightweight Carabiner
This small Nite Ize S-biner is a helpful thing to keep in your pack. Photo courtesy of REI.
When I hiked the Kumano Kodo that I mentioned above, the hiking poles I’d borrowed from a friend kept falling out of the side pouch of my pack, so I used this trusty carabiner attached to the zippers to hold them in place so they wouldn’t fall out. A carabiner can come in handy for securing hiking poles, water bottles or even keeping track of Airbnb keys. (I also used these for my Half Dome hike last August.) I like Nite Ize S-Biner, which comes in a variety of sizes, but I use the #3 model.
AirTags
After clearing immigration in Los Angeles, I checked my phone to see if my bags had made it from Tokyo, which they had thankfully. The beauty of AirTags is that you can track your luggage and be alerted of problems in advance. I’ve been using them for years, but they didn’t come in handy until 2023 when my luggage got lost three times. I was even able to track my lost bags being delivered to my hotel thanks to the AirTags, which uses nearby Bluetooth to pinpoint their location.
When my luggage is lost, I know instantly so I can save time by going straight to the lost luggage counter to start the process. I also use them on buses because I have this ridiculous fear that someone is going to run off with my luggage at one of the stops. I also keep one in my car since it’s often parked for months at a time to make sure it’s not stolen or towed. (If you are traveling near an AirTag in a bus or car, you’ll likely get an alert saying you are traveling near one as a safety measure.)
AirTag batteries (CR2032 lithium 3V) last about a year, but I keep spare batteries in my suitcase just in case. I literally had TWO of my AirTag batteries die a month apart in Chiang Mai this winter. They aren’t easy to find in many places surprisingly, especially in Vietnam! (AirTags are usually $29.99 but often they are $24.99 on Amazon.)
Two other things that I find to be very helpful are a wine tool for opening wine bottles or cap-style bottles. The knife on the tool is also good for cutting labels. I always keep a black Sharpie marker in my camera bag—it comes in handy for labeling things or writing my name on luggage tags.
