My Travel “Essentials” 2016

It feels like ages since I last wrote here! It feels so good to be back.

I’ve been away traveling starting off yet another semester in my graduate school saga. Now that things are back to normal, I thought I would share another minimalism post: my traveling essentials (which are always subject to change). As I was traveling with these essential items, I also learned something that I want to share with you.

Recently, as I was visiting my family in Texas, I was helping my brother to move into his first dorm room as a freshman in college. It’s utter craziness. I have not accepted the fact that he is in college – but I digress.

My brother’s university is quite a ways away from my parents’ home. It would take anywhere from 6 to 8 hours to drive there and back. So, we loaded up two vehicles of my brother’s things and hit the road for college. All the while, I was under the impression that we would drop my lovely brother off with his things, maybe help him get settled in, and then go on our merry way back home – all in the same day.

Much to my surprise, that did not happen. My mother had booked us a hotel near the university and made plans to stay there for the night. As a woman, not realizing that we had made plans to stay, and not having any of the “essential” items with me, I panicked. Many thoughts rushed through my mind like:

I don’t have a toothbrush or toothpaste! I’ll get zits if I don’t wash off my makeup tonight with my cleanser!

I don’t have any makeup for tomorrow.

Admittedly, the Superficial I-Need-My-Face-To-Look-Like-Barbie Liz emerged. I stressed for a while about what I was going to do. I had only brought my purse, which held some lip balm, a pen, gum, hand sanitizer and some lotion. On top of that, I only had the clothes on my back – no pajamas or extra under wear to be found.

And you know what happened that night?

I was totally fine.

I made a quick pit stop at Walmart to grab myself some $5 pajamas (because sleeping in jeans is just not an option for me), and a toothbrush (I borrowed my parents’ toothpaste). For once, the hotel complimentary items (shampoo, conditioner, soap) actually came in handy! This was a good lesson for me to learn. I learned about what I truly needed and what I could live without. So, when I returned home to find the “essential” items that I am about to show you, I found that I had even over-packed with only bringing these items.

All that to say, it’s important to be really mindful about what you really need versus what you just want. Sometimes the items that we think we need are not actually necessities themselves! So, with that in mind, let’s jump into my current travel essentials (that turned out to be not all that essential).

 

 

 

 

And that’s everything I brought with me! I totally was that girl who felt the need to pack an entire suitcase full of things until you could barely zip it up – regardless of where I was going and how long I was staying. So happy that that is no longer the case.

I’ve come up with a few tricks to packing light as I have been experimenting, so if you’re interested, I would love to share those tips and tricks with you guys!

Let me know in the comments what your travel essentials are! What is the one thing that you can’t travel without?

Good luck to you, where ever you are on your journey!

And Happy Fall!

Liz

xxx