Travel hacks 2024

I recently got back from 3 weeks in Asia. I visited 3 countries with similar warm weather and I packed lightly: just one backpack and a small carry-on with the bare minimum of clothes and toiletries.

Here’s a list of things I do while traveling that makes my life easier.

• Power adapter with USB plugs: Zendure Passport III
• Manual toothbrush. Not worth to have an electric one, save one charger.
• Internet connectivity while traveling: purchase an eSim card in every country with Airalo app or use GoogleFi. Usually 16GB of data are more than enough for any task.
• Kayak as flight aggregator. It’s useful to have all the bookings in a single place, it will remind you when to check-in, will have a widget on phone locked indicating all the info about the flight in realtime (terminal, gate, if it’s late). To use it just forward the flight confirmation emails to trips@kayak.com.
• Small shoulder bag for documents. It contains the most important documents like passport and flight tickets. It always stays on you on the plane and other transportation, it goes in the safe in the hotel.
• Passport holder with additional credit card space. Useful to have additional credit cards if the main wallet is lost or stolen while exploring. Keep it always with you or in a safe.
• 3 hidden Airtags: in document shoulder bag, carry-on and backpack. The more, the better. You will be alerted on your iPhone every time you leave one item behind.
• iPad instead of MacBook. it’s smaller and lighter and covers 80% of the functionalities you need (e.g. live picture editing, browser). I only recommend laptop if you are planning to type a lot (e.g. develop software). Keep all the important documents on it and make sure you can use it as backup if your phone is lost or stolen.
• AirPods: small and with noise canceling for the plane.
• Large water bottle to stay always hydrated.
• Neck pillow that doesn’t compress your neck.
• Packing cubes from Away to separate different type of clothes and easily takes stuff out from the luggage
• Use only iPhone as camera. I own expensive Reflex and Mirrorless cameras with different lenses, but I stopped bringing them with me because the iPhone cameras are now so good that I don’t notice much of a difference in quality.
• Travel light with just a carry-on and backpack. I usually leave both at the hotel and only use a Borealis Mini backpack during day to day exploration, it’s just big enough to contain a water bottle, sun screen, sun glasses and a hat.
• Follow Time Shifter app advises to minimize the impact of jet lag and have a lot of energy all the time.
• Travelan to prevent diarrhea in countries with contaminated water and food.