Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash
Five things to always include in your carryon are as follows:
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Water Bottle– Always carry an empty water bottle with you. Once you get through the security check-point fill it up. This will save you from dying of thirst on the plane while waiting for drink service to begin. You will also avoid absorbent airport water prices.
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A change of clothes and underwear– This is only applicable on long haul flights. If you get to your destination and find your luggage didn’t arrive you still have at least one day of clothing to wear while you hunt down your checked baggage.
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A good quality reusable bag– I like to take a reusable bag folded up in my pocket or somewhere in my carryon luggage. This comes in handy when you get to the airport scale and find out your checked baggage is too heavy. Just take a couple of items out of the checked luggage and you can place them in your handy reusable bag. This bag also comes in handy when you purchase too much stuff in dutyfree and it can’t fit inside your carry on. I like to purchase my reusable bags from Marshall’s or Ross. They fold very well and last a long time and at only $1 it is a steal.
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Trail mix– Bring trail mix or some sort of snack that travels well and is non-perishable. Once I was on a flight with no meal service. I did not eat before I got on the flight. Once I got to my destination the weather made it impossible to land. Our plane was rerouted to the alternate airport to wait out the storm. The food service at the alternate airport was already closed. I was hungry and tired and it was on this day that I developed tip number 4!
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Your camera- ALL expensive electronic equipment should be placed in your carryon. I would think that #5 is self-explanatory but I was on a South African safari once and a fellow tourmate had placed her camera in her checked bags. Needless to say, she made it to South Africa but her camera did not!
This tourmate is also the reason I implemented tip# 2.
