My Travel Essentials: What I Bring For Extended Trips

Happy November! To everyone who is participating in NaNoWriMo, I hope it is going well for you! It’s been a struggle over here, but my bland novel is rushing toward mediocrity more every day. 😂

The past six months have been chaotic! In a nutshell…we left Florida at the beginning of June and moved all our stuff to Iowa, so that we could be near my grandparents. ❤ We were in Des Moines for two months while we looked for a house and work. Turns out there isn’t a lot of work in Des Moines.

We said goodbye to our Airbnb, and spent the next several weeks between Pella, Iowa, and Rochester, Minnesota. Somewhere in there, we decided that we would move back to Georgia where we lived in 2021 because there is work there (and hey, it’s a first! We moved back to a state that we lived in previously! Crazy!)

We left Iowa for a week to find a house, spent a few more weeks in Iowa, then a week in Atlanta unpacking our stuff. In those seven days, we took a trip out to Alabama so we could check out Huntsville and visit a friend for her birthday. ❤

Then back to Iowa for a time, and now we are in Georgia. Well, short of. We were in our house for a week and a half before we decided to take a trip out to Virginia. The boys are camping, and we girls (and Dovid) are planning on visiting historical sights, eating lots of good food, and enjoying comfort while the boys trudge through the wilderness. 😂😂

Did you get all that?

In short, the last few months have been full of travel, packing, unpacking, and never knowing how long we were going to be in a place. That long explanation brings me to the point of this post. I thought it’d be fun to share my travel essentials. I’ve barely unpacked my backpack since we left Florida, and my clothes have enjoyed a life in my suitcase. 😂 I’ll share the things I’ve packed for this most recent trip to Virginia. The past few months, we’ve had to bring all of our pets (including the fish in five-gallon buckets), so they add a lot of supplies. It’s always lovely traveling without them.

Yes, the intro is longer than the actual post. Look at it as a very belated, very brief life update. 😂

A secret look into the depths of my backpack…

First we have one of the most important items. My journal. I’ve journaled every day for the past almost ten years, so everywhere I go, my notebook goes. My entries may be boring and bland, but when historians want detailed info about a not-so-normal American family, they’ll have plenty of material.

I packed my computer because we are in the middle of NaNoWriMo, and I didn’t want to be a week behind schedule. Whenever I leave my computer, I inevitably get inspired to write.

I have the other essentials – my phone and charging cable. I can’t possibly get anything done without my babies. I’m not at all dependent on my phone, of course…right?

I always bring my Nalgene water bottles. Ever since I read Your Bodies Many Cries for Water, I’ve been inspired to guzzle it. A couple months ago, we were standing in the security area of the Mayo hospital, trying to get checked in, and I dropped one of my babies. Somehow, it (being ancient) managed to hit the floor in such a way that the bottom fractured into three pieces and water gushed out, in the sight of everyone. It was embarrassing, to say the least.

Snacks are essential to keeping up the spirits on long drives, so I brought a bar of orange dark chocolate and a handful of Hershey’s kisses. I also bought some Nerd Gummies for the first time at a random store in Charlottesville. They didn’t live up to my expectations.

I brought my license, various cards, a bit of cash, and some pieces of jewelry (mainly dangle earrings).

Finally, we come to the main contents of my backpack. My books. I brought seven. Is that excessive for a week? Absolutely. But I live by the idea that it’s better to be overpacked than under when it comes to reading material. I’ve had trips when I thought we were only going to be gone a few days, and it turned into weeks, and I didn’t have enough books. *shudders*

I have my little travel Bible – smaller, lighter and less expensive than my normal one. For non-fiction books I brought: The Cost of Cheap Grace by Bill Hull & Brandon Cook (I ordered this quick off Ebay, thinking it was The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoffer, and was very disappointed to realize my mistake), Secret Believers by Brother Andrew, Why The Ten Commandments Matter by D. James Kennedy, and Stalin’s Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan.

For fiction, I have The Idiot by Fydor Dostoevsky and Dracula by Bram Stoker. I tried to read The Idiot during the eight+ hour drive, and only got about fifteen pages though. I always assume that I will do nothing but read during long drives because, after all, what else is there to do when you’re forced to sit for so long? What usually happens is that I stare out the window for half the time, and eat away the rest.

I also have a couple mini blankets and earplugs because hotels are loud. 😆

Next, we dive into the depths of my worn suitcase…

• Three skirts.
• Six (or so) shirts.
• A rain and/or winter coat (I’m bringing my coat for this trip. We had a cold snap when we were in Iowa, and I didn’t bring it and nearly froze on my morning walks before my grandma lent me one. <3)
• Socks, underthings, and a pair of PJs.
• Toothbrush.
• Eight scarves. Is it a bit excessive? Perhaps. Last trip to Iowa, my suitcase was half filled with them, and I had to sit on it to be able to zip it all up. I also bring all my accessories – my no-slip headbands to anchor the wraps, my shaper to add volume to my tragically fine hair, and a few pins to add a sparkle to the wraps. 😉

Have a great (almost) weekend, friends!

~Hattush