Travel Essential Gadgets
All the travel equipment you might ever need during your vacations
Every time we pack for a trip in Japan, we always fear to have missed something. So it’s always a good idea to have some kind of bullet chart prepared days in advance to double-check!
In the following we’ll present you Onigiro’s travel essentials and most useful gadgets you might need during your stay in Japan, but also during the flight! All the links are Amazon associates links*.
If you have any question or you think there are some more essentials we forgot, do not hesitate to contact us.
Travel flight gadgets
Inflatable travel pillows are an essential travel gadget if you have problems to fall asleep on uncomfortable situations. Depending on the duration of the flight this can be a real problem, but with earplugs and a good pillow to rest your head on you should be able to get some rest.
If you’re tired but can’t sleep, your eyes will start drying out and hurt, due also to recycled air and many hours of watching movies on airplane screens. Eye drops for your eyes can save you from a big headache that can make your flight really unpleasant.
As said before, recycled air on airplane are a serious problem, not only for the eye but also for the skin. Moisturizing products are another travel essential that can be useful also after the flight. Cocoa butter stick is a natural product to save your lips, perfectly fitting in any bag.
During a long flight, compression socks can help your blood circulation, preventing your feet from falling asleep or even worst effects on your body. Sitting for too much time is a problem for your health, so remember to do some stretching at least 5 minutes every 2 hours of flight.
We always hope that never happens to us, but is always a good idea to bring your toiletteries backup inside your flight case. To be sure that the liquid doesn’t exceed the allowed size on airplane, here’s some flight bottle set that do not exceed 100 ml each (3.4 oz).
Health travel essentials
In this uncertain times, portable hand sanitizers are a must have travel gadget during all your adventures. Keep your hands clean with this portable small gel bottles. Remember that to be allowed on your flight, bottles have to be less than 100ml (3.4 oz).
Always keep yourself hydrated buying a good water bottle, that can be either BPA-free plastic bottle or a thermal stainless steel bottle, perfect in extreme hot/cold conditions.
While traveling, it might happen to forget to have a proper alimentation, with vitamins in particular. It happened to us to have bad days while traveling because we were particularly tired. Since that time, we always bring with us some vitamin supplements to take daily while traveling.
If you suffer from motion sickness but your travel includes long periods in car or boat rides, is always better to have a pack of travel gums against motion sickness.
Health is the most important thing, especially while traveling on a foreign country. Always talk to your doctor to give you the essential travel medications and pills.
We suggest you to bring the 3 following travel essentials: cortisone (cream and pills) to prevent from allergy or insect bites, a set of antibiotics and paracetamol for high fevers.
Travel tech gadgets
An alternative to renting a pocket wi-fi in Japan might be to buy a local sim when arriving in the country and plug it inside your router hotspot, saving some money. Make sure that the router is compatible withing the country you’re traveling.
For people always active, the smartwatch might be simply as necessair as the smartphone, to monitor the number of kcal burned everyday traveling. Also to know the distance walked at the end of the day might be an interesting gadget.
While traveling on Japanese trains, it is very rude to talk on the phone. In fact, trains are always very quiet and for this reason you don’t need noise canceling headphones, but make sure you have a pair of earbuds to remove the phone ringer while you are on the train or listening to music.
Power banks are probably the best tech travel gadget. For a blogger, a photographer or also a simple traveler using the smartphone for Google Maps, running out of charge can be the worst thing ever! Anker is our favorite brand and 10.000 mAh should be enough for 2 days of solo traveling.
Every country has its own electrical power supply, with different plug-in connectors. Make sure to bring a universal travel adapter with you, many of them also allow you to charge numerous devices at the same time!
WARNING: do not plug-in powerful devices like hair dryer to these adapters because they can break them, only few Watts are allowed (like smartphone, computer, camera, …).
If you’re planning some days trekking or camping, you’ll surely need a portable solar charger to recharge your power bank and other portable device.
How much does this luggage weights? Will the flight attendants allow me to bring it on board or i’ll be asked to pay some extra fee for excessive weight? With this luggage scale you can weight your luggage anytime you want!
Travel dressing essentials
Waterproof shoe covers might save your day on a rainy day, especially if you’re traveling in June and July, the most rainy months in Japan. They’re made in silicon to be really light and easily folded when not needed. Choose the right size when buying it.
Rain poncho are a smart way to keep yourself dry on rainy days, also featuring a hood. If there’s an uncertain weather, bring them in your backpack, they use really little space.
When traveling between December and March, it is important to have a pair of waterproof hiking boots to walk over snowy hills or cities. Since these type of boots are heavy, we suggest you to wear them while boarding the airplane to not use your luggage weight.
Also your backpack needs a rain cover as much as you do to face rainy days and save your tech travel gadgets.
Depending on your preferences, small travel umbrella can protect you from sudden heavy rain, an extra layer to keep you dry.
Summer in Japan is really hot and humid, so you’re going to sweat alot! For this reason, we suggest to bring with you at least three dri-fit shirts that are fresh, make your skin breathe and can be washed frequently since they dry in no time! From our experience, Nike has a good dri fit technology.
When the winter gets really cold, we suggest you to bring some thermal compression shirts to wear under your clothes. They are extremely comfortable while doing winter sports like ski and snowboard.
A good neck gaiter is perfect for mid seasons: easy and quick to wear and remove, this travel is essential for people suffering of sore throats.
We love snowboard, in particular on Japanese powder snow. These snowboard coats are a must if you’re going to ski/snowboard, but we found them really comfortable also for everyday use between mid-December and March. Burton is our favorite brand, professional and stylish.
Photography travel essentials
For video shoots we always use GoPro action camera, waterproof, shock-resistant and with tons of gadgets to mount it on your backpack, on your chest or helmet.
Gimbal stabilizers are the ultimate tool for smartphone to make high quality video without jumping here and there. If you want to work as youtuber, vlogger or twitch streamer, this is a must have!
Depending on your camera, be sure to have an extra sd card or micro sd card, in case you’re shooting a little too much!
Other travel gadgets
One of the most important travel gadget is a good backpack, light and spacious, with easy access pockets to reach your accessory. Make sure that has a breathable back structure and side nets to place your water bottle.
Inside many temples and castles, but also in some traditional Japanese restaurants, you’ll be asked to remove your shoes and wear some slippers. For this reason, to have a pair of comfortable slip-on shoes is surely a good idea, and skechers are our favorite brand thanks to their memory foam sole.
One of the most underrated things to do while traveling is to write a travel journal. Years later, reading this diary along with the pictures taken will make you relive the adventure!
To keep you dirty clothes apart from the clean ones, use mesh laundry bags, useful also while heading to the laundry shops.
Every traveler face the same problem: at the end of your trip, the clothes are way too voluminous and your luggage won’t close. Vacuum storage bags are the perfect travel gadget to solve this problem, put your dirt clothes inside and remove the air with the hand pump to save space in your luggage!
It may happen to lose your passport and other important documents while traveling, so always make a printed copy of each of them and keep them apart. Also make some pictures with your smartphone for extra backup, sending them to your email for remote access.
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