12 Things I Always Pack Before Every Flight (You Only Forget Them Once)
- Aug 1
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 15
If you've ever stood in airport security frantically repacking a bag while your kid asks why the man wants your shoes, welcome. You're in the right place.
I've done this trip enough times now — twice to Punta Cana, Cuba, more flights than I can count with two small kids, a husband, and my own ADHD brain running the show — that I've stopped “hoping I remember everything” and started actually building a system. This is my real, lived-in, long-flight packing list. Not the aesthetic carry-on flat-lay version. The “I am a therapist who cannot follow her own advice about relaxing” version. Some of these are travel essentials I'd tell any of my clients to buy. A couple of them I only found because I forgot them once and swore I never would again.
So here it is — the family travel, long flight, ADHD-mom-tested list of things I never board a plane without.
Quick List (Save This)
1. Comfrt Airplane Mode Travel Hoodie
4. Owala Water Bottle + Tumbler
5. LeanTravel Compression Packing Cubes
6. INIU Mini Portable Charger
7. EUCOS 62" Phone Tripod
8. Silicone Wedding Rings
9. Life360 Tile Trackers
10. Waterproof Phone Pouch
11. O'Keeffe's Working Hands Lotion
12. JISULIFE Portable Handheld Fan
1. The Comfrt Airplane Mode Travel Hoodie
✨ Use my link above and it automatically applies 15% off at checkout — no code needed!
I saw this hoodie all over my TikTok feed before our trip to the Dominican Republic in April and, being deep in my own affiliate marketing era, I was obviously intrigued. I bought one for me and one for my husband and we are both obsessed. The eye mask built into the hood is the whole reason I bought it — I've slept with an eye mask every night for at least 15 years, so having one built into my hoodie felt like it was made for me specifically.
The pockets are the real sleeper feature though. Passport pocket, a kangaroo pouch with a secret inner pocket for my AirPods so they're not just flopping around loose, the whole thing. I've washed mine probably 15–20 times and it still looks brand new. It's also slightly weighted, which sounds silly, but from an ADHD, over-stimulated-nervous-system standpoint, that gentle pressure is genuinely calming. My only complaint: I run hot (not because I'm 40, that's a lie I tell myself, I've just always run hot), so for our October trip I'm grabbing the zip version instead, so I can vent when I need to.
2. The BOACAY Packable Travel Blanket
Cozy is not optional for me when I travel — it's a requirement. This one folds down to nothing, clips right onto a backpack or suitcase, and means I'm never depending on the airline blanket that's been through God knows how many flights before mine. My kids have their own version of this too (a muslin blanket does the same job for them), because a warm, familiar, soft thing is doing a lot of emotional labor on a long flight, for all of us.
3. Loop Switch 2 Earplugs
I am an ADHD mom of three, married to a very patient man, working from the living room most days, and I will tell you honestly: overstimulation is my villain origin story. What I love about the Loop Switch 2 is that you're not locked into one mode. There's a little toggle so you can go from “I need total quiet because my brain is glitching” to “I want to hear the table at the restaurant but not the whole restaurant” to “concert mode” without owning three different pairs of earplugs. On planes, in airports, anywhere the noise floor is doing too much — these come everywhere with me. When I need actual music instead, my noise-cancelling headphones do the same job.
4. Owala Water Bottle + Tumbler
Shop my favorite water bottle here – Canada
Shop my favorite tumbler here – Canad
As a therapist, I will tell every single client that hydration is non-negotiable, and then I will personally go get myself an Owala like it's my job — because staying hydrated while your whole routine is upside down is genuinely one of the easiest wins available to you. The 24oz Sip fits every cup holder we own and travels with me constantly. The 40oz tumbler is my “fancy drink” cup — the insulation is so good I can order a piña colada at 10am and it will still be cold at 3pm (don't ask me how I know that). Bonus packing hack: I stuff socks, underwear, and bathing suits inside the empty bottles before we leave. Free space is free space.
5. LeanTravel Compression Packing Cubes
Shop my favorite packing cubes here – Canada
I am, by my own admission, not a naturally organized person — my room is a disaster. But when I'm packing for a family of five plus my mom, I need to know exactly what's in each bag without playing suitcase Tetris every single morning. These cubes are basically my version of labeling moving boxes “kitchen” and “bathroom” instead of just throwing everything into one chaotic bin — no junk-drawer energy allowed in my suitcase. The compression zipper genuinely saves an unreasonable amount of space. I'm still determined to try stacking a compressed cube inside a vacuum-seal bag on our next trip, because I have to know what happens.
6. INIU Mini Portable Charger
I am always the one taking the pictures, checking flight times, keeping everyone updated, and running the kids' travel tablets — so my phone battery does not stand a chance, even on a good phone. This charger is genuinely tiny (about AirPods-case sized) but fast-charges everything, and it does double duty charging the kids' travel phones, headphones, or the sound machine when we're not near an outlet.
7. EUCOS 62" Phone Tripod
Shop my favorite phone tripod here – Canada
I spent years being the person behind every single photo, showing up in vacation albums only as a weirdly-angled arm — I call it my “giraffe arm era.” This tripod with the remote changed that. It's light enough to actually pack, sturdy enough to trust, and means I finally exist in the photos I'm the one taking. Pro tip from someone who learned the hard way: pack extra batteries for the remote, because you do not want to find out it's dead poolside in Punta Cana.
8. Silicone Wedding Rings
My husband and I switched to these after realizing that bringing our real rings somewhere we'd be in the ocean, the pool, and a hotel safe half the trip just wasn't worth the anxiety. We've worn these on every trip since 2024 and honestly, most days at home too — no worrying about a diamond catching on a kid's hair, no taking it off to shower, and yes, I have absolutely thought about the “ring has to be cut off in an emergency” scenario one too many times (too much Grey's Anatomy, I'll own it). Silicone can be cut off in about two seconds if it ever came to that. Cheap peace of mind.
9. Life360 Tile Trackers
At home, ours lives on the TV remote, because between two kids, a husband, and a teenager, “mom, where's the remote” is basically a second language in our house. Traveling, the same logic applies to the stuff that goes missing the second your routine changes — bags, keys, whatever you can't afford to lose an hour to hunting for. If you already know your brain (or your family's collective brain) misplaces things under normal circumstances, travel is not going to improve that.
10. Waterproof Phone Pouch
This has been to the resort pool and the ocean with me three trips running and I have never once worried about my phone. It fits my iPhone with room to spare, and I usually tuck a bit of cash in there too so I can tip the pool and beach staff without dragging my whole bag down to the water — they've earned it, and I'd rather not do math while treading water.
11. O'Keeffe's Working Hands Hand Lotion
Shop my favorite hand lotion here – Canada
This is genuinely the only hand lotion I've ever connected with, post-hand-sanitizer-everything era. It doesn't feel greasy, it actually works, and I keep it in multiple places — home, work, and a travel-size one in my bag anytime we fly, because airport and airplane hands are a specific kind of dry.
12. JISULIFE Portable Handheld Fan
Shop my favorite handheld fan here – Canada
We tried the cheap version of this off a random app before a trip to Cuba and learned the “you get what you pay for” lesson fast. This one is compact, sturdy, doubles as a flashlight and a power bank, and has a stop-on-contact blade so it's not a hazard around little hands. It comes everywhere with us now, resort included.
If there's one thing you'll learn about me, it's that I love finding things that make life feel a little easier.
Whether that's a travel essential, a parenting hack, a cozy self-care find, or something that simply makes me think, “Why didn't I know about this sooner?”
I'm grateful you're here and I hope you found something helpful.
Wishing you comfort, calm, and a little less overwhelm wherever life takes you.
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