The Ultimate Packing List

This packing list has been born from experience. Take utensils on a road trip so you don’t have to use colored pencils to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Pack a waterproof floating phone case so when your husband accidentally knocks his phone off the boat, it doesn’t sink to the bottom of an 80 foot lake. Please learn from my mistakes. Every adventure is different, your people and your activities will all change but this list will go a long way in making sure you’re prepared. I’ve broken the list down into categories but I would advise reading every category anyway. Just because I have beach blanket under the beach category doesn’t mean you don’t want one at the lake too.

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clothing – for every family member

• Shirts – if you’re going somewhere cold, I feel it’s easy to pack accordingly. However, summer months can be tricky because some places really cool off at night; if you’re out on a boat it may be colder, some venues are chilly, so think it through. My husband prefers packing 19 T-shirts and nothing long-sleeve so each to their own.
• Pants/Shorts
• Underwear
• Bras
• Pajamas
• Robe
• Socks
• Shoes – hiking, casual, dinner, water, beach
• Swimsuit – always take your swimsuit, even if you don’t anticipate swimming. Maybe you’ll encounter a hot tub.
• Coverup
• Jacket/coat
• Rain coat/poncho
• Hats – winter, sun, baseball
• Activity clothing – hiking, biking, water sports, skiing, exercise
• Dinner outfit
• Accessories – jewelry, belts etc
• Event clothing – concert, golf, day trip

for the car or plane

• Purse/wallet
• Sunglasses – for everyone
• Glasses – reading or regular
• Toll passes/chips/EZ Pass – these are being phased out but if your area still has a toll chip reader, remember to take it along if needed
• Maps/Atlas – it’s wise to have a paper copy and some written directions, even if these are just downloaded on your phone. We use Google Maps but there was a dicey situation once where we lost service in the upper peninsula of Michigan and couldn’t find the home we were staying in.
• Drivers license
• Passport + passport carrying case
• Reading material – books, magazines, Kindle etc
• Tickets – any pre-purchased tickets for boats/planes/events/concerts
• Itinerary – lodging details, addresses, telephone numbers. If you’re keeping this all on your phone, I would recommend sending it to travel companions as well, but also download it or print it in case you don’t have reception. We once arrived at a rural airBnB in New Mexico, couldn’t get in and didn’t have cell service.
• Cash + credit cards – carry both on vacation. We have been places that only accept cash and other places that only accept cards.
• Insurance/medical cards
• Passes/cards – America The Beautiful national park pass, AAA card, hotel and car membership cards, student ID, military ID etc.
• Water bottles/coffee containers
• Water flavoring – we take refillable water bottles to the airport. They’re empty initially but most airports have water bottle filling stations once you’re through security. The water tastes very chlorinated and the kids don’t like it plain but they love dumping in water flavoring packets (there are a million brands – KoolAid, Gatorade etc). We also use these for hotel water as well.
• Hand sanitizer
• Snacks
• Face masks
• Tissues – for the obvious reasons but also because we have a kid who gets nose bleeds with elevation and humidity changes
• Gum or candy (to help ears pop)
• Dramamine – for anyone who might get motion sick
• Ear plugs/eye covers
• Travel Blanket
• Pillow/neck pillow
• Electronics
• Head phones
• Portable power supply
• Phone/electronic chargers – wall & car
• Power inverter – most vehicles have multiple outlet choices now but if your vehicle does not, this plugs into the car charger and then offers a regular wall-outlet plug (for laptops etc)
• Car trash can
• Walkie Talkies – the first time someone suggested these on a road trip with another family, I thought it was completely unnecessary. We all have cell phones. Then we got into the mountains, where no one had service and I had to eat my words. Walkie talkies can be fantastic if you’re traveling with more than one vehicle. They can also be super useful if people are boating out on a lake and need to communicate with group members on the shore, on hikes with group members that travel at different speeds etc.
• Tool kit and/or roadside assistance kit – we only take this when we’re driving. Obviously it would be great to have on our road trips that we fly to as well, but there’s a limit to how much stuff I want to squeeze into a suitcase. Jumper cables cross the line for me. We do have a little tool gadget that has some small screw drivers that we pack to fly.

the beach

• Shell carrying bag – we used a bucket or grocery bag for a long time. These are better. Hook one on each kid. These are also great for walks/hikes where you’re finding treasures such as unique stones, acorns, etc.
• Beach toys + kites
• Sieve – for finding shark teeth, interesting shells and other treasures
• Boogie boards
• Umbrella/sun shade
• Beach bag
• Beach blanket
• Beach towels
• Sun screen
• Cart
• Chairs
• Cooler
• After sun gel
• Talcum powder or corn starch – to remove sand

for adventures

• Back pack
• Insulated lunch bag – this is for the backpack. When we’re hiking or out on a day trip, I’ll put ham & cheese, grapes etc into a small insulated bag and stuff it in a backpack.
• Umbrella
• Camera/Water camera
• Go Pro
• Fishing gear – our kids enjoy fishing on vacation but we fly to a lot of our destinations. My husband found rods that break down into handy cases and, most importantly, fit in our suitcases. Along with a small travel tackle box, this is totally doable.
• National Park Passports – we’re obsessed
• Binoculars – if you’re traveling anywhere you might spot wildlife, pack these. Our family is about as stealthy as a construction site, so we often have to observe our wildlife from afar.
• Journal
• Cooling towels – one time we were hiking across a buffalo-strewn prairie and it was 100 degrees. The buffalo didn’t seem affected but my husband was dying. Thankfully I found a wash cloth in my backpack (see “old towels” below), which we draped over his head and neck and kept pouring water on. It really helped cool him down, which was fortunate, because the kids and I together couldn’t carry him and the buffalo didn’t look inclined to help either. Since then, he packs cooling towels.
• Insect repellent
• Water proof bag for phone – my husband accidentally dropped his phone into a lake once. When I see articles about saving the earth’s water quality, sometimes I wonder if it’s the fish using his iphone. Take waterproof cases/bags on any and all water adventures, even if you’re not planning on swimming. They also make floatie water-proof cases as well.
• Dry bag – if you’re planning on kayaking or boating on vacation, you need a dry bag for your change of clothes, keys, wallet etc. Ours is just big enough to hold the essentials and yet easy to pack in a suitcase.
• CamelBaks/water hydration packs – get these for your kids too. You do not need to be a pack donkey. Have them carry their own water and snacks.
• Hiking poles
• Life vests – especially this applies to kids. Sometimes the ones they supply you with a boat rental are not very comfortable to swim in all day.
• Rock hounding gear – gloves, shovel, glasses, hammer, rake. We are definitely not geologists. In fact, we rarely know the name of any of the rocks we’ve collected. But we do love searching for treasures. The kids will look happily for hours. We’ve dug for crystals in South Caroline, turquoise in New Mexico, garnets in Nevada, fossils, agates, and more. I’ve put together a small kit that fits in our suitcase. I’m not proposing you take a full sized shovel through airport security.
• Survival kit – lighter, water filter, knife etc. This needs to be more extensive the more remote areas that you travel but we carry a small lightweight version on any hike.
• Camping supplies

kitchen things

• Bag clips – these are important. Get good ones. Something with a nice solid feel and good clampiness. You will use these to hold chip bags closed, hang towels to dry, hold curtains closed, keep a picnic table cover from blowing away and a myriad other things
• Scissors – small, good ones. There have been too many times on vacation where we needed to open a pack of batteries, remove a tag or were in otherwise desperate need of scissors, and the hotel or vacation home did not have any.
• Sharpie marker – mostly to mark drinks, water bottles, label sea shell bags, etc. I keep one in the same Ziploc bag with the scissors and bag clips.
• Hand wipes
• Paper plates
• Silverware – plastic and regular. This is very important. I have a few cheap metal spoons, forks and 2 butter knives that I literally keep in the suitcase for vacation. One time, in White Sands, New Mexico, on top of a sand dune, I realized we didn’t have a utensil for sandwich making. My solution was to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using a pair of colored pencils, but, spoiler alert, it doesn’t work that well. Since that time, I pack a few metal utensils. I use them a lot. On road trips when we’re between vacation rentals, when someone breaks their plastic spoon eating hard ice cream and when you need to spear a pickle in the jar and a plastic utensil won’t cut it. We use plastic utensils too but sometimes they’re just not up to the task.
• Coffee/tea + creamer – most of the places we stay have coffee but not all. Especially if you’re somewhere rural, it’s safest just to have a small container of your favorite stuff, with some travel size containers of sugar and creamer
• Sanitizing wipes
• Paper towels
• Condiments – I have a snack-sized bag of salt/pepper/ketchup/mayo/mustard that travels with us. If you’ve ever eaten a baked potato completely plain, without a single granule of salt, you will start packing an emergency back-up stash as well. We buy the larger containers once we get to where we’re going but in the meantime, better safe than sorry.
• Ziploc bags – if we’re driving, I take the whole box and add more of different sizes. If we’re flying, various sizes get dropped into a gallon-sized, rolled up and added to the suitcase. These are vital – take a good many. Not only will you store food and snacks in them, but also rocks, hair ties, a necklace that falls apart, puzzle pieces and various other paraphernalia.
• Tinfoil – fold some up and take along. You can buy a box once you get to where you’re going but in the meantime, grilling, covering a watermelon or using as a lid all require a piece.
• Foldable cooler (day trips) – this packs into our suitcases and is used for day trips a lot. If we have an airBnB but are going out for the day, we add ice packs and drinks. When we’re on the road between houses, we stash all our fridge stuff in it. One of the biggest pains when on a road trip that you started out flying to is that it’s difficult to take a big cooler unless you check one as baggage.
• Trash bag + empty grocery bags – for trash at picnics, wet swim suits, collecting impromptu treasures, or stuffing muddy shoes into. The trick is to fold them up neatly into tiny little squares and put a rubber band around them. They barely take up any space at all.
• Food – this is another whole post. Plan carefully, for hangry travel companions put a damper on the fun. When driving, we take along as much as we can because I hate using vacation time to grocery shop. When we fly, I preplan meals and after getting our rental car, we usually hit up a grocery store. We eat out some meals but making some of your own food, especially with kids, is an excellent way to save money.
• Spices/utensils for specific dishes – I try to think ahead to some of the food we’re going to eat on vacation. Sometimes we stop at restaurants. Sometimes we eat cereal. Most of the time, I aim for something in between. If there is a dish your family loves but requires a specific spice or small utensil (I once saw someone pack a full-sized juicer, so size is relative), take it along. Otherwise you’ll have to buy new and possibly not have room for it on the return trip.

Bathroom things

• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Body wash
• Loofah
• Tooth stuff – brush, paste, dental floss, mouthwash, picks
• Deodorant
• Razor + shaving cream
• Beard supplies – brush, oil etc
• Makeup
• Face wipes
• Face cream
• Hair brush
• Hair care – ties, spray, dry shampoo, head bands
• Hair equipment: dryer + straightener + curler
• Chapstick – especially important for dry destinations, like the southwest. Even if you’re not a normal chapstick user, you will need it there.
• Moisturizer
• Sun screen
• Feminine supplies
• Contacts/solution
• Q-tips/cotton balls
• Personal medical supplies – hearing aids, sleep aids, compression socks, braces, slings, shoe inserts etc

traveling with kids

• Games, toys & books
• Tablet + charger
• Diaper bag
• Diapers + wipes
• Swim diapers
• Kid Shampoo + body wash
• Stuffies/teddy/sleep blankets
• Bibs + utensils + sippy cups
• Bottles + milk
• Baby food
• Plastic plates/bowls
• Portable crib
• Backpack/sling
• Stroller
• Portable high chair
• Swimmies/life vest
• White noise machine
• Car seat – if renting a car
• Chewable or liquid Tylenol/Advil

Medicine kit

• Prescription medications
• Dramamine – for the car, on boats, even trains or planes
• First aid kit – my extensive First Aid kit is another post altogether. We used to travel with a pre-purchased kit from Walmart, which I found ridiculously inadequate on more than one occasion. So I constructed my own, which still fits in the same box but is a densely packed mini emergency room at this point.
• Tylenol/Advil – you’re going to be out of your routine, possibly more active than ever (hello surfing!) and eating a different diet at abnormal times. Your body may wonder if you’ve lost your mind so be prepared to soothe it.
• Pepto Bismol/Tums/gastrointestinal relief – see above

traveling with a pet

• Carrier/crate
• Food + treats
• Water dish + water
• Bed
• Leash + harness
• Waste disposal bags
• Grooming gear – shampoo and brushes if needed after they swim, go on a muddy hike etc.
• Toys
• Prescription medication – make certain you won’t run out while traveling
• Other Medications – including flea/tick and heartworm meds if due while you’re traveling, ear cleaner if needed after they swim, motion sick meds if prone to nausea in the car etc.
• Pet First Aid kit
• Life jacket
• Clothing/gear – coat or sweater, foot coverings, Gentle Leader, etc
• Portable fencing
• Old towels – for drying off
• If microchipped – ensure info is up to date and you have the microchip company number
• Vaccine records – especially if you need to kennel them for a day while you do other activities. Some places cannot allow pets but have doggy daycare available.

miscellaneous – still very important stuff

• Laundry detergent – we used to travel with actual liquid detergent (can you imagine?). Then we upgraded to the pods – so much better. Now we’ve upgraded again – to the detergent sheets this time. These are fantastic, with no risk of leaking. I can’t wait to see what comes next – maybe a laundromat suitcase that cleans clothes you pack inside it.
• Dryer sheets -some vacation rentals offer laundry supplies, some do not. Don’t find out you need it at 10 PM at night when you’re far from a store. Put these in a Ziploc bag and store flat in your suitcase.
• Bedding/towels – if required by the vacation rental
• Laundry bag – take 2 if you want your family to sort colored and whites
• Postcard stamps – I send a postcard to our kids on every vacation (more about that in the Vacation Extras post). I keep postcard stamps in my vacation wallet so I can write them out, stamp them and drop them in the next mailbox we see.
• Cloth grocery bags – some stores or whole states are moving toward reusable bags and do not offer plastic bags at checkout. This is wonderful but it can catch you off guard while traveling. After the second time that we came out of a store with cans tucked under our arms and bear-hugging breakfast supplies, I purchased foldable reusable cloth bags. They fold up very small, tuck into their own pocket and are really handy.
• Flashlight/headlight – important if the electric goes out, you get a flat after dark, you plan to visit a cave or find the bathroom at night
• Camp fire supplies
• Hats/gloves – obviously you will think of this if you’re going somewhere cold. But it also applies to very dry climates where it’s hot during the day but cold at night. I took hats/gloves on our New Mexico trip. It was October and we wore shorts and T-shirts all day but had snow overnight.
• Deck of cards
• Portable/waterproof speaker – for showers, picnics, boating, camp fires etc
• Night light – you can put one of these in the bathroom so people can see at night, in a kid’s room, in the hallway of a vacation rental or anywhere you need in an unfamiliar space
• Old towel – this is a personal favorite of mine and one I’m never without. This can be any size – from wash cloth to hand towel to full sized towel. Light and easily packable is best, not a heavy bulky one. We have used these wonderful things to head off heat stroke on a hike, dry a kid after an impromptu fall into a creek, rub sand off feet, spread out on a dirty picnic table, dry stadium seating off and a million other uses. I usually have a wash cloth in my backpack and a larger towel in the car.
• Battery powered personal fan – especially useful for stadiums, amusement parks, outdoor concerts or anywhere you might be baking in the sun
• Travel purse, fanny pack or day bag – I use a different purse on vacation. It’s cross-body so my hands are free, big enough to carry snacks and a water bottle but not so big that I’m staggering around under the weight all day
• Shoe bag – this actually doubles as our beach bag. It’s large and made of mesh with handy handles. Everyone packs their shoes in their own suitcase to start. But as the vacation unfolds, Crocs and flip flops and hiking shoes tend to get thrown around, build up by the front door or roll out of the car when you open the hatch. So I solved this problem with one large shoe bag. At the end of vacation, all the shoes go back in the various suitcases and the bag is folded up small and tucked away.
• Hobbies – paints, guitar, camera equipment, skiing gear, golf clubs etc.
• Beach ball – I was going to put this in the kids section but really it’s fun for all ages. I take along two $1 beach balls on every vacation. The kids especially love playing with them in hotel pools. They deflate super flat for a suitcase, weigh nothing, and only take a few minutes of robust lung exercise to blow them up.