Readers recently had a great discussion in the comments about their business travel must-haves (you can read it here!), and they shared so many good ones that we decided to compile them for a post today. (Recommendations for specific products included!) How about you? What do you always bring on the plane (or train, etc.) to make traveling more comfortable and enjoyable (or at least bearable)?
{related: traveling for work: our top tips}
Here are Corporette readers’ business travel must-haves:
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Travel-Friendly Suits for Women
Hunting for travel-friendly suits for women? As of 2023, some of our favorites include these brands/lines: 1) M.M.LaFleur, 2) Ministry of Supply, 3) Paul Smith, and 4) Talbots. (Brooks Brothers also occasionally has suiting in their BrooksCool line.) You may also want to check out our roundup of washable suits for women!
Beauty Products To Bring for Work Travel
- Lip balm (e.g., Fresh)
- Face wash / facial wipes
- Makeup remover/makeup remover wipes
- Eye cream (e.g., Kiehl’s)
- Hand lotion (e.g., L’Occitane lavender hand cream)
- Cuticle cream
- Oil stick or rollerball for moisturizing
- Facial mist (e.g., Caudalie)
- Nail clipper (also handy for cutting loose threads, etc.!)
- Nail file
Must-Have Travel Products for Health & Hygiene
- Sudafed/Claritin/Benadryl
- Tylenol/Aleve/Advil
- Aspirin
- Toothbrush & toothpaste
- Mouthwash
- Extra contact lenses
- Eye drops (for contact lenses and/or dry eyes)
- Ginger pills/candy for motion sickness
- Nasal spray
- Travel-sized tissues
- Hand sanitizer/wipes
Tech Travel Must-Haves
- Lots of podcasts, ebooks, and Netflix downloads (You can store up to 100 Netflix titles on one device!)
- Noise-canceling headphones/earbuds (e.g., Bose, Sony)
- Phone charger (e.g., Anker PowerCore Fusion, lipstick battery)
- Charging cables/adapters (Kat loves this extra long charging cord!)
{related: small purchases that make your life better}
Food, Etc. To Bring When You Travel
- Gum
- Mints (e.g., Ice Breakers)
- Pretzels and other snacks from home
- Lozenges/cough drops (e.g., Ricola)
- A bar of high-end chocolate (Anonymous reader, I salute you.)
{related: five things you must bring to a conference}
Some of our favorite office pashminas as of 2023: black / green / gray (lighter weight) / lavender ($20!!). If you’re looking for more of a ruana jacket, I highly recommend the Brooks Brothers’ ones!
Business Travel Must-Haves for Comfort
- Ear plugs (e.g., Hearos)
- Pashmina or other extra layers
- Eye mask
- consider a pair of foldable flats — they’re lightweight, give you another shoe option, and are great for situations where you aren’t sure how long you’ll be walking
- pants that are so comfortable they could be leggings
Readers, tell us your business travel must-haves! Do you bring anything different from the lists above?
Lobby-est
Airplane travel: my beloved Bose noise cancelling headsets
Car travel: Audiobooks and Waze
Train travel: ooh I wish I traveled via train
Also: lots of business cards, ibuprofen, a pair of black flats, and an extra-long charger
Fishie
Train travel is the worst because the wi-fi never, ever works.
Anon
If travelling without a company credit card, a small envelope for receipts.
An outfit that is acceptable for work and won’t be horribly uncomfortable on the plane.
Tweezers.
cbackson
Not all workplaces will, but recently learned that mine will accept photos of my receipts. Now I just snap a pic and email it to my assistant in the moment. Life-changing.
Housecounsel
We use an app for expense reports, and can just snap a photo of the receipt and upload it. Wonderful.
Anonymous
If you use apps like genius scan, you can maintain in PDF form.
Irish Midori
Zomg why did I never think of this!
BB
I’m the chocolate bringer! I feel so proud to be saluted! :) (But seriously, it makes long plane rides with crappy plane food more bearable.)
Houda
I’ll add to that list:
– Tiniest tabasco bottle, makes airplane food semi-palatable
– DeMamiel altitude oil, a couple dabs under the nostrils help you create your own cocoon (others can’t smell it)
– Bumble and bumble overnight masque (in my hair)
– Empty bottle that I refill past security
– Journal and pen to fill forms
cbackson
Mini Tabasco is brilliant for those bland airplane pastas and breakfast egg dishes…
Anonymous
World Market also sells bags of single serve condiment packs of sriracha.
Anonymous
What?! Yes pls!
Anon
Panera Bread has little packets of tobacco sauce like ketchup packets. I always try to grab a few.
E
Mostly this list. Nail clippers, tweezers, band aids, acid reflux meds, excedrine migraine. An extra outfit and workout outfit – spring and summer storms mean more flight cancellations in my experience. Even more extra underwear. My noise cancelling headphones changed my life. I always have snacks – usually multiple protein bars. I like to have a gourmet chocolate bar in my work backpack at all times.
I check a bag because I use a lot of beauty products. I use a wet dry bag (game changer!) to store all my toiletries in case something leaks. It’s been a huge help. I had a nail polish bottle leak – was able to clean it up easily inside the wet dry bag. The brand I use is Skip Hop. I have two sets of most things so I never have to unpack, except I keep my skincare in a smaller bag that I put in my backpack every trip. I travel a lot.
Anokha
I travel regularly, and I carry: (a) a universal international charger; (b) my Kindle; (c) a small notebook and scotch tape for receipts.
BabyAssociate
A little travel humidifier (about the size of a hockey puck) that you screw a bottle of water into. Hotel game changer.
Travel Humidifier
Can you post a link to the model you have?
Anonymous
Flight socks, empty plastic bags for trash/other, tissues, deoderent. Flats, snack food for flight delays, 2 bottles of sparkling water/Diet Coke. A shawl for long flights.
Anon
On the plane, pashmina, compression knee highs, my iPhone, a kindle, and a small bag with all kinds of chargers, earbuds, Advil, lip balm, and breath mints. (I’m a bulkhead flier so everything else goes into the overhead bin)
Generally, I posted the other day but the same toiletries I use at home and the same clothes I use at home. Resist the temptation to pack for the imaginary traveler you, pack for the real you!!
Shopaholic
If I’m just going away for one night, I use the single-use samples that I seem to have a never-ending supply of and sometimes do a nice mask in the hotel room. It feels even more luxurious than masking at home.
Lily
Has anyone used the Atlantic Group staffing/recruiting agency? How was your experience?
Anonymous
A scarf to double as a plane blanket, big fluffy socks, and an herbal tea bag. Night cream on my face (shiny but I don’t get dried out).
Anonymous
I travel every week, and I don’t really have specific must haves beyond:
– Set of toiletries
– Set if casual clothes
– 2 pairs of charged Bluetooth headphones
– computer privacy screen
– standard stuff always stashed in my backpack (painkiller, cold medicine, stain remover pen, hygiene products)
– flight compression socks (don’t love them, but feel like I should mitigate risk for as much as I fly).
Anonymous
And Neosporin. I never travel without Neosporin.
Godzilla
Nobody mentioned tampons/pads?!?!?!?! I haven’t had my period in years and I still carry them when I travel because JUST IN CASE!
Fishie
Diva cup. Liquid soap.
The original Scarlett
Melatonin for sleeping – necessary for time changes & also just helpful sleeping somewhere that’s not my house.
Clark
What do I always bring on the plane to make traveling more comfortable and enjoyable?
• I bring my work bag as my personal item;
• wallet;
• iPhone;
• 11″ iPad Pro with smart keyboard + apple pencil (all fully charged);
• Appointed notebook;
•Swell water bottle to refill past security;
• I always keep a tech kit in my work bag (includes chargers for iPad, iPhone, Airpods, & Apple watch; Airpods & the headphones that come with iPhone as back-up; pencil & pen);
• I always keep a personal items kit in my work bag (includes travel Mason Pearson hairbrush with stretchy hair tie wrapped around handle; lipstick + Fresh lip balm; Le Labo Rose 31 rollerball perfume; Le Labo hand lotion; eyedrops & extra contacts; Marvis travel toothbrush & toothpaste, dental floss; Flint lint roller, The Laundress crease release & stain bar, leather wipes; blister stick, pill case, bandaids, tampon);
• tea bags, stevia packets, & dark chocolate;
• White + Warren cashmere wrap and slippers.
Fishie
A charger kit with various cords, plugs, travel size multiplug, car charger, charging bricks, headphones, etc.
Surface Pro 4 with keyboard.
Sanitizing wipes.
Refillable water bottle.
techgirl
In my carry on: iPad and apple pencil, kindle, a pouch with charger cables/backup batteries/adapters, Bose headphones, sunglasses, phone, mini Kate Spade purse, travel wallet with passport/health cards/docs/pen, herbal tea bags, and mints.
Beauty pouch contents depends on flight length: lip balm and hand cream as a minimum. A full routine of unscented skincare and makeup products (micellar water, spritz, solid oil stick, moisturiser, eye patches, concealer, brow gel and cream blush) if longer. Always extra hair bands.
If overnight an eyemask, and not in a lay flat bed – a trtl neck pillow.
All put in the smallest bag possible! I avoid bringing my laptop when I can.
I keep a wash bag with minis ready to go, and refill/replenish when I get home from a trip.
Mel
Are Bose headphones really worth the expense? or are there other brands almost as good but less expensive?
Also recs for a good carry-on tote and a smaller cross-body bag? I’m going to Europe for the first time ever in June.
Ducky36
Bose are wonderful, but not as effective if you have to wear them over eyeglasses.
Emma
I have Bose and they are worth every penny. Can’t speak to other brands. After I had a kid screaming behind me a whole flight, I bought some and they have made every flight FAR more pleasant ever since. (And I’m not blaming the baby, I think it’s MY responsibility to bring noise cancelling headphones if I want a quiet flight.)
Julia
I’ve learned as I’ve started having to travel by plane for work that downloading the airline app BEFORE takeoff is a “must.” I realized that the only way to use the in-flight Wi-Fi and movies was to have the app. Luckily I downloaded just before takeoff. My seatmate didn’t figure this out until it was too late. She had nothing on her phone, no books or magazines, nothing for a coast-to-coast flight.
Anonymous
If flying or traveling by train (especially in coach) – Lysol wipes to clean the tray table, arm rests, etc. Planes are trains are both covered in germs and seem to be rarely cleaned.
MtnLaurel
I always carry an extra pair of underwear in my carryon. Always. Also a pari of foldable flats for when I need to go from worksite to airport.
LA
– A pair of lightweight flats that look good with everything. I have been favoring my Rothy’s black honeycomb points. They weigh next to nothing and I can wear them with a suit to walk around…or jeans.
– Always bring one extra set of underwear and one extra blouse for emergencies (e.g., your flight is canceled due to weather and you are stuck in another city for an extra day). Learned this the hard way.
– At least one casual change of clothes. I always pack a pair of dark wash jeans and a blouse for times when I do not need to be dressed up. If it’s a longer trip, I pack multiple extra casual shirts. This also comes in handy for emergencies.
– A flat iron. I have one that lives in my suitcase. For my hairtype, I can’t live without it, can’t risk forgetting it.
– If you are a frequent traveler, buy doubles of your holy grail cosmetics and toiletries and hoard sample sizes of products you often use. I use my sephora points for small items that can live in my travel bag. You are less likely to forget things if you are able to maintain a travel bag that is always ready to go.