1. Packing Cubes
We discovered packing cubes a few years back and have not travelled without them since. You can generally buy them in sets of 4 or 5 in a range of sizes. Packing cubes are great if you are travelling to different climates as they allow you to pack different clothing types in the different cubes. We buy ours at Katmandu as their quality is really good, and if you can wait for them to go on sale you can often get them for up to 40% off.
2. Travel Wallets
It makes no sense to take your day-to-day wallet with you on your trip. You can get small RFID blocking wallets at most bag stores, and the trick is to only take what you will actually use when you are away.
This is for two reasons. The first is that frankly you just don’t need everything in your wallet, and the second is the hassle of replacing the contents if your wallet is lost or stolen. Why take your driver’s license if you don’t plan to drive? And why take a wallet full of loyalty and membership cards that only work in your home country?
My travel wallet has my Qantas Cash card, one credit card, and a transit card if we’ve been to the destination before and have a valid card for public transport. That’s it!
Most bag shops will stock RFID blocking wallets of various sizes, along with RFID blocking passport holders if you're needing one of those.
3. Travel Umbrella (but not in your hand luggage)
It often pays to have a light weight travel umbrella in your suitcase if you can manage it within your luggage weight restrictions. A collapsible umbrella that fits into your day bag can be a life saver when an unexpected rain squall passes through. Once again Katmandu sells a great range of small, light weight umbrellas.
TIP: Don't carry an umbrella in your hand luggage as it will be confiscated at the security check point.
4. Travel Size Toiletries and Makeup
We love these small size items. It saves you taking full sized containers with you which saves a whole lot of suitcase space. A lot can be bought at the supermarket these days, and others can be bought on Ebay, while Strawberrynet is good for travel sized makeup items.
TIP: with most suitcases these days there are grooves between the slots where the extendable handle retracts into. You can lay these travel sized containers down into these grooves and pop your travel cubes on top. Of course it's always a good idea to put tubes or containers that contain creams or liquids in a zip lock bag first, just in case.