18 Actually Useful Travel Items

Sick of the same old lists? Me too.

Welcome to Cheaper Than Therapy, a healing newsletter for 80s babies by Shani Silver. This newsletter does not publish free content, but if you’d like to read it you can subscribe here. Thank you for enjoying the work of independent writers.

Yes, preparing for Italy is making me miss Paris, thank you for asking.

If I see one more blog post SEO-optimized within an inch of its life touting the merits of “light layers” and packing cubes I will throw myself into a river that’s mentioned in the bible. Have you noticed that the internet is becoming more repetitive, less helpful, and unnervingly predictable? Because it’s making me meshugennah, that’s for certain. I will do my best to offer a change of pace.

While preparing for my trip to Italy, in addition to developing eye strain trying to figure out what to see, where to eat, how to get around, and what I can realistically accomplish in a limited amount of time, I’ve been weeding through travel “essentials” and evaluating just how essential all these items actually are. It’s unnerving how content creators will throw that word around on an item I’ve never needed or wanted once while abroad. In rebellion, I’ve made a list for you below that I consider to be genuinely essential to the 41-year-old solo traveler. If you have anything to add to it I’m all ears.