15 Things I Love For Travel

*The video in this post is sponsored by Encha Matcha and contains a few affiliate links

Summer travel season is almost here! (Can you believe it?) And whenever I travel I make sure to have a few things to make the trip happier, healthier and just a little more cozy. It is amazing how a few thoughtful things from home when you are far from home can help you feel nourished, comforted and energized for the adventures ahead of you.

Here are 15 Things I Love For Travel, plus my video episode #3 of Kathy's Matcha Chat (includes a giveaway!!)...

Matcha Chat. Check out my video where I talk about five of the things below. I also share a post-travel smoothie recipe..

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Catch up..
Matcha Chat #1
Matcha Chat #2

Giveaway... To enter the giveaway, simply follow the giveaway widget below. Prize: Encha Starter Pack!

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15 Things I Love For Travel

1. Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate. The morning of, during a flight and after arriving I make sure to stay hydrated with plenty of water and maybe even some coconut water. Traveling, especially air travel, can be very dehydrating and air cabins can be very dry, so making sure you drink enough water is key to feeling energized and just your all around best. Sometimes when I get dehydrated I feel tired and headache-y, so this helps combat that!

2. Snacks! Healthy Snacks. No matter how much you just want to get to your destination and then enjoy a nice meal, traveling is exhausting and sometimes very time consuming - so you are bound to get hungry or at least need to keep your blood sugar up while you are en route to your final destination. I used to be the type of person who would just skip meals while traveling, but then when I finally arrived, I would be exhausted, super cranky and just feel like crap. Eating is fuel for your brain, your body, your everything! So the trick is to bring healthy snacks with you on your trip. I share plenty of tricks for this in my video above. Including my absolute favorite fresh fruit trick. Some go-to snacks include nut butter pouches, energy bars (the whole foods healthy-ish variety), salty baked snacks and more.

Some snacks I have been grabbing lately:
- Larabars, VEGA bars, Zing bars
- Baked Salty Snacks like PopChips or Green Pea puff snacks or Hippeas (love those)
- Nut Butter Pouches (Almond, Peanut or Walnut)
- Fresh Fruit! (my fave - my trick for travel is in my video above)
- Classic Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
- Homemade muffins or bars

3. Noise-Canceling Headphones. I adore my noise-canceling headphones! They allow me to listen to my music, movies and audiobooks with so much more Zen in my ears. They cancel out all that rumbling from a noisy plane or even train. I pop them on right before takeoff and love how I get a super quiet flight. They are not cheap, but for me they are so worth it.

4. A Big Awesome Carry-on Bag. I bring a lot of little awesome things when I fly. I also usually pack my MacBook Air and my big Canon EOS 6D Camera. So I need a nice, sturdy, big carry-on bag for all those goodies. It can be challenging to find a high quality, vegan brand, but I talk more about my fave brand and bag in the video above.

5. Encha Matcha. I love bringing a few Encha mini matcha packets along on a trip. I also sometimes bring my matcha bamboo whisk so I can easily stir the matcha into some hot water. Otherwise, I just use a fork to whisk.

Matcha leaves me feeling super Zenergized, which is a very welcome feeling when I am traveling. And even though I can find matcha lattes in many cities now - since Starbucks and Peets carry matcha beverages - I still love finding ways to make Encha matcha on my trips. All you really need is some hot water. And if you are really crafty and have it, some warmed non-dairy milk and a sweetener. And Encha is so much better than most coffee-shop matchas, in my opinion.

Encha Matcha is now on Amazon! So great for ordering ease.

6. Cozy Socks. When it comes to cozy feet, I am obsessed with Thorlo socks. They are so soft, thick and lovely. My feet crave them. So I bring a pair on long flights. They are also great once you get to your hotel room

7. Reusable Water Bottle. I have recently made a habit of bringing my own reusable water bottle on trips. I leave it empty as I go through security, then seek out a water station at the airport. A lot of airports have them nowadays. If I am traveling to a destination with good drinking water, like Iceland, (omg amazing water), I can just fill from any faucet. I end up saving so much money because I drink a lot of water and don't have to buy bottles everywhere I go. I love S'well.

8. Supplements. I bring a few supplements when I travel: magnesium, B complex (great for travel stress and it contains B12 which vegans need to supplement), multi-vitamin gummies (I usually take a few every other day just as nutritional backup), sometimes I will bring along some digestive enzymes like papaya or bromelain and also turmeric which I use as a natural anti-inflammatory. If I am traveling to a new time zone or overseas, I will sometimes bring melatonin.

9. Hand Sanitizer and Deodorant Wipes. I love these two products from EO: wipes and spray. They help me feel refreshed and clean when traveling does the complete opposite!

10. Phone Charger. I have a few big phone chargers that I always bring when I travel. I love Mophie's products that have the cords built into the charger.

11. Lip Balm or Gloss. My lips get so dry when I travel, so I always bring a high quality balm. I love BeeSweet, made by a friend of mine.

12. Movies Pre-Loaded + iPad. If I am traveling on a plane for over four hours, I will bring my iPad and load it with a few movies. Watching movies or binge watching a TV show really helps the hours speed by on a plane. And bringing my own iPad safeguards against any possibility that the plane will not have working entertainment screens - or any available at all.

13. A Great Toiletries Bag. You don't need anything super fancy or expensive, just something with a lot of little pockets and enough space to hold all your stuff. Something you love and feel organized loading up - especially for long trips.

14. Individual Masks - Sheet Masks for Face and Eyes. I love placing a few sheet masks in my luggage. I can then turn my hotel room into a mini spa! Plus the masks really help perk up a tired travel face. I love Farmacy Sheet Masks. A few other brands I found online: Origins, 100% Pure... Sephora and online stores have a bunch of options these days. If anyone has a brand they love, let us know!

15. Body Oil or a Good Lotion. There are a bunch of goodies in my toiletries bag, but one I cannot live without is a brought-from-home lotion or body oil. The lotions in hotels can vary greatly in quality and I just love making sure my skin is very hydrated when I travel. My go-to is to bring a small bottle of jojoba oil. I usually grab the small bottle of Desert Essence from Whole Foods. I can use a small amount to perk up any hotel room lotion because a little goes a long way. Make sure to store it in a plastic baggy in case the bottle leaks during the flight.

So there they are! A few of my favorite things to bring when I travel. I really put "hydrate" as number one because it is so important..

Airplane Hydration Tip: If you are afraid to drink too much water on an airplane, you can always try to snag an aisle seat where you can have easier bathroom access. Or if you have to skimp on water during your flight, try to chug some water about 20-30 minutes before you land because that will give your body enough time to hydrate a bit, but you will also be on the ground soon!

Don't forget to watch my video and enter the giveaway at top.

what are some of your favorite travel goodies?