Last Updated on May 8, 2019 by Suzy McCullough
My husband and I are both self-employed. We have pets at home that can’t often go with anyone to be looked after so we love our short breaks. It’s also a really great way to see lots of different places, usually packing as much as we can into 2 days and 2-3 nights. Over the years with a little one we have learnt what essentials we really need to take away with us for a weekend away. Today I am going to share with you just what we travel around with and what we really can’t be without.
*Collaborative post with Oderase
A lot of what we pack are the standard things that you should never leave home without. Such as clothes, shoes, toiletries (travel-sized) and always our son’s favourite cuddly friends. But what else do we take that we really couldn’t do without?
Oderase fragrance-free air freshener
One thing we do differently while we are away than when we are at home is to share a bathroom. At home, we all have a toilet. When we go away we like to take a great little compact air freshener with us called Oderase. It’s currently the only product of its kind to be a fragrance-free,
non-pressurised aerosol, odour eraser.
Just a couple of spritzes of Oderase and the bathroom where we are staying smells fresh again. I don’t know about you but I am yet to find an air freshener that I like the smell of so to have the odour eliminated without leaving another smell behind is perfect for us.
Living with two males it’s also a great addition around the house, especially in the bathroom. You probably get what I’m on about! Need I say no more! Oderase is so handy when you are in a confined space like a caravan. I am hypersensitive to smells and this product is so fantastic at eliminating any nasty odours. My son takes after me and loves to Spritz away.
Oderase has been approved by Allergy UK and the Good Housekeeping Institute. It is currently only available from Ocado. £4.99 for 100ml bottle. How does it work? Bad odour molecules in the air are quickly attracted to the Oderase molecules, which in turn capture the bad odours and erase them from the air.
Smartphone and chargers
I don’t know about you but I have pretty much given up on our sat nav now. I am a massive fan of Google Maps and using Google Search to get us to our destination. I often like to have a sneak peek at a map before we leave home just to check the route is the best one for us but I honestly wouldn’t go anywhere new now without my smartphone. I also always have a charger that plugs into the car so that we never run out of battery for it. Plus I have a spare charger always packed in our weekend bag for use wherever we are staying.
If you’re taking any other devices don’t forget to take their chargers as well. We love to pack a power bank with us. So long as you have a USB to fit your device(s) with you you should be able to charge up pretty much anything.
Tablet / DVD Player
Is it just me or do kids get especially hyper when they get to wherever you are staying? The number of times I’ve had to tell our little one to stop jumping around. Plus there’s nothing worse than trying to unpack with a hyper child bouncing about. Because of this, the first items we always unpack are the tablet or DVD player. It gives us a few minutes of peace before we can all leave the room to explore.
Other handy items that you might not have thought of
- Toddler Travel bed. A good travel bed is essential to ensure your toddler has a good night’s sleep.
- Wet wipes – you really never can have too many wet wipes. Our son is five and we are still using them just not very often on him anymore!
- Reusable grocery bag – I always take the biggest reusable/bag for life that I can find. It’s great for popping dirty laundry in and keeps it out of the bag when we pack to go home.
- Snacks and drinks – You can never have too many things to eat and drink.
- First aid kit
– always essential for any holiday big or small, especially when you have kids
- Sunscreen – I got fed up with the number of times I said “I wish we’d remembered the sunscreen so now I always have one in our bag spare for just in case”
- Sunglasses – I have blue eyes so I’m rubbish at seeing properly when the sun is really bright. You never know when it will come out next!
- Mini Travel guide for wherever you are visiting. Especially if you are having a weekend away in a town or City, or even overseas. I also often print out a few day-out ideas before we leave with distances to travel and admission prices noted down.
- If you are travelling overseas don’t forget insect repellent
- Print out puzzles/colouring in/lists of things to spot etc.
– always essential for any holiday big or small, especially when you have kids
