Tiny Products, Big Impact: Our Favorite High-ROI Travel Items
Our most useful, space-saving gear from three months on the road.
One thing you learn when living out of two backpacks each for a year is how much space your stuff takes up. Not just physically, but mentally. Every object gets weighed (sometimes literally) against how useful it is. If it takes up too much room and doesn’t earn its keep, it’s gotta go.
So in today’s post, we’re taking a break from our usual destination recaps to do something different. This is a rundown of the highest ROI travel products we’ve been using. By ROI, we mean value per square inch. These are the things that deliver disproportionate usefulness, comfort, or sanity preservation.
We’ve organized these high ROI items into six categories, and close with some items we’ll be ditching when we pop by Claire’s parents’ house in New Jersey in mid-July (where all of the belongings we didn’t sell are stored).
1. Our Backpacks: The Foundation of Our Travel Setup
We each carry one large backpack and one smaller one. My “smaller one” is a bit bigger than Claire’s, naturally, since my clothes are bigger and I’ve been tasked with carrying many of our common items. Claire’s total weight clocked in at around 33 pounds when we started, and mine at around 50 pounds.
Osprey Farpoint 40L (both of us): Basically a suitcase in backpack form. Spacious, sturdy, and crucially, fitted with hip straps. These let us shift weight off our shoulders, which matters more than you’d expect. I’ve forgotten to buckle mine a few times and paid for it with bad shoulder pain. We mainly use these for clothes. During some upcoming multi-night hikes (e.g. Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains), we’ll see how well this travel backpack flexes as a hiking pack.
Osprey Daylite 15L (Claire’s second bag): Clips neatly onto her big bag, holds her tech and toiletries, and is surprisingly roomy for its size. We often share this as a day pack when out and about.
Patagonia Mini MLC 30L (my second bag): This one gives me a bit more room than Claire has overall and lets me carry my tech and toiletries, and all of our shared gear. It’s basically our utility closet. Just small enough to fit under airplane seats, but too big to use as a day pack. Claire also has one, but opted not to bring it on this trip. It’s an excellent backpack (thanks r/onebag for the rec).
2. Space Expanders: Things That Multiply Our Setup
We have to squeeze into the four bags above when flying, but when we get to be in one place for a longer period, we slowly expand across even more bags as we “settle” in.
Baggu (Hello Kitty edition): A gift from our friend Jenny, who also introduced us. This tiny, foldable tote now comes with us to grocery stores, beaches, and anywhere else we need an extra bag. It packs down to palm-size and weighs almost nothing.
Collapsible backpacks: Claire has an Osprey one, mine’s some random brand from Amazon. Both fold into their own pockets and are perfect for hikes or day trips when we need to bring just a few things along, like a jacket, sunscreen, water bottle, and lunch.
Carabiners: These clips are travel heroes. I use them to hang my sandals on the outside of my Mini MLC since they don’t fit inside. We also use them to carry water bottles, hats, and the occasional wet laundry item.
Fanny packs: Took me two months to embrace mine. Now I can’t travel without it. Easy access to passport, wallet, phone, and AirPods is essential, especially in airports.
Packing cubes: These are huge for staying organized and squeezing a few more items into our bags. We each have one for socks, another for underwear, another for workout clothes, and so on. The compression zippers really do their job.
3. Sleep Aids: Because Sleep Might Be the Most Important Thing
If you’ve read any of our past posts or know us in real life, you know we take our sleep seriously. It’s the one non-negotiable in our (travel) life.
Tempur-Pedic eye masks: They’re soft, blackout-level effective, and have been with us since way before this trip began. We use them on trains, planes, and in questionable hotel rooms with bright street lights outside. We even use them when it’s pitch black anyway, we’re just so used to them.
Loop earplugs: Originally purchased for concerts. Now essential in noisy hotel rooms, loud streets, and public transportation. They reduce sound without completely cutting it, which we both prefer.
4. Clothing MVPs
We packed light, so every item of clothing has to earn its spot. A few stand out as consistently excellent.
Trail runners: I wear Hoka Speedgoats, Claire wears Brooks Cascadias. Both are good for hiking, running, long city walks, and even dinners out when paired with the right socks. We chose white versions so they look semi-stylish. So far, we’re happy we chose these over separate hiking boots + sneakers, which would have taken up over twice the space (& weight).
Sandals: Mine are Tevas, Claire’s are Keens. Ideal for beach days, hotter cities, or quick runs to a shop. They’re light, easy to pack, and dry quickly. I spilled hot tea on Claire’s the other day and they were good-as-new in an hour.
Buffs: Basically, neck tubes. Claire’s is plain and practical. I just got mine in Colombia; it has cartoon watermelons. We use them for warmth, dust protection, and sun blocking (especially the back of the neck).
REI packable puffer jackets: These jackets compress into their own pockets and still keep us warm on cold mornings, night buses, or hikes in higher altitudes. In terms of warmth-per-cubic-inch, they’re unmatched.
5. Health: The Little Things That Keep Us Functional
This year of travel isn’t a vacation. It’s our full-time life. That means taking care of ourselves like we would back home.
Sunglasses (Warby Parker): We finally upgraded to better pairs. We use them daily, and I haven’t lost mine yet, which Claire will tell you is a huge accomplishment for me.
Trader Joe’s face sunscreen: Affordable, light, and reliable. We wear it daily (& reapply every few hours), even when we think we won’t need it. We’ve only been sunburnt once so far and will look young forever.
Water bottles: Claire has a clear plastic Nalgene. Mine is a heavier Lululemon insulated metal bottle that keeps water cold. Both are with us 95% of the time.
Nuun vitamin tablets: A flavorful way to get some electrolytes and vitamin C, especially when we feel tired or under the weather. Shoutout to Tanaya for introducing Claire to this travel essential.
Philips Sonicare toothbrushes: We’ve had them for years. The battery lasts weeks, and we both feel like we’ve kept up our dental hygiene even while on the move. (My mom, a dental hygenist, is proud)
6. Tech Tools: Not the Lightest, But Worth Every Ounce
These aren’t tiny or featherweight, but they make a massive difference.
Portable battery packs: They’re heavy, yes, but we’ve never once had a dead phone emergency. Ours have USB-A and USB-C ports and digital displays that show the charge percentage. Worth it.
AirPod Pros: This one goes without saying. Small, noise-cancelling, and last a long time on a charge.
Portable fans: Less useful in cold climates. But when we were in Borneo, we were the envy of the group.
ChatGPT Premium: We share a subscription and use it almost daily. It’s helped with wedding planning, country research, local customs, currency conversions, and writing hotel reviews.
Pokémon Go Plus + (just me): It catches Pokémon for me while I walk.
Things We’re Leaving Behind in New Jersey
Very soon, we’ll be visiting Claire’s parents and attending one of Claire’s friends’ weddings in New Jersey. While we’re there, we’ll be resetting our mobile closets. Here’s what we’ll be ditching.
Extra clothes: We overpacked. It turns out laundry is cheap and easy in most countries (excluding the $25 our Airbnb host just charged us). Our baseline is now just enough variety across each type of clothing (e.g. shirts, layers, outerwear), but fewer of each. I, for one, have way too much underwear and never wear the button-downs I brought.
Water bladders: They’ve leaked, gotten moldy, and are hard to clean. Regular bottles work better for us.
Shower wipes: Sounded great, but we’ve only used them twice since New Zealand. Most places have showers. Maybe they’ll be more useful as we start our multi-night hikes.
Journals: We had big dreams of journaling. Instead, we started this blog. They’re bulky and we haven’t touched them.
Final Thoughts
Our gear isn’t flashy, but it works hard. Each of these items makes our trip smoother, lighter, or more comfortable. We’re constantly tweaking what we carry, and that mindset itself might be the real high-ROI tool.
This was so useful and sent me off looking for proper footwear and jackets for our next trip to Alaska. What about rain? Have you had much and what kept you driest? I love your blog.