10 items you must always carry in your handbag when you travel

Your passport

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Honestly, it’s the most essential item on the list and the worst to forget, so make sure you have it before you lock your apartment door! We’ve all been there, especially if you travel somewhere regularly or aren’t boarding a plane, it can almost feel like you’re just doing a routine journey, not an across-borders trip. Put it in a place you can always find it with an easily identifiable cover so you will never forget it.

A cardigan or a jacket

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A cover-up is another essential. Planes are like the office air-con on steroids, so you don’t want to be caught without a chic cover-up and have to use the horribly static plane-issued ones.

A really, really good book

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As much as we do love to catch up on our glossy mag reading whilst in-flight there’s nothing better than a really, really good book to while the hours away on a long-haul flight and get so engrossed in that you forget about the snoring nightmare two seats away from you.

However, if carrying a thick book around sounds like a hassle, consider investing in a Kindle instead—you can download your favourite e-books and read on the go.

Kindle Paperwhite (16 GB), $274.22, Kindle from Amazon

A portable charger

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The worst thing when travelling is being stranded without battery on your phone. It’s not a situation you want to find yourself in, so if your phone always runs out of juice, invest in a good portable charger like the ones from Anker and always have it charged with your cable on hand. It’s a good idea to pop a plug in your bag too in case you ever have a chance to use a power socket or the plane has one by your seat.

Anker Power Bank 10000mAh, $49.99, Anker from Amazon

A beauty pouch

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Always keep a cute beauty pouch which you can easily find in your bag with your mini or decanted essentials in to adhere to baggage restrictions.

Small Makeup Bag, $19.99, Cubetastic from Amazon

A notebook and pen

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Yes yes yes, we’re in 2025 but paper isn’t dead when you’re on a long, languorous journey. Often travel gives us a chance to reflect or allows crazy and potentially wonderful ideas to pop into your head, note them down with a physical pen so that as you inscribe those words, you can allow your game-changing ideas to take real root. Besides, you’ll probably need a pen to write your official documents (if need be) at the airport when you disembark from your flight.

If you want to easily transfer your notes to apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Evernote, consider a smart reusable notebook like the Rocketbook. It features 36 reusable pages that can be wiped clean with a damp cloth when used with Pilot FriXion pens.

Smart Reusable Notebook Dotted Grid Eco-Friendly Notebook, $46.24, Rocketbook from Amazon

Wet wipes

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Let’s be honest—living in Singapore, you should never leave home without them. With hawker centres and their delicious (but often messy) food, wet wipes are a must. They’re just as essential in-flight too. If you’re a germaphobe, you’ll probably want to wipe down the air-con vents, armrests, and more to protect yourself from airborne viruses on long-haul flights. Don’t forget to clean your phone, earphones, and other frequently used devices too—bacteria build-up on these can contribute to breakouts.

Anti-Bacterial Wet Wipes, Hygiene Sensitive Personal Cleaning Wipes, $5.30, Dettol from Amazon

Hand sanitiser

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And of course, if there’s one thing the Covid pandemic has taught us, it would definitely have to be our habit of sanitising our hands. To keep the germs at bay, make sure you apply hand sanitiser frequently.

Anti-Bacterial Hand Sanitizer, $3.65, Dettol from Amazon

Your sunnies

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Okay, call us divas but we don’t mind looking like a paparazzi-ridden celeb when disembarking a plane if it means no one sees our bags before we have a chance to seriously recover from our jet lag. We take our tips from lots of your favourite Korean celebs who always have theirs firmly glued to their faces as they exit the terminal.

A key, transport card and phone pouch

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There’s nothing worse than touching down and being about to grab the subway/tube/metro to your place (this applies to returning back to Singapore also) to find that your keys or EZ-link card are buried deep in the depth of your double-padlocked suitcase. Pack your destination essentials: currency, transport card, keys etc. in a small, brightly coloured pouch in your handbag to ensure they’re to hand when you need them, not requiring the embarrassment of opening your suitcase to onlookers in the middle of the airport.

RFID Blocking Undergarment Neck Pouch, $27.52, Travelon from Amazon

Your headphones

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If you find yourself struggling to fall asleep on the plane because of the noise, then you’d want to pack a good pair of headphones in your bag. Listen to your favourite music or podcast and tune out the other distractions as you fall asleep during your long trip.

AirPods Max, $749, Apple

An eye mask

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Speaking of sleep, if you’re a light sleeper and you’re worried about not getting enough shuteye on the plane, we recommend that you bring along a trusty eye mask to block out the light.

Sleep Mask, $12.60, Yiview from Amazon