#FitrinaTravels: What's Inside My Carry-On Bag

I AM BACK! Touched down this morning and I'm not having the most enjoyable time right now. Headache, sleepy and red eyes, and all the fabulous aftermath of a 12-hour flight. I slept for 2 hours on the plane and spent the other 10 hours rewatching 2 X-Men movies, 1 Masterchef Junior episode and The Other Woman.

I know I said I was taking a break till October but FINGERS ITCHY LAH, must type something. :D
So here's a #FitrinaTravels post! Most of the people I know who travels have some kind of hashtag, so okay, I must be as trendy.

Disclaimer

This post was written during my flight to Copenhagen. I could not sleep and all I could think was what my next blog post was going to be about and so I typed out this post on my phone. That time was also when I realised last-minute packing was a terrible idea. I forgot to bring so many things. :(

Also, I'm sorry there are no photos to make this post more ... easy to read. I washed all my pouches and my backpack so maybe I'll update this post the next time I travel!

Here I am, almost 7 hours into the flight, all awake and my brain refuses to let my body sleep. I close my eye and the next thing I know, I'll have thoughts. I'm supposed to have no thoughts to sleep, brain!! 

But oh well, since I'm obviously overflowing with ideas and creativity (harhar), let's get on with this rather useful blogpost. Useful for you - good tips for you! - and useful for me - reference point for future trips. 

Usually I try not to bring too many things. I hate having no free hand when I'm on a flight. So, my carry-on bag is almost always only a backpack. A good, sturdy, can-take-laptop's-weight-and-have-laptop-compartment backpack. 

1. Laptop. I don't always bring my laptop; only during work trips.
2. Rosary. I admit I'm not much of a church-goer, but my rosary makes me feel safer. 
3. Notebook/planner. You never know what you may need to note down! 
4. Abundance of pens. I need to have a pen in my bag. Or pens. I hate it when I don't have a good pen to fill in arrival forms. Also, what's the point of bringing my notebook/planner if I don't have pens.
5. Handphone charger/portable charger. Sometimes if I'm lucky, I'll get a flight that has a usb port on every seat, hence I can charge my phone. I think A380 flights all have usb ports. Currently I'm on a B777 flight and nope I have no port, so that's when the portable charger comes in handy.
6. Spectacles and sunglasses. I hate wearing spectacles but I'm blind without mine. Being blind in home country is okay, still can float around due to familiarity. But in a foreign country, I'd rather be safe so yes. The sunglasses is a must, especially for omg-I-need-to-cover-my-cui-eyes moments. Get one that's a good fit for your face shape and you will rock all your holiday photos. Hehe.
7. iBanking device. This is always in my bag. Good for those sudden banking moments. 
8. Smaller wallet. My usual wallet is humongous and heavy. I use a smaller one when travelling, and it contains only the basics like Singapore Dollar, the other countries' money, IC, credit cards and keys. Oh, and KrisFlyer Card (I actually forgot today...shame...but luckily I can still rack up my Singapore-Copenhagen points online!).
9. A ziplock bag specially for receipts. Very useful when I'm making my work claims. 
10. Toothbrush in a toothbrush holder and mini toothpaste. I know some planes provide one-time-usage toothbrush and toothpaste but I don't feel like I have 100% clean teeth when I use those. So I bring my own. I brush my teeth before touching down. Twice if it's a long-haul flight. Buay tahan the feeling of having dirty teeth.
11. Toiletries case. I use my old pencil case for this! Contains mini body lotion (moisturising is very very important!!), lip balm, hand sanitiser, makeup remover towelettes, mini face cleanser, face moisturiser and eye cream. During long haul flights, my routine goes like this - after the first meal, I go to the toilet and remove all my makeup and then try to wash my face as neatly as possible without water splashing everywhere (if really splash, I will wipe off before leaving because...very paiseh for the next user leh). Then I'll go back to my seat and apply my moisturisers and eye cream. THEN TRY TO SLEEP. 
12. Face mask. Yah very important you know. I'm always tempted to bring two but cannot put too many face masks at one go, so one will do. Continuing my routine - I'll not sleep that much because I'm just not good at sleeping on flights, so I apply my mask. Most of the time, the lights on the plane are dim/switched off so I don't scare other passengers, but if the lights are switched on/it's bright outside, then sorry man. 
13. Makeup bag. I bring only the basics with me up the plane. BB cream, concealer, powder, liquid eyeliner. Done! 1-2hours before landing, I'll reapply my makeup. I really cannot go out the plane with my cui face. 
14. Handphone and earphones. These really should be way higher on the list, but I just remembered them haha. During long haul flights when I can't sleep and there's nothing that I want to watch on the "telly", I write my blogposts on my phone. Just like now! :D oh! And I also make sure to update my iBooks with new books. I prefer reading the actual book, but I don't like the extra weight during flights so iBooks lor! 
15. Calculator. I used to carry my $2 Daiso calculator that didn't really work that well, but now I have my $4+ scientific calculator from Taobao that works just like the Casio one. Calculator is very important if you want to bargain or do conversions in a foreign country. Numbers are universal anyway.
16. Passport in a nice travel pouch. Aiyah I just like to have nice travel pouch lah. Very pretentious but travelling with a nice travel pouch with all the nice compartments to store your documents just make me feel better about my travelling. 
17. Heating eye mask. This eye mask has no moisturising purpose. It's a dry eye mask that will heat up when you put it on. Instantly relaxes you and helps to put you to sleep. Or so they say. Have never worked on me before, oops? But I just bring one because very shiok. 
18. Hairclips. Get hair out of the way when sleeping! Also good for face mask application - you don't want hair sticking to your face mask, very gross. 
19. Empty water bottle. I bring my 1L one because hey, you need to constantly hydrate yourself during a flight! Hydrating yourself helps with jetlag too. Just bring the empty one in your bag, go through security and then refill your bottle at the gate.

And that's about it. A long list but all fit nicely into a backpack. 

I have 5 more hours to go. What should I do now?? Maybe I should continue reading Half of a Yellow Sun (by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). I can't wait for the breakfast platter!!