Travel Tuesday: What's in your carry-on?

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday! This week's suggested prompt is "What's in your carry-on?" but as always, please feel free to link up any travel-related post. The more, the merrier. :)

Personally, I rarely check luggage when I travel, so I've learned to fit everything in a carry-on (or two). For the purposes of today's post, however, I'll be focusing on what I put in my "personal item." My most important items always include ample reading material, snacks, a water bottle, lots of chapstick and all my electronic chargers. Here's a sample peek inside my personal item from a conference I attended in southern California a few weeks ago:





Not pictured is my iPad (in a Bluetooth keyboard case), my toiletries, my jewelry bag and one change of clothes. These items were in my other bag in the overhead compartment during this particular trip, but if I were to only take one piece of luggage on-board, I would make sure all those items were in it. You shouldn't ever check valuable belongings such as electronics or jewelry, and I don't want to be stuck anywhere without my toothbrush and an extra pair of underwear (just saying). I also hate to be caught without reading material, so while this example with only one book and one magazine is actually underpacking for me, I knew I could open up my Kindle app on my iPad if I got desperate. I also like to keep all my charger cords with me while traveling, and I've found using twisty-ties from grocery stores or old electronic purchases are the perfect inexpensive solution to keeping them all neat and tidy inside my bag.

What are your carry-on tricks? Do you follow any of my "rules" already? Link up with your travel stories and/or tips below! Feel free to grab the button, too.


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And, in honor of my birthday next week, the Travel Tuesday theme on March 4 will be birthdays! Share your best (or worst) birthday trip. Have you ever celebrated your birthday in another country? Would you want to? Et cetera.

P.S. — I've learned I'm not the only Travel Tuesday link-up out there, so I'm also linking up with Ech and Bonnie Rose / Melanie / Tina for their versions this week. I can't wait to find some new travel blogs to follow through their link-ups!