Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Travel First Aid Kits I Pack After One Trip Went Very Wrong
32
items A stomach bug in Portugal, a sliced finger on a hike in Colorado, and a mystery rash in Thailand — all while staring at an empty toiletry bag like an idiot. If you've ever been stuck in a foreign pharmacy playing charades to explain diarrhea, this li...
Sections
8
Compact First Aid Kits That Actually Fit in a Carry-On
Wound Care Supplies For When Things Get Messy
Stomach and Digestion Rescue Pack
Pain Relief and Fever Reducers
Allergy and Respiratory Relief
Skin Protection and Sun Care
Compact First Aid Kits That Actually Fit in a Carry-On
Every bulky kit I bought ended up staying home because it wouldn't fit anywhere. These are the ones that actually made it into my bag without me having to sacrifice a pair of shoes.
Grab this if you're the type who wants to customize what goes inside — I ditched half the stuff in pre-made kits and filled this with what I actually use. Fits in the front pocket of my backpack.
Band-Aid Brand All-Purpose Portable Compact First Aid Kit
Toss this in your checked bag and forget about it until you need it. Pulled out butterfly bandages at 2am in a hostel in Berlin when my friend cut her foot on broken glass — worth every penny.
Be Smart Get Prepared 351 Piece First Aid Kit
Keep one of these in your daypack for short hikes or city walking days. Tiny enough that you won't even notice it's there until someone in your group inevitably gets a blister.
Equate On-the-Go First Aid Kit
Switch to this if you do anything near water — kayaking, beach trips, rainy season travel. Found out the hard way that regular kits turn into soggy messes inside a wet backpack in Southeast Asia.
Adventure Medical Kits, Ultralight Watertight Medical Kit .7
Wound Care Supplies For When Things Get Messy
A scraped knee at Machu Picchu taught me that regular Band-Aids fall off the second you start sweating. Now I pack stuff that actually stays put in humid, dirty, real-world conditions.
Use these instead of the cheap ones — they flex when you move and don't peel off in heat. Wore one on my palm for three days straight while backpacking and it held up through showers and everything.
BAND-AID Brand Flexible Fabric Adhesive Bandages
Throw a tube in every bag you own. Got a blister that turned nasty in Mexico because I didn't treat it fast enough — never traveling without this again. Small tube, huge peace of mind.
Neosporin Original Ointment, Triple Antibiotic, 1 oz
Pair this over a regular bandage when you know you'll be sweating or swimming. Learned about these from a nurse on a group tour and honestly felt dumb for not knowing sooner.
Tegaderm Waterproof Transparent Dressing
Snag a couple of these for deeper cuts or ankle wraps. Way more versatile than you'd think — I used one as an emergency wrap when I twisted my ankle on uneven cobblestones in Lisbon.
Curad Stretch Rolled Gauze, 3" X 4.1 yds, 5 Count
Stomach and Digestion Rescue Pack
Street food is half the reason I travel, but my stomach has betrayed me more than once. These are the things I now carry religiously after a 12-hour bus ride in Peru that I do not want to describe further.
Bring more than you think you need — seriously. Split a pack with a travel buddy in Morocco and we both ran out. Nothing ruins a day of sightseeing faster than wondering where the nearest bathroom is.
Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief Anti-Diarrheal Caplets 2mg
Chew two of these before sketchy street food and thank me later. Way easier than liquid when you're on the move, and they don't explode in your bag like the bottle version absolutely will.
Pepto Bismol Chewables, 5 Symptom Stomach Relief
For anyone who gets queasy on winding mountain roads, ferries, or tiny prop planes — pop one 30 minutes before and you'll actually enjoy the ride instead of white-knuckling the armrest.
Dramamine
Try these when your stomach is bloated from airplane food and altitude changes. Not glamorous to talk about, but the relief is real and fast. Wish someone had told me about these years ago.
Equate Extra Strength Gas Relief Simethicone 125 mg
Pain Relief and Fever Reducers
Altitude headaches in Bogotá, a random fever in a Thai guesthouse — when you're far from home and feeling awful, having the right meds on hand is the difference between powering through and losing a whole day.
Keep a travel-sized bottle in your toiletry bag at all times. Altitude headaches hit me like a truck in South America and these kicked in within 30 minutes. Don't wait until you're miserable to go looking for a pharmacy.
Advil Pain Relievers and Fever Reducer Coated Tablets
Swap to these if ibuprofen bothers your stomach — they're gentler and still knock out a headache or low fever. Saved me during a red-eye where I woke up feeling like death.
Tylenol Extra Strength Pain Relief Acetaminophen Caplets
Specifically for anyone who gets migraines triggered by dehydration or jet lag. Popped two of these in a dark hotel room in Rome and was functional again by dinner. Pack them even if you only get migraines occasionally.
Excedrin Migraine Pain Relief, 24-Count Caplets Each
Toss this tiny thermometer in your kit — when you're feverish alone in a hotel room you want actual numbers, not guessing. Used it once and it changed whether I went to a clinic or just rested.
ThermoPro TP03BW Digital Instant Read Meat
Allergy and Respiratory Relief
Pollen in Japan, dust in Marrakech, wildfire smoke in California — my sinuses have been ambushed on every continent. Now I pack like someone who expects their nose to declare war at any moment.
Bring these even if you don't have allergies — new environments trigger reactions you never expected. Broke out in hives eating something in Bangkok I couldn't identify, and two of these calmed it down in an hour.
Benadryl Allergy Medicine for Adults, Ultratablets
Use this daily if you're traveling somewhere with different pollen or heavy dust. Started doing this preemptively and stopped waking up congested in every new city. Small bottle lasts a whole two-week trip.
Flonase Non-Drowsy Allergy Nasal Spray
For anyone who catches a cold mid-trip and can't afford to lose a day — this kept me functional during a week in London when I picked up something nasty on the plane over.
Mucinex DM 12 Hour Max Strength Expectorant & Cough
Snag a bag for dry airplane air and scratchy throats. Way better tasting than most cough drops, and I've handed them out to seatmates on long flights more times than I can count.
Ricola Original Herb Cough Drops, 21 Count
Skin Protection and Sun Care
Got second-degree sunburn on a boat in Greece because I thought one application of SPF 30 would last all day. My shoulders peeled for two weeks. Never again.
Wear this under your clothes even on cloudy days — UV doesn't care about overcast skies, and I learned that lesson with a burn through a t-shirt in New Zealand. Doesn't feel greasy either.
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen
Get this BEFORE you need it, not after you're already lobster-red and every pharmacy is closed. Slathered it on after that Greece disaster and it was the only thing that made sleeping bearable.
Sun Bum Premium Moisturizing After Sun Cool Down
Carry this for literally everything — chapped lips, raw nose from blowing it constantly, dry knuckles from cold weather, minor burns. One tube does the work of five products and fits in your pocket.
Aquaphor Healing Ointment Skin Protectant for Dry
Try the spray version for reapplying when your hands are dirty or sandy. Way faster than rubbing in lotion when you're hiking or at the beach and just want to keep moving.
Banana Boat Sport Ultra Sunscreen Spray Twin Pack
Blister and Foot Care For Walking-Heavy Trips
Twenty thousand steps a day in new shoes will humble anyone. By day three in Tokyo my feet looked like I'd been in combat. Now I pack foot care like it's the most important category — because it honestly is.
Cut this to size and stick it on hot spots BEFORE they become blisters. Wrapped my pinky toes every morning in Italy and walked 15 miles a day pain-free while everyone else was limping by lunch.
Dr. Scholl's, Moleskin Padding Roll, 24 inch x 4 5/8
Slap one of these on an existing blister and it acts like a second skin — you can keep walking without wincing. Stayed on through rain in Scotland for two full days. Absolute lifesaver.
Band-Aid Brand Hydro Seal Bandages Blister Cushion
Rub this on your feet every night after a big walking day. Sounds excessive until you realize how much better your feet feel the next morning. My travel buddy started stealing mine, so now I pack two.
Gold Bond Foot Cream Triple Action Relief 4oz (Pack of 3)
Swipe this anywhere skin rubs — thighs, underarms, feet. Walking in humidity without this is asking for misery. Discovered it from a marathon runner friend and now it goes everywhere with me.
Body Glide® Original Anti Chafe Stick
Emergency and Miscellaneous Supplies
The random stuff you never think to pack until you're digging through your bag at midnight in a foreign country wishing you had it. Every single one of these earned its spot after a specific incident I'd rather not repeat.
Grab a tube for mystery bug bites and random rashes — because something WILL bite you and you WILL itch at 3am. Used this on mosquito bites in Bali that were driving me insane and it worked within minutes.
Equate Anti Itch Maximum Strength Hydrocortisone Cream
Toss one in the bottom of your pack and hope you never need it. Weighs nothing, takes up no space, and if you ever get stuck somewhere cold or need to stay warm waiting for help, you'll be glad it's there.
First Aid Only Aluminized Emergency Blanket 52" x 84"
Not just for eyebrows — splinters, ticks, tiny cactus spines (don't ask). Quality tweezers make the difference between a quick fix and twenty minutes of frustrated digging. Pack real ones, not flimsy ones.
Classic Stainless Steel Slant Tweezer
Dry airplane cabins and dusty cities will wreck your eyes. Kept reaching for these on a 14-hour flight to Tokyo and again walking through construction dust in Istanbul. Small bottle, big relief when you need it.
Equate Dry Eye Relief Lubricant Eye Drops, 0.5 fl oz