11 Super Helpful Travel Essentials for Creatives and Content Creators

Tried and Tested Travel Must-Haves to Take Amazing Photos

When you’re out in the world, traveling and exploring, there is just nothing better than capturing what you see and experience, and sharing it with people.

No matter if it’s your close circle of loved ones or your audience on social media, youtube, or a blog.

As an experienced, serious hobby travel photographer and blogger, I have a simple but well-working setup, that dialed itself in over the past 10 years.

This article shares my favorite items when it comes to capturing photos while on the road, along with a few tips.

I hope that you can discover one or the other new item that makes your life on the next trip easier and more convenient.

How to Capture Your Trip

Best Minimal Camera Kit for High-Quality Pictures

Sony A7c + Sony zoom lens (28-60mm) + Gomatic Camera Cube

The most important item I bring on travels is my camera kit.

It’s how foreign places are captured and how the joy of new discoveries can be shared with others.

I use the Sony A7c, a full-frame camera that’s well-suited for both photo and video.

It’s the best camera that’s so small, being able to capture in a similar quality like larger, semi-professional camera.

You will need to buy a lens for the Sony A7c and I highly recommend the kit lens (the one that can be bought in a bundle with the camera body). It’s so far the only one I’ve gotten for this camera. It’s a zoom lens that covers the most used focal length.

I don’t use a camera bag or camera backpack but a camera case that allows me to carry any “normal” backpack or bag. It’s the Gomatic Peter McKinnon Accessory Case.

There’s an article that goes into more depth about the camera kit:

Tip: Go from the piece or activity that’s most important to you on travels and let this guide your decision for the rest of what you bring.

Practical and Stylish Travel Accessories

Best (Camera) Backpack for Travel

Backpack “Bernt” by Sandqvist

That’s the backpack I swear by for travels.

No matter if it’s for a weekend trip, where it’s my main luggage piece or a longer trip where I use it as a day bag, this Sandqvist backpack is perfect for everything!

What I love about it – and what I recommend to look out for when you’re searching for a travel backpack – is the following:

• Water-resistant material
• Good quality straps – the key if you wear it for days
• A large compartment that’s flexible to fill with bulky stuff (for example the camera cube, packing cubes with clothes, or a jacket)
• A small compartment on the inside that safely stores your wallet, keys, and other small things that you need at hand fast
• Waterbottle holder on the outside for convenient fast access
• It is still functional when you overpack it (in this case, the rolled top gives extra height when needed)

Travel Documents Case

Z Travel Case by Labrador Factory

That thing was a spontaneous buy years ago on the Milan Design Week, just because I found the design fascinating; the document case folds in a Z shape, creating 3 compartments.

Years later, it turned out to be one of the most genius travel accessories; It’s literally THE perfect case to bring on travels!

The 3 compartments easily separate documents.

For example, you can put all things you need on the current day into the middle compartment that’s the most accessible, all future documents into another one, and all receipts into the third.

The Z travel case is quite flexible and expands as you fill it. 

Favorite Waterbottle

Starbucks Tumbler

Wherever I go, I take a water bottle with me. I’ve had several ones in the past years and the ones I liked the most always came from Starbucks.

There’s just nothing more convenient than a bottle that can keep drinks warm or cold and has a convenient (large but not too large) opening to easily drink from.

I’m sure you will find a similar bottle in a local Starbucks or your preferred store.

What I usually look out for in a waterbottle is:

• Leek-proof – that’s the absolute most important feature, in my opinion!
• Thermos function: Keeps water nice and cold on warm days and allows bringing hot tea on cold days
• Metal core: Metal is just more enduring than plastic and safer than glass.
• Plastic lid with a good mouthpiece that’s easy to clean: Should be easy and comfortable to drink from. For some reason, I don’t like to drink from metal directly so a plastic lid will do the trick…

Tip: Staying hydrated while you’re out exploring gives you more energy to create and bringing your own drinking water will save you lots of time (you don’t have to stand in lines or search for the next restaurant, store. or water dispenser).

Where to Save Your Notes on a Trip

If you’re actively exploring on your travels, you will have lots of notes before and during you’re on the trip.

These are a few tips on how to stay organized during your trip, and have all info right at hand when you need them:

Save Places You Would Like to Visit

Google Maps

Every sight, museum, landmark, restaurant, and another interesting point to visit I’m saving as a pin on my Google Maps.

It’s so much more convenient to look at the map and see how you can connect your pins in the best way than to find out where they are when they’re on a list.

Plus you’ll get pictures of how it looks and opening hours when you click them.

Waterproof Notebook

Softcover Notebook A5 by Karst

For extensive notes and sketches, I like a physical notebook. For example, if I want to shoot pictures for my blog, where it’s important not to miss a shot, I like to sketch them out beforehand.

The Karst Notebook is a very cool notebook to take on travels because its pages are waterproof (the paper is made from stone powder, not from): It survives being soaked from the rain and having coffee spilled over.

Usually, I leave my notebook in the hotel or main luggage while exploring, to keep the backpack light.

I just take a photo of the relevant pages with my phone before I head out, to have the notes at hand during the day when I’m out shooting.

Tip: Take a photo of your notes and sketches so that you don’t have to carry your notebook in your day bag!

Notes Section in Your Phone

Notes App

For to-dos, ideas, and to manage time (drive hours, walking time and opening hours) I take notes in the notes section on my phone.

So easy and so much more convenient than physical notes.

What to wear while exploring

The Sunglasses That Make the World Look Pretty

Polaroid Sunglasses, with a purple tint (model P8339B)

Oh my gosh, I can’t imagine how traveling was before I found those sunglasses. They are my loyal companion for over 10 years now.

First of all, with sunglasses, it’s important that you don’t just go for the cheap version but good quality glasses that actually protect your eyes from the sun. Brands like Polaroid are trusted to do just that.

Second, make sure they fit properly. Everyone’s head is different and you should try and test sunglasses until you’ve found ones that are comfortable to wear all day. And of course, if you plan to take lots of pictures of yourself, you want ones that are cute and fit your style.

What I’ve learned is the most important after you took care of the points above, is the tint color of your glasses. It makes such a huge difference through which color the world is filtered for you all day.

Personally, I don’t like the standard yellow, blue, and grey tints. The purple tint makes colors pop in such a beautiful way, making the sky more blue and showing sun rays and layers of mountains just so much more clearly than visible with the naked eye.

I’m obsessed with those sunglasses and highly recommend them or similar ones for traveling.

The biggest Negative:

Full Disclosure, there is one huge downside to those sunglasses, in combination with the Sony A7c: The polarization filter makes the back screen of your camera show black. So you don’t see anything when you look at the camera’s back screen with your glasses on.

But it’s better to take them off when you photograph anyways, to see the colors correctly so it’s not a huge deal breaker.

Practical and Cute Black Jumpsuit

Women’s Fleetwith Romper by Patagonia

On travels, I just love clothing pieces that are just as practical and comfortable as they look cute.

I found this Jumpsuit by Patagonia on my past trip, and I absolutely love it.

You can go hiking in it (after all, Patagonia is specialized in outdoor wear and uses materials that are functional and practical) but with a cute sweater and some jewelry, you can dress it up enough to be well-dressed for a restaurant or a bar in the evening.

Comfortable Sneakers

Canyon Chocolate Red Sneakers by Tropic Feel

If you’re on your feet all day – walking, hiking, driving – you want shoes with good support and a good profile. And they should be breathable and ideally as lightweight as possible.

Tropic Feel understood that very well. Their shoes are made especially for travel.

I personally love the Canyon model the most (for temperatures from spring to fall, without much heavy rain); it’s extremely breathable and comfortable to wear for weeks and months of exploring.

Those are my favorite travel essentials and accessories as a blogger and serious hobby photographer.

If you’re an active traveler too, who loves to explore and take pictures or to create content along the way, test some of them!

Full details on the camera kit