Oh man, the prep (read: shopping, wax, hair-cut, visa, shots, packing etccc) required before you go away almost ends up being the reason why you need a holiday – sheesh. I reached out to the On The List community for items to make my On The Go trip a little easier and a lot more fun. Here are some of the brands and products we tried out.
WATCH OUR ON THE GO CHINA TRAVEL VLOG HERE
> VIDEO EQUIPMENT
First up, the most important item I needed for this trip was something to capture the experience. I usually have a professional camera crew with me (that sounds so MTV ha!) so my skills and equipment in the video department are severely lacking. I reached out to the pros at Canon for some help as a first time Vlogger. My criteria: it needed to have a reverse screen and be easy enough for a novice to use. So they loaned me a Canon Powershot G7X and sent me on my merry way.
I spent the first day leaning the Canon language (or having fellow bloggers show me the joys of Auto) and then once I had my few personalized setting sorted I literally just pointed and clicked. Simple. It’s super light for ‘selfie videos’ and is compact enough to fit into any bag. It turned out that heaps of the other bloggers on the trip have the same one, so hot tip, it really must be the go-to camera for Vlogging. While it’s a great little camera, it does still require a good operator (as I have noticed after watching back my very shaky vision). I also have lots to learn in terms of angles and how to hold it up for over 5 minutes when I do interviews but I’m starting to get my Powershot legs. No surprises, now I want to learn how to be a bit more swish with my skills so I’ll be on the hunt for some random meet up groups in Melbourne to shoot more with. Anyone?
> LUGGAGE
Next up I needed somewhere to store all my goodies as my old-school black soft suitcase wasn’t what I had in mind for On The Go. I was also a hard case virgin and was curious to see what all the fuss was about. American Tourister helped me avoid fomo by sending me one of their large, sunshine coloured (bright bright yellow with a fleck of green, Aussie Aussie Aussie) Lock ‘N” Roll case On The Go with me.
So my sunshine suitcase and I packed ourselves up with a mad amount of stuff and headed to China. And at this point, given how much I overstuffed my bags, it’s important to ask where in the world zipless bags have been all my life?! Clips are the best chuck out the rest. They are SO much easier to use, one your go clip you’ll never unzip ß works?! Ha.
The only thing is that it doesn’t do compartments, except for one long keep safe zip along the back and one on the inside top, so if you like a lot of segregation of your items you will need to BYO. Other than that, this case is huge, was able to keep all my stuff in place and was a fun bright addition to the trip. Not to mention it doubled as a flipping awesome seat when I was waiting in long airport lines. Winner winner.
> TRAVEL INSURANCE
I’m an insurance kinda gal, it makes me feel safe when I’m at home so of course when I’m travelling with my number one prized possession (my laptop durr) I wanted to make sure it, and I, were covered.
I was guided by friends to go online as there are loads of affordable options, but I didn’t want to choose blindly and have some sneaky T&C that I miss. So, I contacted Fast Cover and here were a few tips they shared with me.
1. Buy online – tick!
2. Check the cover for activities – Not all activities are automatically covered, the same as not all pre-existing medical conditions are automatically covered. So if you’re doing something more adventurous, such as scuba diving beyond 10 metres or trekking above 3,000 metres, check whether you’ll be covered.
3. Read the exclusions – Your travel insurance might not cover you if you injure yourself because you’re intoxicated or if you drive a motorbike overseas without the appropriate license. (this reeks of Thailand!!)
I did all of that and I had the option of 3 types of cover, standard, comprehensive or medical only but the price difference wasn’t very much, and I was only going to need cover for 10 days so I chose the top cover and felt totally safe my whole trip.
> ACTIVEWEAR
The team at lululemon are the most supportive people who have come on many adventures with me and every time they make it so much better. They are the best for helping you choose items/products to make your trip/class/life so much better! I also had no idea they have so many items for travel! They’re such a smart company that work so hard to make sure they understand their tribe intimately and as a result they constantly evolve and create products that are spot on!!
Before the trip I was introduced to their Align Pant. Categorized as ’naked’, these pants are a close-to-the-body style with only gentle compression. Holy moly I literally wore these pants every second day, they are so light, comfy and look kinda cute which was perfect to go from wondering a temple, to sitting on a bus for 5 hours to walking up a mountain. Super versatile!
But seriously my number one product for me On the Go Travel Items list is their Vinyasa Scarf. This product was by my side the entire trip. On the plane as a blanket, at night as a scarf, on the bus as a pillow – everywhere. The best product ever and a really reasonable price. Seriously go and get one even if you don’t travel much, this item is soft, stylish and crazy helpful.
Also FYI they also make amazing travel bags (like this one) with handy little bags that go inside it that came with me everyday! One for my waterproof items (I think that is normally meant to be used for sweaty towels post workout) and the other for all my On The Go daily items like lipgloss, hand sanitiser and my Flo Travel nasal spray to keep me healthy in the dusty climate).
> FASHION
I needed to bring a splash of Melbourne fashion with me so naturally it needed to be trendy and black. The gals from Bobby have recently launched their first range of gorgeous handmade leather bags and travel wallet. I took the No.5 with me (the styles go by numbers making it super easy to drop mega hints near your b’day). The bags are beautifully crafted with the most deliciously smooth leather and survived all the elements during the trip like a real battler. Gorgeous addition to the trip.
> TECHNICAL PRODUCTS
Each night I needed to charge my laptop, camera, phone and my day charge pack (which FYI is the hottest rose pink) and my Belkin Surgeplus international 2 outlet charger let me smash all 4 of them at the same time, every night. Legend. It was a long time between drinks for our devices as our days often went from 7am to midnight, so my amazing rose pink power pack, which gave me 2 x full charges was super important too!
> HYGIENE
Our days were packed with adventures to sometimes very dusty locations, not to mention hours on a bus so it was the best feeling to be able to refresh my face during the day with QV’s Face Cleansing Wipes, but to also come home and have an all mights scrub with Elucent’s Day Wash and Moisturiser. The moisturiser was essential given the altitude, I needed to keep my skin as hydrated as possible. The only thing I was missing this trip that I wish I had was a moisturising spray. Ahh that would have been refreshing.
Thanks to everyone who came On The Go with us, you made the time more fun, way more convenient and a little more spesh!
> FIND OUT WHICH FOOD MADE IT ON THE LIST IN QINGHAI CHINA
> FIND OUT WHICH ACTIVITIES MADE IT ON THE LIST IN QINGHAI CHINA
> FIND OUT WHICH CULTURAL LOCATIONS MADE IT ON THE LIST IN QINGHAI CHINA
