Gear Up for Lazy Travel

Welcome to Lazy Gear, a collection of our favorite travel gadgets, tools, and equipment we’ve come to love on our travels.

You’ll see the disclosure banner above — we use this page to gather most of our affiliate and referral links in one place, so we can keep the rest of the site as uncluttered and link-light as possible. If you decide to buy something through one of these links, it helps support LazyPoints at no extra cost to you.

That said, we always recommend shopping around. These are the products we’ve used for years, but there might be better versions or deals out there — and don’t forget to check out shopping portal offers before checking out.

For the Flight ✈️

A Tablet. Most flights these days have on-board entertainment with an extremely wide variety of programming options, often on seatback screens, but also usually available via free in-flight wifi through the airline’s website. However, I prefer to download whatever I’m binging on Netflix or Hulu. That way, I know I’ll be able to watch what I want to watch, and that I won’t be dependent on the (iffy) reliability of in-flight wifi for entertainment. For a long time, I used the Kindle Fire 8, which offers a large-enough screen, great portability, and excellent battery life and storage capacity. The interface is a bit clunky, though, especially the internet browser, and it doesn’t have all the apps you might want—most notably Youtube. Over time, I’ve noticed I like shorter videos too, especially during takeoff and landing, so I invested in an iPad to have those ready to go. After trying a 32 GB refurbished iPad, I immediately regretted it (there wasn’t even enough storage space to download the Netflix app) and exchanged it for a bigger 128 GB version.

A Flight Flap. A tablet is great, but you won’t want to hold it for 5-10 hours. The flight flap is a sleek, light little device that gives you a handy stand to watch shows from your in-seat tray table. You can also use it to hang a tablet from the tray table in its upright position, getting your neck into a more comfortable and upright position. I love this thing. With in-flight entertainment and seat-back screens getting better all the time, mine is getting slightly less use than it used to, but it’s still a must-bring for me.  

Portable power. My Kindle usually lasts for at least 8 hours, more than enough for all but the longest international flights. But on those long flights, I can cut it close on battery life. My phone, meanwhile, doesn’t always last all that long. While most airline seats these days have power outlets, their effectiveness is inconsistent. At best. Meanwhile, finding a power outlet in certain airports can sometimes be an adventure unto itself. Having a power bank on hand just makes life that much easier. I have this one from Anker, which works great, but is a bit heavy.

USB adapters. My gadgets now mostly use USB-C chargers, meaning the older USB ports on most airplane screens and outlets won’t work for me. These adapters have allowed me to step off many a flight with all my electronics fully charged—as long as I don’t lose the little things.

Noise-canceling headphones. Okay, so you’ve got a tablet filled up with bingeable Netflix shows, fully charged thanks to a power bank, and a flight flap to watch it from. That’s great, but not much good if you can’t hear anything. The single greatest flight investment I’ve ever made is this pair of Anker noise-canceling headphones. The noise-canceling feature greatly reduces the oppressive noise of the cabin, and the high maximum volume makes it easy to hear all the important audio from whatever show you’re watching or podcast you’re listening to. People also rave about Bose Quiet Comforts and AirPods, but I haven’t splurged on those yet. 

Air Tags. I hate to pay to check bags, but thanks to my credit card collection I can often do so for free. We also usually check a bag or two when flying abroad. Overall, checking a bag is a low-risk proposition, but bags do get lost, and if it happens to you it can be a very costly inconvenience at best. By placing Air Tags in your bags, though, you can keep an eye on your luggage, reducing the risk of your bags running off and increasing your odds of recovering them if they do. (Don’t forget that you need to replace their batteries about once a year.)

Hand sanitizer. While most airlines are pretty good about offering wipes or gel at the entrance to the plane, it’s always nice to have some extra on hand. Just make sure it’s a TSA-friendly size, like this one. Or you can bring individual wipes, like these.

Luggage scale. If you’re a heavy packer, you’ll want to make sure you avoid the massive fees for overweight baggage. A portable luggage scale can help you plan your travels and give you peace of mind. We use this one. 

For the Stay 🏨

A Travel Adapter. We have these, which usually work just fine. One thing I found in Europe (Portugal in particular), though, is that the outlets are often recessed, meaning it can be hard to get a bulky adapter to stay put, especially once anything is plugged into it. This ROOTOMA adapter takes up a decent amount of luggage space but it’s totally worth it for me—I can plug it into the wall and then plug multiple devices in without having to worry about it disconnecting (loudly) in the middle of the night.

A Long USB cable. If I had a nickel for every time only one side of the bed had an outlet. Having a really long cable to charge your phone can be a life-saver. The 10-foot version from this combo-pack can usually stretch across even a king size bed.

Sleep headphones. If your new environment is too stimulating, you can block out the light and noise with sleep headphones. My wife uses these from LC-dolida. (Also potentially useful on the plane!)

For the Exploration 🗺️

Travel bag. We both purchased versions of this Matein backpack in 2022, and we’ve been quite happy with them. It fits comfortably under the seat, has an excellent collection of pockets, and has useful travel features like an anti-theft wallet pocket, exterior USB charging port, and a strap to allow you to easily slide the backpack over the handle of roller luggage. 

A portable fan. I live in the San Francisco area, where it’s not hot enough to warrant air conditioning, but can occasionally get just warm enough to be uncomfortable without it. The JISULIFE Portable Handheld Fan does the trick to cool down on all but the hottest of days around here. It’s a jack of all trades: handheld fan, desk fan, portable charger, and flashlight. Of course, that means it’s a master of none. I love it as a handy tool to place by the bedside on hot nights, on my desk at work when it gets stuffy, or to cool down when walking around Kyoto. But if you only plan to use it for walking around in the heat, I’d recommend an alternative with a more ergonomic handle (and maybe a mist function).

International data. Staying connected can be a challenge abroad. Our travel experience has been much easier since switching to T-Mobile, though, with international service included in our plan. Other U.S. carriers offer international data, but often for $10 per day (ouch). Pre T-Mobile, we usually used E-Sims. Read about those and more in our article about staying connected abroad. If you decide to switch to T-Mobile and find the best deal, you can try and see if you can use our referral link, which offers $100 back after your first month, on top of that deal. If you go for an E-Sim, you can use code MICHAE1215 for 3€ off first purchase at Airalo. 

A place to store your luggage. When we had a long gap between our Airbnb checkout and our flight home in Chile, Stasher came to the rescue to help us store our bags safely while we explored Santiago luggage-free.  

Wrapping Up

That’s it for now — the Lazy Gear list is always evolving as we travel more and get lazier. I’ll keep this page updated as we find new favorites. If you pick anything up through these links, thank you for helping keep LazyPoints running. 🦥