10 Digital Nomad Essentials You Need on Your Next Adventure

From the practical to the personal

After constantly being on the road on and off for quite some time, I’ve gone through the trials and tribulations of packing too much or too little (let’s be real, usually it’s the former). I’ve realized that I don’t need very much at all when traveling, but there are things that I’ve come to see as essential when I’m digital nomading.

Without further ado, here’s the list of my 10 digital nomad essentials.

1. Travel Adaptor

Let’s kick off the list with something practical, shall we? I know it’s a boring one, but it’s a fact that if you trot around to different countries, you’re going to need an adaptor so you can keep your electronics charged. Do yourself a favor and invest in a good one, preferably a multiplug one with lots of USB slots.

Surprisingly, I don’t carry around a power bank or battery pack. I feel like they’re too heavy and most trains, planes, and locations will have spaces where you can quickly charge if you need to.

2. Electric Toothbrush

People of the internet — if you’re able to keep your teeth squeaky clean with a normal toothbrush, I salute you. Because I, for the life of me, cannot. After a few days of not brushing with my electric toothbrush, my teeth feel like they’re growing grime and it’s not a good feeling.

Even if it sounds a little extra, my electric toothbrush comes with me on trips longer than a few days. Yes, it does also mean bringing the accompanying charger along with it, but it’s 100% worth it for the pearly whites. My dentist can thank me later.

3. Mesh Wash Bags

Mesh wash bags serve a multipurpose function! Not only can you use them to separate worn clothes from fresh ones in your luggage, but you can never fully trust that a laundry machine is going to take care of your delicate clothes. I’ll usually pop delicate clothing (yes, mainly Lululemon items — what can I say) into the mesh bags for washing.

4. Ziplock bags

Continuing on with practical items — y’all, ziplock bags are so multipurpose and you can use them for so many things. Do yourself a favor and bring multiple sizes of ziplock bags when you travel.

I like to use mine for cash, coins, cards, medicine, phone sims (side note — you’ll want to have a pin or paperclip so you can switch out phone sims), the list goes on and on. They’re so light and multifunction and throwing a few in your packing can’t hurt.

5. Filter Water Bottle

So, this one is going to depend on where in the world you’re traveling and whether tap water is drinkable there. Assuming it is, I’ll bring my Brita water bottle so I feel comfortable drinking from taps anywhere. Buying bottled water in some parts of the world is just expensive and not where it’s at.

The filter bottle is more for the peace of mind, really, but I do have to admit that I’m also a water snob (yes, water tastes different!), and this way, I’ll know I’ll always have good-tasting water.

6. Laptop Stand

I take a lot of pride in being able to work from pretty much anywhere. The couch is my office (spending most of the day on the couch has to be a superpower at this point). Nevertheless, I still carry around my laptop stand because it’s always nice to have the option to give my hunched shoulders a bit of respite when I’m feeling fancy and want to sit at a real table.

If you’re clacking away on your laptop as much as I do, you might want to invest in an inexpensive and portable laptop stand.

7. Kindle

Okay, finally we’re moving away from practical items and more into personal items. Life on the road doesn’t lend itself to paperback books. As much as I love physically turning pages, the ease and convenience of the Kindle outweigh that.

And in case you’re curious, I use Overdrive to borrow books from the library (if you have a public library card, you can use this!), but honestly, books are pretty easy to find online nowadays and you can simply email files (Epubs, PDFs) to your Kindle. It doesn’t get more convenient than that.

8. Massage/Lacrosse Ball

Speaking of hunched shoulders, my neck and deltoids and all the muscles in that upper back and shoulder region are always wound up in knots. Couch crashing and pillow and mattress changes every few nights means le old body isn’t always happy.

If I’m back in Thailand, I’d run straight to get a juicy Thai massage, but in most of the world, it’s too expensive to do that. That’s where my lacrosse ball comes in. I’ll wedge it between my shoulder blades or wherever there’s tension and roll against a wall or the floor. Stepping on the lacrosse ball is also such great relief after a long day of walking and exploring.

I know others use tennis balls as well, but I feel the lacrosse ball is firmer and is able to attack those knots a little more forcefully (what can I say, I’m a sucker for the kind of pain that releases the knots).

9. Journal

No matter where I go, my journal comes with me. It’s my form of pausing and reflecting and I feel it’s even more important to have it on the road so I can process and chronicle the days. I try to journal every other day at least, and I’ll also have this in my backpack when I’m traveling, so if there’s a spare moment of the day when I’m waiting for a train or what have you, I’ll pull it out and just start journaling to kill time.

Fun fact: I’ll journal in Spanish when I’m in public because, for some reason, it makes me feel safer writing in public in a language that fewer people would know (not that anyone’s looking over my shoulder, but it just feels safer that way).

10. Box of Earrings

When you’re on the road so much, you don’t really have space for personal items because ideally, you’re traveling as light as possible.

However, rounding out this must-have list is my box of earrings. See, earrings are light enough so that I can carry my growing collection with me and don different ones to mix it up and keep things interesting.

Fun fact: I usually buy a new pair when I visit a new place, so my box of earrings is a bit of a souvenir collection as well. Life on the road means I can never get big bulky souvenirs, so earrings are the perfect choice that serves as both a memento and an accessory!

Even though space is limited, I’d still encourage you to carry a small item, whatever that is, that helps you feel a sense of groundedness and at homeness wherever you go.

Honorary mentions

Because I could only choose 10 items, I thought I’d also include some honorary mentions here of things I also travel with! I’ll leave it to you to decide whether they’re essential or not.

Toiletries: Sunscreen, lip balm, conditioner, moisturizer, lotion, face masks, floss (+1 for dental hygiene!). I’m also a little extra and carry my own shampoo and conditioner that I know works well for my hair.

Medical supplies: Tylenol/Ibuprofen, bandaids, cough drops, eyedrops (I actually have a lot more than this, but I’ll spare you from my quite extensive medicine cabinet).

Shoes: One comfortable walking pair — a comfortable walking pair is mostly all you need. For me, those are my white Nike sneakers!

Are you also enjoying the on-the-go life? Let me know what your essentials are! What are your must-haves on the road?

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