Packing

What's always in my bag ...

I love a packing list. Maybe you love a packing list too?

Here’s my ever-evolving list of things – besides clothes + shoes– I usually pack for every trip, give or take depending on the weather and length of trip.

Updated March 2025

Luggage AKA Suitcase/Duffels/Backpack

This one is heavily dependent on length of trip. Basically for shorter trips I rotate through my soft-sided duffels. I’ve got a leather one from Very Troubled Child that I love, and a smaller, more “rugged” one from my days at Google that makes a great weekender. Otherwise I have two hard-shells and one aluminum Away rolling suitcase – the aluminum one (in black) is slightly smaller than the hard-shells and so usually I make that call based on how many shoes I want to bring. And finally I have one bag that is too big to carry-on, the Rimowa Hybrid-Check In Medium. I love it. Generally I always travel with my backpack (also from the Google days) that has a lined laptop pocket in the very back part.

Packing cubes

Currently, I have these navy blue ones from Paravel and they are great. I like that they are soft-sided so they can pack flat if need be and also stack/squish in around things easily.

Hair/Makeup

Generally I run very minimalist with hair & makeup. I have a small travel hairbrush, and my hair wrap that I will sleep in for curls/volume (it’s basically a fancy bathrobe tie). Makeup is just minis of my regular stuff. The only thing of note here is that I do love the Cadence containers for bath/face/hair (and vitamins!). They’re magnetic so they stick to each other (and sometimes my AirTag) and they are the perfect size. I have a different color for each type of product.