updated 2025

When I travel, my little plastic bag for liquids is squeezed tight full. I’ve come to accept that I’m not a low-maintenance traveller and I love having my favourite things with me. With sensitive skin, I react to hotel amenities and other conventional products. Just after a day, maybe two, my skin breaks out and my scalp gets really itchy. When I’m travelling, the last thing I want to do is dealing with all that.

When I wrote this article in 2012, I was living in Singapore and many of the brands, such as Centella, I can’t get locally now. I really loved this organic French brand. My skin responded so well to it. Both the travel-size cleanser and lotion happily fit in my zippy bag.

ILA

ILA is an amazing philosophy, not just mere products, and what gorgeous formulations.  What they offer is “beyond organic”.  Beautiful pure ingredients sourced from around the world support traditional sustainable practices and the products are made in the English countryside by conscious creation.

I first found this product around 2007 at Shangri-La Tokyo. I was an immediate convert though it took a few years before ILA became available in Singapore. So I was thrilled to find their Travel Essentials Collection just before I went glamping. This collection contained five items – Shampoo for Revitalizing Hair, Conditioning for Nourishing Hair, Body Wash for Toning Skin, Body Lotion for Nurturing Skin, and Bath Soak for Pure Relaxation.

(There are some ingredients I’m less than thrilled about but they are small amounts. I would love more organic body care products to come in travel sizes.)

Update 2025: The travel edition is no longer available. Maybe they’ll bring it back? Please!. Ila has such lovely products so I’m keeping this brand on my travel list. Another ila product you may want to pack for travel is their bath salts. Whenever possible, I book a room with a soaking tub and these salts you can easily pack in your suitcase.

I also love the ila multi stick. I’m a fan of these multipurpose products. Creamy and buildable. Since they are a solid, I can easily pack one in my carryon – no need for that zippy bag or in my check in.

Thieves & Essential Oils

Thieves oil! I always used the Young Living Thieves Oil though I’ve also found other formulations/brands. If I’m feeling low and already “off”, I put a few drops on a mask before I sleep on the long-hauls. Since it’s a “hot oil”, you have to be careful not to get it on sensitive areas like eyes and lips. It does sting!

Thieves Oil Brands to Try – Young Living, Plant Therapy, Plant Guru.

When I’m at the hotel, I also stick a cotton ball with some Thieves oil into the hotel vent. This helps to clean the air.

The story of the Thieves oil is that the recipe was effectively used during the Plague against infection. Young Living is only one of the companies that offer Thieves oil so you can find other formulations in health food stores.

I also like the Young Living Purification, which is great for dealing with mosquito bites.

Another essential oil I bring now is Earthley’s Blue Tansy. It’s in a carrier oil and I love rolling it on my face. This is a seasonal product. If you get tension headaches, you may want to check out their Tension Relief Roller.

Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy

I started using Bach Flower Rescue Remedy back in university when I had to give presentations of history and political science papers. I used to get major butterflies and words would get stuck.

This flower essence blend is GREAT for calming. Travelling can often fray nerves, if not mine, others. It just makes it all go much more smoothly when everyone is feeling confident and happy, rather than angst-y and angry.

And if you have kids?

This is a must-have! It comes in a kids version, with glycerin instead of brandy as a preservative.  All my friends’ kids actually LOVE it and ask for it when they are feeling “off” or “weird”. Really. My dogs also get it. For my clients with kids and dogs, I always recommend to keep one in stock at home and in their travel pack.

Just a few drops in water or directly under the tongue.

Tinctures

I have a few tinctures that I take so those go into my zippy bag. I love my tinctures from Earthley. Gut Health Oil, Healthy Heart, Vita-C, Liver Love…

I also travel with homeopathic remedies such as Ferr Phos, Ledum Palustre, Arsenicum Album, Arnica Montana, and Aconite, all in 30C. Being solids, there’s no need to fit these into a zippy bag.

Effective homeopathic use depends on correctly matching symptoms and it’s best to consult a professional homeopath. Generally, I use these for feeling under the weather, insect bites or any breaks in the skin such as splinters, tummy troubles like eating something wrong, muscle ache, and shock, respectively.

I’m just sharing my own experience – this is not medical advice!

These are my top favourites to have on hand during the flight. What else is in my hand luggage? My passport, wallet, camera(s), a book or magazine (plus books on my Kindle app), a big scarf, my Bose earphones, my iPhone, a pencil case with my favourite pens and pencils, and my MP3 player. And all the chargers. I have the Surfans Lossless MP3 player which is super easy to use. Drag and Drop and with an external memory card, I can have a lot of music, lectures, etc for my trips.

My Bose earphones is my #1 for not getting motion sickness.