the midlife reality travel essentials list
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what you really need to pack for your holiday
Whilst siting at the airport awaiting our recent flight to Mallorca, I was asked via Instagram Stories what I considered to be my in-flight and travel essentials. Seeing as I was about to get on a plane again for the first time in four years, I think at that point I would have been justified in saying a very large gin and tonic thank you very much. But seeing as it was only 8:00am I instead opted for coffee and this little helper from Aesop.
I mean, I’d like to imagine I was that woman who can reel off a list of expensive face creams/serums/masks to layer onto my face whilst reclining in my first-class lounger without spilling a drop on my new linen trousers, but I am under no illusions. It’s only just sunk in that we’re no longer flying with a child but a fully-fledged adult, so I can do whatever the hell I want whilst cruising at 37,000 ft without having to think about how to keep someone entertained. But this doesn’t mean I’m about to sit there and give myself a full facial and then do my best Jason Voorhees impression (Google it), by wearing one of those LED face masks that would scare the crap out of my fellow passengers and flight crew.
So… my actual essentials. Before flying I apply more than usual when it comes to daily serum and moisturiser – I’m currently using this favourite up and layered this over the top…because SPF 40. Over that I do wear a bit of makeup because it makes me feel marginally better when I catch sight of my sleepless self in the plane toilet mirror. A layer of Trinny London BFF Cream (SPF30 again + glow), some bronzer, cream blush (Powder Pink is my year-round shade), brow gel, mascara and a tinted lip balm will suffice. I always carry prescription sunglasses and a packable fabric hat in my hand luggage for walking out of the airport and into a potential furnace of heat and bright light. Other than that, it would be a good book and headphones so I can distract myself from the screaming babies that I can go back to being intolerant of now that I don’t have to fly with one of my own. As it turns out, the Aesop Ginger Flight Therapy was a godsend as British Airways decided to hand out Sour Cream & Chive pretzels as the complimentary snack… to the entire plane. Why? Why would you do that to your passengers?? It was all I could do to keep from stuffing the whole Aesop roll-on up my nose to block out the smell!
Once on holiday, you can see from the images above what this midlife woman would never travel without. There’s good sun cream – this time I choose Sunbum SPF50 spray and Bondi Sands and loved them both for their non-greasy, non-stickiness. I also heavily subscribe to the Holiday Luxury Treat theory - in the pre-pandemic years I’d bought a 100ml size bottle of Aesop’s A Rose By Any Other Name shower gel and once it was all gone, kept the bottle. It was a joy to use this year’s trip to Mallorca as an excuse to buy a full-size bottle of the stuff and decant into my travel size – joyous showers away and joyous showers when you return home!
A travel size hair kit is a great idea – this JVN set contains everything including a treatment mask and the brilliant Air Dry Cream - it was more than enough for a week of sun and pool-dipping. Then there are the two trial sized Chanel Sublimage Gel-To-Oil cleansers that a lovely lady from the Chanel counter gave me, assuring me that they would last the whole week as you only need a pea-sized amount of the stuff. She was right and I loved it so much that I’m contemplating a full-size purchase once my current cleanser runs out… your samples marketing strategy works Chanel.
Despite the piercing aftercare spray languishing next to the vaginal care products, I’d like to clarify the piercings I had done were on my EARS.
And then onto the midlife reality essential list – top of which was my HRT, including the Utrogestan tablets that I had to run myself ragged trying to get hold of (again) pre-holiday. Joy. I don’t know if you can get an Oestrogel bottle through security, so decided to risk carrying it in my hold luggage. I felt the risk of lost baggage was marginally less than having a Samantha from SATC2 movie moment [shudders] and having my hormones taken away by a burly gentleman who has no idea that he’s just ruined the holiday I’ve looked forward to for four years. And my family’s too because they would have to put up with the oestrogen deficient version of me for seven long days and nights. Has anyone done the Get Your HRT Through Airport Security In Your Hand Luggage test yet?
And speaking of hand luggage, I am not and never will be one of those women who travels with hand luggage only. I like to take a few luxuries and home comforts when I travel to further enhance the experience. I gave up being sucked in by all those packing tutorials years ago and refuse to traumatise myself anymore with my failed attempts at packing light. Carry on might have worked for George Clooney in Up In The Air but I’m less Marie Kondo, more J-Lo’s rider demand list when travelling.
This year’s wash bag addition was not only the hormone-free vaginal moisturiser that has proved to be a balm to my soul (and a lot more), but also the estrogen pessaries that I now have to use twice a week. Both are lifesavers anyway but if you’re adding in heat, constant dipping in the pool and twice as many showers as normal then you’d better not forget to pack these. And speaking of showering, I haven’t used shower gel to wash “down there” for years – that stuff became the devil’s work once perimenopause kicked in for me. I get a bottle of Dermol 500 lotion prescribed from my GP, use this to wash with and always decant some into a Boots squeezy travel bottle when going away.
Other than the usual Imodium and Dioralyte (which this year thankfully wasn’t needed by anyone in the Start party), I also packed a new bottle of the aftercare spray I’ve been using since getting two new ear piercings in May. Both the helix and lobe piercings have healed really well thanks to Monica Vinader’s excellent aftercare advice and this stuff but seeing as I was only just two weeks clear of the no swimming rule, I took my spray and remained vigilant in using it twice a day.
And there you have it – my midlife reality travel essentials list. What’s on yours?
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