What's Actually in My Carry-On Right Now

Gate 14 at Sydney Airport, forty minutes before boarding, and my phone is on eleven per cent. This is not a hypothetical, it happens to me at least once a month, usually right as I need to screenshot a boarding pass or answer an email from a brand partner.

I've spent the better part of a decade packing carry-ons for work trips, family holidays and the odd emergency dash to a shoot, and I've landed on a version of the bag that I don't deviate from any more. And this year, for the first time, it doesn't involve me crouched next to a wall socket at the gate, apologising to strangers for hogging the only power point in the terminal.

Here's what actually earns its place and why.

The Charger and Cable Doing All the Work

The two things that have actually changed how I fly are the Pulse Infinity Luxe Magnetic Wireless Charger and the Pulse 240W 4-in-1 Charging Cable, both from a family-run Australian brand out of Queensland, which feels worth mentioning when so many tech accessories come via a faceless brand from overseas. Both live in my handbag rather than buried in the suitcase, so they're never more than an arm's reach away.

The Infinity Luxe is finished in vegan leather with silver accents, so it reads as an accessory rather than tech, and its 10,000mAh battery charges a phone up to three times, earbuds more than ten, and a smartwatch upwards of fifteen. It's magnetic and Qi wireless, works with both Apple and Android, and the spring-loaded kickstand means I can prop my phone up while it charges. Buy it in the Duo Pack and you save close to a hundred dollars.

The 4-in-1 cable is the fastest one I've owned, delivering up to 240W across four interchangeable tips, so it covers my phone, my laptop, my AirPods and whatever the kids have lost their own charger for. Woven nylon, zinc alloy tips with LED indicators, and a little vegan leather strap to stop it turning into a knot at the bottom of my bag. The Family Pack saves you fifty dollars, which in this house is a saving that actually gets used.

The Wipes I'm Weirdly Precious About

I've got a system on every flight and I'm not sorry about it. Wipe down my hands, then my phone, then the tray table, then whatever the seatback screen has absorbed from every person who's sat in this seat since roughly 2019. Kine's Hand Cloths make the ritual almost enjoyable, which isn't a sentence I expected to write about a hand wipe. Not only are they Australian-made and dermatologically tested for sensitive skin, they're plant-based. A welcome change from the usual alcohol-soaked squares that leave your hands feeling like they've been through a car wash, and are infused with native eucalyptus and lemon myrtle, so they smell distinctly, unmistakably Australian. I've caught myself sniffing the packet on descent, which is either a sign of excellent formulation or a sign I need a longer holiday. Possibly both.

The Hand Sanitiser I Actually Enjoy Using

Not every carry-on item needs to be exciting, but Aesop's hand sanitiser is one I actually look forward to using, which says something about a category that's usually purely functional. It's not sticky, it doesn't leave that chemical smell hanging around, and it smells subtly botanical rather than like a hospital corridor. I keep one in the seat pocket in front of me for the whole flight, because between tray tables, armrests and whatever the person next to me has been touching, I'm not taking any chances.

The Hand Cream That Makes Economy Feel Like Something Else

By the time we're at cruising altitude my hands have usually given up entirely, thanks to the driest air outside of an actual desert. Le Labo's Hand Pomade in Hinoki is the fix, a creamy, non-greasy balm made with shea butter, sweet almond oil and peony root, which sounds like a salad but works like magic. The scent is the real reason it lives in my bag though. It's modelled on the hinoki cypress forests around the Buddhist temples of Mount Koya in Japan, and somehow they've bottled that exact warm, woody, slightly smoky calm. It's the sort of scent that makes the person next to you lean over and ask what you're wearing, which has led to at least one mid-flight conversation I didn't plan for and mostly didn't mind.

The Balm That Does Everything Else

Lanolips' 101 Ointment lives in every bag I own, carry-on included, and it earns its spot doing double duty. Lips first, obviously, because cabin air turns mine to sandpaper somewhere over the Nullarbor. Cuticles second, because nothing says "I've got my life together" quite like arriving at your destination without hangnails. It's thick, locally-made, not expensive, and it works better than any other balm I've tried.

The Mist That Gets Me Through Landing

By hour six of any long-haul flight my skin has given up entirely, which is where Subtle Energies' Rose Hydrosol Face Mist comes in. I spritz it about an hour before landing, over makeup or bare skin if I've had time to cleanse, and it's the closest thing to a reset button my face gets at altitude. It's properly hydrating rather than the kind of mist that just sits on top of your skin and evaporates, and the scent is soft enough that I'm not worried about bothering the row.

The Throw That Doubles As A Shawl

The one non-negotiable in my carry-on that has nothing to do with charging or skincare is the Tuwi Pure Reversible Throw in Beige and Cream. It's made by someone in our own Beauticate community, which gives me a small thrill every time I use it. It's woven from baby alpaca, which despite the name has nothing to do with baby animals, it refers to the fineness of the fibre, somewhere between 19.5 and 21.5 microns if you want to sound impressive at a dinner party.

Alpacas come in twenty-two natural shades, so this throw is entirely undyed, which apparently saves around 53 litres of water per kilogram of material compared to dyed fibres. I didn't know I cared about that statistic until I started using something this soft and warm. On the plane it works as a scarf, at the gate it works as a wrap, and at 35,000 feet with the air conditioning doing its worst, it works as the only thing standing between me and a very miserable shiver.

The Bag That Holds It All Together

Every item on this list is homeless without the Monos Carry-On Pro Plus, mine in Ocean Blue. Aerospace-grade polycarbonate shell, a front compartment with proper pockets for passport and cables, wheels that spin a full 360 degrees, and a lifetime warranty that's quietly cured my fear of the baggage carousel. Not cheap, but it's earned its keep.

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