Our Favorite USEFUL Family Travel Must Haves
Iām so excited to finally share this list with you with our favorite useful family travel must haves for your next trip.

I know there are tons of lists like this out there, but letās be real: a lot of them have the same olā stuff on them like travel coffee mugs or sleep masks. These are truly some of our canāt-travel-without things that are not only useful, but we would be truly lost without them on our trips.
These make excellent gifts, too, so donāt forget to send it along for those Christmas and birthday lists.
Our Favorite (USEFUL) Family Travel Must Haves
Just for a point of reference, weāre a family of five, with three young kids between 4 and 8 years old, and we currently live overseas in Germany.
We typically pack up as light as possible and hit the road for fun road trips, but weāve been known to also pack up and live out of our suitcases or backpacks for months at a time.
As a military family, weāre constantly either traveling or moving somewhere, so I can promise you that these are things we use, love, and truly canāt do without when we travel.

Here are a few of our favorite family travel must haves:
Family Passport Holder

If youāre a family with plans to travel overseas, Iām sorry to burst your bubble, but youāll have to skip those cute/fun passport covers you can find over on Etsy.
Instead, pick up this family passport holder that can technically hold at least 6 passports (but we cram all 10 in there*).
We love this family passport holder because it holds all of our passports, and it zips up with multiple pockets inside and on the outside. Thereās a slot for an SIM card (handy if youāre changing cards/phones based on location), a pen holder, plus pockets on the outside. Itās also handy for holding boarding passes and luggage claim stickers.
This is basically perfect for any group traveling overseas, and totally tops our family travel must-have list.
*If youāre military and heading overseas for an assignment, each person will have not one, but two passports assigned to them: a tourist passport and a no-fee, government passport. With our family of five, that means we have TEN passports to keep track of while we travel.
A Great Backpack to Hold ALL The Things

Are you team backpack or team suitcase when youāre going on a family trip (specifically in Europe)?
Weāre big olā fans of the backpack for several reasons:
- our hands are free to keep up with our kids
- we donāt have to lug suitcases up flights of stairs since most European places donāt have elevators
- it makes us pack lighter
- they fit better in our little car
- you can cram all sorts of things into the pockets
- probably about five other reasons I canāt think of at the moment
We have two backpacks that we useā¦unfortunately I donāt have a link for the first one. I bought it in England back in 2005 after an eventful experience in Paris, and now my husband uses it. This 60-liter one is similar.
I also just bought this 40-liter backpack from REI over the summer for myself, and I love it. Itās big enough for me to put my stuff and kids stuff in it for a day or two away, but not too big that I need help putting it on/taking it off. Hereās another popular 40-liter backpack from Amazon that was a second-runner up for me.
Pro tip: I highly recommend trying out backpacks if you can before buying one. They donāt all āfitā equally, and personally the REI one was the only one I found comfortable after trying out many.
Packing Cubes

Packing cubes, oh, packing cubes. I truly donāt know where Iād be without these packing cubes. (I have a tutorial post of how, exactly, I use these coming soon!)
Yāallā¦these are a traveling-family game changer, and if you donāt have any yet you need to stop what youāre doing and order some ASAP.
Back in the day, before I discovered packing cubes, Iād use Ziploc bags to organize the kidsā clothes on a trip. This was fine when they were babies and toddlers, but as the kids grew bigger, those bags were harder to fill. Theyād end up tearing before the trip was over.
Weāve been using the packing cubes Iām linking to for more than three years; I love them so much that each family member has their own color, which comes in super handy for longer trips and/or when youāre moving and living out of a suitcase for a long period of time.
Packing is a breeze with these since everything is contained and organized. They get put in a suitcase or a big backpack, so thereās no more digging around searching for things.
Pro tip for a short trip: Pack everyoneās clothes for the day and put each daysā stuff in ONE bag. For example: Iād label āSaturdayā on a bag, and all of our clothes for Saturday are in that bag.
Portable Potty

Listen up if you have young kids: you need this portable travel potty in your life.
You know what the second most annoying part is when youāre on a road trip? No, itās not how many times they ask if youāre there yetā¦itās when they say they have to pee or poop and you JUST passed a place with an actual toilet.
If you live overseas you know the struggle is extra hard to even find a (free) toilet when you need it.
Enter this amazing travel potty.
This potty seat folds up easily and can be kept in the trunk or under a seat, but it also has ālegsā so when you use it your kid can actually āsitā on it like a real toilet.
Pro tip: Make sure you buy the liners compatible with the seatāthey have an absorbent pad insideāand have some baby wipes handy instead of toilet paper. My oldest is too tall to use this if itās on the ground, but if we set it on the edge of our vanās door she can use it perfectly. We just make sure thereās nobody around, or we shield her if sheās using it in a more public place.
Cord Organizer

One of my least favorite parts of packing for a trip is making sure we grabbed all the cords we need, especially when we do weekend trip often.
Phone cords, laptop cords, watch chargers, our Fire Stick (great to have if your place has decent internet; you can use it with a VPN overseas), OH MY. Itās just a pain to run around and get them all and then find a place to put them thatās convenient to grab the when we get to our location.
Thatās where this cord organizer comes in handy. It has plenty of pockets, including two zippered pockets on the outsides (which is where keep our slim USB-C charger to plug everything inā¦since we all know sometimes you canāt even find an outlet available in rooms).
But hereās my favorite part: we bought a duplicate cord for almost everything we use and we have it in the organizer and in our āpacking drawerā so we can just pull it out and be good to go when weāre heading out on a trip.
I canāt tell you how much stress this saves me when Iām packing now.
Giant Mirror For Your Vehicle

If you have kids and drive a van or a bigger car (like an SUV), youāre going to love this. Itās a rearview mirror that fits over your current mirror, and it lets you actually see to the very back.
Now you can get that Batman Mom voice on when you see them fighting.
Electric Cooler

If you live in Europe then you know the struggle of being able to find (nonexistent) ice to keep your cooler cool during a road trip. Thatās where this family travel must have comes into play: an electric cooler!!
The cool part of this cooler is that it has a car adaptor to plug it into the cigarette lighter and a regular wall plug.
Weāve used this several times, and it works like a charm. We usually plug it in at home and pack it the night before we go so itāll start cooling things down for our trip, then we plug it in as we drive.
Find it here (in America)
Find it here (in Germany)
Anti-theft Tavel Bags

Iām so excited about this one. I love a great bag/purse just as much as the next person, but as a mom who frequently travels solo with her kids, this bag is life.
Why do I love this bag so much? Let me count the ways:
- a slash-resistant shoulder strap
- slash-resistant pockets and body of the bag
- the zippers lock
- RFID blocking pockets
- side expandable pockets (fits small water bottles, umbrella, sunglasses, etc.)
- Tethered interior key clip with LED light
- lots of pockets/space for all my things + kids things + family things
Itās just great. The specific one I have is the cross-body bucket bag in midnight, but they have so many other options (see them all here), including this backpack thatās on my wish list. My friend has it and it looks just perfect for day trips/hikes when I need a little more space.
Looking for more ideas?

Looking for even more family travel must haves? Check out these posts for more:
The Best Road Trip Activities for Kids
Fun Travel Gifts (For When You Canāt Actually Travel)
5 Things You Need for Your Next Flight
What you Need BEFORE Moving to Germany
Extra Kitchen Things you Need When You Move
What are your favorite family travel must haves?
Share one things you canāt live without when it comes to family travel below! Hope this list was handy.