By Dawn Gilbertson

I play a little game every time I pack for a trip. It's called, "See if You Can Zip the Carry-On Bag Without Sitting On It."

Frequent fliers everywhere make trade-offs to cram everything into a bag that fits in the overhead bin. What makes the cut and what stays behind is a chore up there with expense reports.

The task is particularly hard when your packing list includes must-haves that aren't exactly must-haves. Creature comforts that make the hotel room a little more like home. Most of us have them.

Some travelers pack their own coffee or tea makers. Serial airline entrepreneur David Neeleman, chief executive of Breeze Airways, brings his own pillow. He's careful not to use a white pillowcase so hotel housekeepers don't mistakenly swipe it.

For me, it's a bulky hair dryer with a built-in brush that means never having to search high and low for that hotel-room hair dryer or pay for a pricey salon blowout. In a tight race for space, it makes the cut over my running shoes.

Luke Saunders, founder and CEO of Farmer's Fridge, the Chicago-based company that sells those vending-machine salads at airports and offices around the country, says he always makes room for a handheld steamer and a rechargeable water flosser.

The steamer origin story goes back five or six years, when he used a hotel-room iron to press a white dress shirt.

"I got crusty, red rust all over the shirt," he says.

He had to wear a white T-shirt to a meeting where "that wasn't the vibe."

His mother-in-law recommended a steamer, and now it's a trip staple. Even if it means bringing just one pair of shoes -- the ones on his feet. "It's just so much easier than ironing," he says.

Marriott and other hotel chains have added steamers to their high-end hotels for just this reason.

Dave Sims, the new radio play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees, brings a steamer, too. But that's not his only gadget. He also travels with a portable speaker, a thermos for tea and a portable blender that sells for $50 at Target.

In his room or at the field, he makes a shake with plant-based protein powder, ice and water. Fruit smoothies are out of the question because he never knows if the in-room fridge will keep berries suitably cold.

"I keep it simple," he says.

Peggy Roe has already spent nearly 70 nights in hotels this year in her job as Marriott's chief customer officer. She has a laundry list of packing tricks.

These range from putting pricey foundation and moisturizers into leak-proof contact-lens cases to always bringing three Velcro rollers of different sizes to add volume when blow drying. She picks her shoes first and builds outfits around those instead of vice versa. Black shoes mean she only packs outfits that go with black shoes.

"Then you're much more efficient," she says.

Roe also tucks in something that helps with that age-old problem of tricky hotel lighting: a silk eye mask for bedtime.

Coming soon to her repertoire on the road: a travel coffee press popular with campers. She just ordered it to make lattes in her room, her way, with bring-your-own coffee beans and oat milk she purchases upon arrival.

Laurie Blair's packing must-haves are personal and courtesy of her 6-year-old daughter.

The senior vice president of global marketing for Hyatt Hotels wedges a stuffed animal in between the red-light mask and two outfits per day she meticulously packs into her carry-on for every trip. ("You never know what you're going to feel good in.")

For a recent business trip to New York, she brought a plush koala named Koala. She takes photos of the toys throughout the trip and sends them home to Chicago.

They help her stay in touch with her daughter, especially when they are in different time zones. "It's a way for us to feel connected and me to not have my mom guilt," she says.

Her daughter's stuffies have been to Sundance, rooftop restaurants in Thailand and elsewhere around the globe.

"We've got a cohort of well-traveled stuffies," she says.

Stuffies, steamers or sound machines that help you sleep, it all adds up to a more pleasant trip away from home.

Write to Dawn Gilbertson at dawn.gilbertson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2025 21:00 ET (01:00 GMT)

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