The H&R travel basics!

‘Holiday season’ cannot perhaps be attributed to one particular time of the year, but with the warming weather and the creep towards summer (and the school term summer holidays!) holidays and travel are most definitely at the forefront of our minds. Whatever your idea of a holiday - whether you are a warm weather palm tree resort person, an adventure of a lifetime outdoor exploring person, a party animal with a side of hot weather kind of person - there are some travel essentials that we all look for, no matter the destination!

Keeping documents and travel essentials all in one place can be a little tricky. If you put them in a handbag or rucksack, you can be guaranteed that it will turn into the Tardis the moment that you need to have your documents to hand. Our Travel and Holiday canvas pouches however…not bottomless (but also do have plenty of room!). Perfect for keeping all the important bits together, all in one place, whilst being clearly labelled too. Win win! The canvas pouches comes in both black and cream, and at £15 we think they are well worth it, even just for minimising the panic of locating all the key essentials by having them all together, safely zipped up.

If you are travelling by plane, sometimes it can be difficult to relax (unless you’re one of those people that can instantly fall asleep…of which I think we’re all jealous!). Our single use heat up eye masks are great for travelling to help you get some much needed shut-eye. All the team swear by their use when travelling, so we really do suggest giving them a go when travelling if you struggle to be able to sleep, especially on long haul flights. We have the single masks available for £3.50, or a box of five for £17.50.

Packing for holidays can be a bit of a slog. It’s undoubtably a very important part of the holiday, before it’s even started. Besides packing a million too many pairs of underwear (we’ve all been there), packing cosmetics and makeup can prove a bit of a problem. Less so if you have hold luggage, but even then it becomes a Tetris of packing to try and fit everything in one place. Well, we have two solutions to make the whole experience painless. Firstly, we have a few of our ‘packing pals’ by The Somewhere Co available. These are three easily foldaway mesh bags perfect for clothes, making it easier to keep track of what you have packed and what you haven’t (and also, when you really have packed too many pairs of underwear).

Of course, we couldn’t talk about holidays and the struggle of packing cosmetics without talking about our Elizabeth Scarlett wash bags. We have plenty of patterns and colours available in the iconic velvet and embroidered wash bags that come with a fully waterproof and wipeable inner lining. Big enough to be able to fit a lot of our cosmetic essentials, but not too big that you can’t fit the bag in your suitcase (or that it takes us much need souvenir room!). They bring the holiday-feel whilst being wholly useful.

Once you’ve finally reached your destination, we have some essentials for this too! If you are venturing somewhere warm that involves lots of swimming, why not bring one of our waterproof wet bags? Perfect for your swimming gear or snorkelling stuff, easy to pop straight in and into your bag without worrying about leakages. We have our ‘Swim Stuff’ bags (£12), as well as some of our cult favourite wet bags all the way from Australia arriving next month.

It’s not a holiday without sunglasses! And luckily, we have the best range available in the shop! All our sunglasses are polarised and protect against the harmful UVA and UVB rays, we have a range of styles and colours of both frame and lenses. The frames are made to be extra durable, whilst remaining comfortable - so perfect for the holidays (where there is long periods of wear, and a lot of chance of being sat on!). Every pair of sunglasses comes with a neoprene case, microfibre cloth for cleaning the lenses (as well as a tree planted in Barner’s forest, as per their sustainable actions pledge).

And if you have children, you’ll know the importance of having snacks available, especially whilst travelling or on holiday. With our snack bags (which have an insulated lining), you can easily bring snacks for your little ones (or big ones, we all need snacks after all even as adults!) on adventures. They are small but mighty and make all the difference when you’re hungry. We have a range of bright colours and patterns available in the shop, and once they’re gone, they’re gone!

You may have seen some fans dotted around the upstairs of the shop. We are lucky to be stocking some brilliant hand fans, in colourful prints, glitter and also some with some very sweary - but hilarious - slogans on them. Fans are £15, with some extra-large ones for £25. At the moment, we only have a few out on the shop floor, but please ask if you’d like to see more. We also have some available on the website. They will be making their glamorous appearance properly very soon!

So no matter the destination or holiday, we have plenty of essentials that you-never-knew-you-needed (which is very on-brand for us!). Pop in to have a browse, we’re open 10am-4pm Monday to Saturday and always happy to see you!