I’m off to the Dominican Republic in less than a week and in the middle of prepping my luggage for my trip. CAN’T WAIT! Anyways… while going through my list of things to bring with me, I thought I’d do a little post and share my beach bag essentials with you!
1-Baseball cap (or beach hat)
I don’t have a lot of tolerance for heat. If I don’t cover my head and stay in the sun too long, I start feeling dizzy… And since I don’t like beach hats that much, I got my LA Dodgers cap to protect me.
2-SPF lip balm
A must if you’re staying out in the sun for a while. I have this one from Kiehl’s that’s lightly tinted and offers SPF 15 protection. I’ve been using it for years and I love it!
3-Thermal water spray
I love having one of those in my bag, especially when it’s really hot but I’m too lazy to get off my butt and dive in the water to freshen up.
4-Reusable water bottle/glass
I bought this one a long time ago and use it when I go to the pool/beach, the gym, or even when I have a few errands to run and end up driving around all day. I try to drink around 2 liters of water everyday, so it’s practical to have one of these. It also keeps me from wasting money on a water bottle, wasting plastic bottles, or drinking anything that tastes good but ain’t too healthy… ;-)
5-Lotions
OK, there’s 3 of them that you MUST bring with you to the beach. Obviously, there’s the sunscreen. I use this one from Vichy, you can use it on your face as well as the rest of your body, and they have SPF 60. Even though I have olive skin, if I user a lighter SPF, I burn. And we all know that hurts. The other two bottles are after-sun lotion. OK, technically, this doesn’t go in your beach bag, it stays in your hotel room. But I thought I’d mention it because I absolutely love these two (face lotion is from Biotherm and body one is from Clinique) and I always use them after my shower before I head out to dinner. Not only does it have a cooling effect on your skin, it also helps with the redness. Only thing is, the Biotherm has a bit of an oily texture. The Clinique lotion is OK to use on your face, but since I already had the Biotherm bottle I thought I’d finish it first.
6-Travel-size toilet paper roll
Because running out of toilet paper in a public bathroom is one of the worst things that could happen to me.
7-iPhone (or any other mp3 player)
Because life without music just sucks.
8-Camera
I don’t like to carry around my large camera and expensive lenses with me to the beach. I get really anxious if I have to leave all my stuff unattended because my friends and I wanna go in the water together. So I just take pics with my iPhone, or this small Canon point-and-shoot that takes A-MA-ZING photos AND is so tiny it fits in your pocket!
9-Book
Because as much as I love listening to music, sometimes I need a little break. Plus, I get so busy back home that I don’t get to read as much as I’d like, so the beach is the perfect place to catch up on all the books I bought and never got a chance to read.
10-Small pouch
I love this one, gifted to me by my sister that I adore! It’s really practical to store smaller items like your iPhone, room key card, money, etc. so they’re easier to find and don’t get lost in a big bag.
11-Hair ties
I don’t know about you, but when it gets really hot and humid, I absolutely HATE the feeling of my hair stuck on my damp skin. For some reason, it just really creeps me out… don’t ask why. I always keep elastics in my handbag at all times to avoid finding myself in this situation. So needless to say, if I’m at the beach and it’s 30°C out, I don’t just carry an elastic, I store a handful…
12-Sunglasses
No need to elaborate, but thought I’d add it to the list because if you’re anything like me, you forget to bring the most obvious things.
14-Beach towel
Yes, I jumped to 14, I’m superstitious. Laugh all you want. I LOVE this beach towel I got at Etam in Paris a few years ago. It’s super light, thin, made of soft terry cloth on one side and unlike regular bulky beach towels, it hardly takes up any space in your bag.
15-Cover-up
Throw it on quickly when you don’t feel like walking to the bar in your bikini to get some drinks.
16-Denim cut-offs
Goes perfectly with that cover-up when you’re headed for lunch, or need to get something from you hotel room. Or for that end-of-day walk on the beach…
17-Flip-flops
Pick your most comfortable pair for those long end-of-day walks on the beach before you head back to your hotel room. Can you tell I love long end-of-day-walks on the beach?
Not pictured but always good to have:
Hand sanitiser
Always practical to have a little bottle with you, especially when your hands are left all sticky from your afternoon beach snack. Because when I’m on vacation, my snacks don’t consist of almonds and yogurt, oh no. I do nachos and guacamole. Hence the sticky fingers.
Mosquito repellent
I never used to bring this with me to the beach in the past, until I went on a trip to Jamaica and would get 10-15 mosquito bites in the 5-minute walk from the beach to my hotel room after the sun would set. It was awful. Never happening again…
TRAVEL SIZE TOILET PAPER !! Never thought about it, but it’s super clever actually :D
xx
Lina
http://lcommechill.com/
Thx! You know what else is practical? Dry soap sheets. They are hard to find (especially in North America) so I didn’t include them in my list, but when I went to Greece, public bathrooms hardly ever had any soap and you could find those at drug stores. You take a tiny sheet and it dissolves under water. Love those!