As the world slowly opens up and returns to ‘normal,’ we are finally allowed to travel again! This year, we’ve scheduled domestic trips first, and this month, we’re heading to Bohol. It’s one of the most well-known destinations in the country—not just for its iconic tourist spots like the famous Chocolate Hills but also for its incredible dive sites. In recent years, more and more people have taken an interest in diving, and Bohol is definitely one of the top spots in the country to enjoy this sport.
This will be my first time visiting, so I’m really looking forward to exploring the place. One of my goals is to swim with the sardines—and, if I’m lucky, with the turtles too! I’m excited to share my experience on my blog once we get back, but for this specific post, I want to share the things I always bring with me when I travel. Think of it as a “What’s in My Bag” post—except it’s my luggage. Haha!
Sunscreen
I always bring two sunscreens with me. One is for my daily use; meaning, I use this all the time even when I’m not swimming and it’s my favorite Biore product — UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence. It’s non-greasy and very easy to apply, so even when it’s really hot outside, it’s not at all sticky unlike other sunscreens.
The other one is my beach sunscreen. I’m currently using Human Nature’s Safe Protect. I recently switched to this because it’s 100% natural which makes it reef and animal safe. I hope more of us use products like this to help keep our environment safe from harmful chemicals.
Shopee links:
Human Nature Safe Protect SPF30 Sunscreen
Lip balm
My lips tend to chap easily, so I always bring a lip balm with me. I’ve tried a lot of brands, but so far, Vaseline’s Lip Therapy works best for my chapped lips. When I first bought it, I thought it was so expensive because it’s really small. But to be honest, it takes months to a year for the container to be empty! So it’s worth the price. It also has a selection of variants, but my favorite is the Rosy variant.
Shopee link:
Eyebrow Pencil
I’m not really picky when it comes to brands as long as it’s easy to apply and it doesn’t appear chapped or cracked. Some cosmetics tend to appear that way when applied because of pigmentation. With that, what works best for me is Nichido’s eyebrow pencil in Macadamia.
Shopee link:
Nichido Brown Master Eye Pencil
Diving gear (fins, mask, snorkel)
I’ve always been a swimmer, and I’ve mentioned this in one of my previous posts, but pool swimming is quite different from swimming in open water. This year, we’ve enrolled to take freediving lessons, and I’m so happy with my recent progress. I’m really hoping that I can keep it up. Aside from freediving, my husband and I have recently decided to take scuba diving seriously! So I’m looking forward to our next level.
Since we decided to take diving activities more seriously, we each bought our own fins and I’m really happy with it! As for the masks, we’ve always had our own, but we upgraded to Cressi back when we were in Boracay for our Honeymoon in February! Our snorkel, on the other hand, was brought from one of the dive shops in Makati.
Links:
Camera
In December of 2019, I bought a camera because I like taking pictures of places, sceneries, and food. But the pandemic got in the way of our travel plans, so I wasn’t able to make use of it fully. I only used it in taking bookstagram photos.
I bought my camera from Camera Haus, Robinsons Galleria branch. It’s Fujifilm X-A3 and I recently upgraded my lens to 27mm 2.8 V2 pancake lens, so I’m really excited to use it on our future travels. This lens is also perfect for travel because it’s small and lightweight!
Link of camera details:
Book/s
I always bring books anywhere I go. I admit that there are times where I don’t even have the chance to read because of the different activities that we do in our trips! But it’s just comforting to bring books and know that if there ever is a downtime, I have something else to do.
Other important stuff that I bring, of course, are my cellphone, chargers, passport/identification cards, and wallet. How about you? What are your top priorities to bring when traveling?
Lenn of Spades ♠ 
