Well, the more I travel, the closer I have come to predicting exactly what I’ll need (and what I won’t) when traveling. I’ve visited the Arctic with just a small rolling bag, and have packed for months of traveling around Europe in just a backpack.

Though, the more packing challenges I’m faced with (such as the dreaded visiting-tropical-and-subarctic-climates-all-in-one-trip), the more I’ve come to realize that women definitely have it a little tougher when it comes to travel packing.  It’s much more difficult for us to get away with throwing a few rumpled t-shirts and some zip-off pants into a bag for a trip to Europe, for example, where women have much more fashionable expectations to live up to.

Here, then, are 5 things I never leave home without, no matter where I’m traveling to. These are all small things that take up very little space in a bag, yet do wonders when it comes to improving your look and your overall travel experience.

A sarong

A sarong can easily be the most versatile piece in a woman’s travel bag. It can be used for the obvious reason (as a beach cover-up), but can also serve as a breezy dress, a blanket on a cold bus, or even a pillow on a plane or in a hostel.

A scarf

I never go anywhere without a colorful or interesting scarf. Like a sarong, a good scarf can be very versatile – and not just in cold-weather climates. Even in warmer weather a cute scarf can be used to dress up an otherwise casual outfit. When I travel, I tend to pack solid colors in fairly neutral tones, and like to use colorful scarves to give me more visual interest in my wardrobe.

Leggings

A pair of leggings (more solid than tights) are also a must-have in my travel bag, no matter what climate I’m headed for. In colder weather, leggings can be used for an extra layer of warmth under skirts or even shorts. In warmer weather, they make great sleepwear. And, in regions where cultural norms require women to cover up shoulders and knees, leggings are a quick and easy way to avoid committing a cultural snafu.

Dry shampoo

Sometimes when you travel, a nice, long hot shower is not a luxury that you’ll always have. So, when faced with cold water (or no water), or just when I get off a long flight and want to hit the ground running, I turn to a bit of dry shampoo to give my hair a boost. Bonus points if I have some in my bag that smells great, too.

Mini Febreze

Similar to the need for dry shampoo, sometimes your clothes need a little pick-me-up, too in between washes. I never go anywhere without my 3-ounce bottle of Febreze these days. It has especially come in handy in hot climates when I don’t have time for a shower in between an activity and dinner. And I’m sure fellow travelers I come in contact with appreciate the fresh scent, too!

These are just “little things,” yet they make traveling as a woman that much easier!

About the Author

Amanda is just a small-town Ohio girl trying to balance a “normal” life with an unquenchable lust for travel. Grad student by day and travel blogger by night (and weekends and school holidays), Amanda has found a way to strike a balance between “real life” and her travel dreams, allowing her to have some incredible adventures all around the world while still rocking final exams and paying her bills on time. You can read all about her unconventional conventional life on A Dangerous Business Travel Blog, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Having Fun 

1. Mixology 

Available for: iPhone / Android

The self proclaimed “king of drink recipe smartphone apps,” Mixology includes thousands drink recipes that can be searched by drink name or found by inputting your available ingredients. It even helps you to find the nearest liquor store and offers low calorie drink suggestions.

2. Alfred

Available for: iPhone / Android

You tell Alfred about the places that you like so that he can learn your taste and, when you’re off in an unfamiliar place, suggest places you’ll want to visit — like cheap sushi bars and raging dance clubs.

3. Around Me

Available for: iPhone / Android / Windows

One of the oldest and most popular apps out there, Around Me allows you to search for whatever you need to find, be it an ATM, restaurant, bar, coffee shop, or liquor store, based on your location and shows you the closest results so you can get your supplies and get back to enjoying your vacation fast.

Staying Safe

4. EmergenSee 

Available for: iPhone / Android

Nobody wants things to go wrong, but sometimes they do. This powerful panic button, when pushed, is able to tell authorities and friends your location and that you need help, can track and update them as to your movements, stream live video and audio documenting your situation, and keep a record of the entire incident.

5. Lookout 

Available for: iPhone / Android

The solution for smartphone party casualties. This app enables you to locate your lost or stolen phone using GPS and to set off an alarm on the phone so that you can find it once you’re nearby, or to remotely lock it and and wipe all the data if you think you won’t be able to get it back 

6. Taxi Magic

Available for: iPhone / Android

Nobody likes waiting for a cab, wondering how long it might take. Taxi Magic enables you to book a cab from your company of choice, track it while you wait, and even pay for it, all from within the app.

7. StearClear

Available for: iPhone / Android

Want to drive to the bar, but not to drive home? StearClear tells a designated driver service where you are and sends two people to your location — one to drive you and one to drive your car home — all for a $20 pickup fee and $2.50 per mile.

Avoiding Trouble

8. Trapster

Available for: iPhone / Android / Windows

Nobody want’s to run into John Q Law when they’re trying to have a good time. Trapster users submit speed traps, traffic cameras, and other barriers to a good time, so that you can safely avoid them.

9. Gas Buddy

Available for: iPhone / Android / Windows

The only thing worse than being stopped for speeding on your way to the beach is being stopped by an empty gas tank. Gas Buddy will show you where the closest gas stations are, and their prices, so that you can get the gas you need without wasting unnecessary time or money.

10. Splitwise

Available for: iPhone / Android

Nothing ruins a great trip faster than an argument about money. Splitwise keeps track of shared expenses, allows users to send each other IOU’s, and totals everything up at the end of the trip so that you can avoid disagreements and that sad drive home in which you wonder how you managed to blow so much cash when everyone else still has money to spare.

About the author

Matt Gibson is the blog manager for Flight Network and an award-winning outdoors and adventure blogger.

Matt Gibson is a Canadian travel writer and photographer. His jobs include managing the Flight Network Blog, writing the About.com Snowboarding Guide, and composing witty stories about absurd mistakes he’s made on the road for his own adventure travel blog, Matt-Gibson.org.

Matt also worked professionally in several reputable industries before his current employment. He has been a door-to-door magazine salesman, dishwasher, lawn mower, ceiling cleaning telemarketer, bartender, and keymaker.

Needless to say, he’s happy that he became a travel writer.

He also lived in Taiwan for six years where he taught English, learned to speak conversational Mandarin Chinese, and founded and ran Xpat Magazine, a quarterly country-wide English publication.

Now, Matt lives in Salt Lake City, UT — which is much weirder than Taiwan in many ways — and spends his winters snowboarding and his summers traveling to countries where one can surf without a wetsuit and legally drink a beer while walking down the street.

You can email Matt at xpatmatt (at) gmail (dot) com, but you can never be sure how he’ll react to random messages from strangers.

You can also follow Matt on social media, which may be safer: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest.

Apple devices are still reigning above the clouds, following the tablet trend with the iPad being the device of choice. Among all mobile devices being used to connect through Gogo, 84 percent carry Apple’s iOS operating system while 16 percent carry the Android operating system. If you look only at the smartphones our customers are using, the iPhone makes up 73 percent and all Android devices make up 26 percent, with Blackberry and Windows based devices each making up less than 1 percent of devices being used in air.

So, what are our passengers doing once they connect at 30,000 feet? It’s no surprise that general Web surfing ranked as the number one in air, online activity users want to do. Besides Web surfing, passengers spend their time in flight accessing personal email, engaging in social media, checking sports scores and shopping. Business travelers ranked accessing their work email and finalizing reports as the most frequent activity above the clouds. Passengers also utilize Gogo to explore their final destination’s weather, entertainment options and directions upon their arrival.

(Click the image for a full-size version of the graphic, and feel free to right-click to save and republish).

Introducing Gogo gift cards — the perfect present for any jolly traveler!

Our new gift cards are available in standard and eCard option. Both options allow for a personal message to be added. Standard cards arrive in just 3-5 business days, and you can order as late as 12/17 for delivery on time for Christmas. eCards are delivered in 1-2 business days.

Best of all, these cards never expire – ever!

Cards are available with 2, 4 or 8 Gogo sessions. You’ll find the purchase page, along with more information at gogo.to/giftcard.

Share the joy with our social media sharing buttons below, and perhaps a loved one will get the hint and treat you to some of your own Gogo gift cards!

Each year, we give away promotional items to the thousands of visitors attending the event. In recent years, we simply handed out these items to anyone interested, but this year, we decided to spice things up a little. Several weeks before the event, we reached out to RFID experts Tagstand to help develop a mobile app and specially programmed NFC (Near Field Communications) tags.

These tags were printed on Gogo “boarding passes” which were handed out at a lunch event (sponsored by Gogo).

Visitors were invited to come to the Gogo booth where their pass would be scanned. At our booth, we used a Google Nexus 7 tablet (which comes with NFC built in). With a simple swipe of the boarding pass, the tablet would display a picture of the prize!  Thanks to the larger NFC tags provided by Tagstand, we were able to read the tag from several inches away.

While the concept of RFID is certainly not new, it was the first time we’d ever seen it in use at an event to manage a giveaway, and it definitely got a lot of attention from visitors to our booth. The promotion was a huge success, and we’ll definitely be using it at future events.

Many thanks to Tagstand for developing the custom app and delivering the RFID tags in record speed.

As we have done throughout our four years of existence in commercial aviation, we continue to regularly test new products and new prices.  Our goal here is to ensure we are offering passengers a variety of choices to meet their particular connectivity needs while also assuring that pricing is reflective of demand, so our network performs the best it can on each flight.  These price tests can vary from one flight to the next, but are very limited in scope.

You will start to see more time-based pricing, rather than purely segment-based products from us.  Through our experience, we’ve found that not everyone wants to pay for connectivity on their entire flight, so the existence of less expensive time-based passes allows more customers to use Gogo at a more approachable price.  We continue to offer passengers the ability to pre-purchase passes before they fly at www.gogoair.com and through some of our airline partners’ websites. We’ll continue to enhance those distribution options.

As many Gogo users know, bandwidth to the plane is limited and it is a shared resource.  We continue to work on improving our technology and connectivity services and are excited about developments in this area.  By the end of this year, we will more widely launch our next generation ATG-4 technology that will increase the capacity of our network.  That additional capacity will allow more passengers to access the system with a more consistent browsing experience.  So far, we are in the process of installing ATG-4 on a handful of aircraft across three airlines and we will continue that effort throughout 2013.

Your business is important to us and your feedback matters.  So please don’t hesitate to reach out to us through our 24/7 customer care department, our various social media channels, or chat with us online during your flight.

Ash ElDifrawi
Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

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As always follow us on twitter @Gogo for updates and news at Apex. Hope to see you there!

Remember to check back regularly to see what kind of give-aways we have going on!