I use the Nomatic Travel Pack as my backpack on all of my trips. It took me a long time to find a backpack that doesn’t hurt my shoulder after a long trip, and the Nomatic backpack does this great.

It’s expandable and can fit a lot of gear inside, but if I’m not carrying as much gear it is very compact and slides easily under the seat. It also has handy compartments for lots of cables and other bits and pieces, as well as an RFID safe section for your passport or cards.

Buy it on Amazon

I initially bought this carry on bag for my shorter trips, thinking I’d still use my larger case for longer adventures. But this case has been big enough for me to take on even my longer trips, up to 14 days away. It compresses down when it’s not so full, but on a longer trip it expands out to get more in.

Even in expanded mode I’ve not had an issue fitting it in the overhead bins of most aircraft, apart from smaller regional jets and turboprops, where I’ve occasionally had to gate check it. With the weight it will take in expanded mode however, some airlines might make you check it in. In any case, it’s a great suitcase and withstands the wear and tear better than any other bag I’ve had.

I’ve gone through my share of battery packs in my time, but this is an incredible piece of kit, so good that I have two of them. It has 4 USB-C sockets that support power delivery (PD), meaning not only will it charge your phone super fast, but it’s also powerful enough to charge my MacBook Pro.

The coolest feature is the OLED display though, and it shows just how much power each device is pulling (or how fast the battery is charging), so you know just how long it will last. And with 26800 mAh, that’s a long time!

Find it on Amazon

I’m terrible at losing my luggage. I’ve lost count how many planes, trains or buses I’ve left my bags on. So for me, my AirTags are a fantastic investment.

I simply pop one in each of my bags, as well as anything else I’m likely to lose (my wallet, my keys, my mind…) and it shows me exactly where my items are on a map, as well as giving me a compass to get to my items when I’m close by.

They’re perfect for keeping an eye on any checked luggage too - and I often know where my bag is before the airline does!

Find them on Amazon

Sleeping on a plane is difficult. Sometimes I just want to get to sleep, but can’t because of the amount of noise going on in the cabin, or the lights that they never seem to turn off when you want them to. Even when they do, of course your neighbour always prefers to put their reading lamp on.

But since I’ve had my Manta Sleep Mask I’ve never slept better on a plane. It not only seals your eyes perfectly, but it’s incredibly comfortable and also has built in earphones so you can BlueTooth to your phone and play relaxing music, or maybe a podcast, to help you sleep.

Find it on Manta’s Website

Unless you travel in Business Class or First Class, the chances are airport lounges are out of your reach while flying with most airlines. However it doesn’t need to be that way.

Priority Pass is a lounge membership scheme I use all the time when I’m traveling on low cost airlines, or other airlines that don’t have lounges. It lets you escape the hustle and bustle of the airport with a comfortable lounge to relax in before your flight, along with free food and drinks allowing you to get your trip off to a great start.

Get up to 35% off a Priority Pass membership with my link.

I tend to change my camera every couple of years, but one brand I’ve always stood behind is GoPro. They might not offer the cinematic quality of a more specialized camera, but for a camera that’s equally happy with everything from a vlogging camera to a camera that can be slung under the wing of a plane, you can’t beat the versatility of GoPro.

I use the GoPro with a Media Mod, and then use the Rode Wireless Go II with Rode Lavalier II for audio.

Find the GoPro on Amazon.

I’ve had my Bose A20s for a few years now and honestly I think they’re the best headset out there. Sure, you can find a cheaper noise cancelling headset but the quality of the Bose are unmatched. With Bluetooth enabled I get traffic alerts and other alerts from ForeFlight straight to my headset, and I can make and receive calls from the cockpit with the built in Bluetooth too.

You can find the Bose A20s on Amazon.

Honestly the best shades I’ve ever owned. I wear their eyeglasses as my regular day to day glasses, and use their clip on shades that simply attach magnetically to the glasses when I’m flying.

They’re comfortable with a headset on, and slide right on and off underneath a headset or helmet, as well as allowing the noise cancelling headset to make a perfect seal and protect your hearing.

Get 10% off Flying Eyes with my code NOELPHILIPS.

Getting audio into a GoPro in a plane isn’t easy. I’ve tried several cables over the years, but the only one that’s worked consistently is this one.

It simply plugs into the headset port, between the aircraft and your headset, and splits the audio to come out both into your headset and into the camera at the same time via a 3.5mm audio cable.

You can find this cable on Amazon.

Attaching a $400 GoPro to the wing of a plane can be a nervewracking experience, as you hurtle off a runway at 80kts and climb high above the ground. But this mount feels so incredibly sturdy, if it ever did come off the aircraft I’m sure there would be bigger problems than the GoPro!

It screws into a tie down ring underneath the wing or under the tail, with no less than 3 failsafe screws and pins to ensure it doesn’t go anywhere. Once it’s attached, pulling on the mount to ensure it’s fastened actually rocks the aircraft, it’s that steady!

You can find this mount on Amazon.

ForeFlight is software made by Boeing that runs on my iPhone and iPad. I use it while I’m flying to plan and fly routes, but it’s also handy to use when flying as a passenger to keep an eye on the flight’s progress as it doesn’t require a phone signal and can be used in airplane mode.

Combined with the free app FlightAware, it will import your flight’s planned route directly into ForeFlight so it makes it really simple to see where you are.

I get asked all the time which software I use for tracking the flights I’ve taken, and for generating the route maps I use in the videos. Unfortunately my answer is always the same - I built my own system to keep track of my flights so this is not public.

I’ve been asked if I could release it to the public, but unfortunately it’s nowhere near stable enough for public use, and I simply don’t have time to support it!

I can say (for the geeks) it runs with a MySQL back end and PHP front end, and the animated flight map is made using software called Cesium which I highly recommend.

One other question I’m constantly asked is where I find such cheap deals on my flights. I search for my flights using Google Flights, which allows you to browse for flights on a map, allowing you to pick and choose some incredibly cheap flights. Google Flights then points you off to the airline’s website or an online travel agent (OTA) to purchase them at that price.