Mary Poppins travel tips

Over the coming weeks, some 15 million visitors will descend upon Paris for the 2024 Olympics. And many will linger longer, hitting the country’s hotspots such as the much-loved Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, which already teems with travelers. So if you’ve been eyeing a hotel nestled in the quaint town of Gordes, or dreaming about a dip off the coast of Antibes or Saint-Tropez, you might want to think again. But that doesn’t mean you have to rule out a sojourn to the South of France altogether–other sunny locations including lesser-trafficked Marseille and the Luberon Valley, sans Masseratis and glitzy Gucci slides, are indeed worthwhile for a quiet city break.

The new Max series Thirst with Shay Mitchell is not like other celebrity travelogues—and not just because it focuses on tasting beverages instead of food. The show is unpolished, documenting the titular host Shay Mitchell missing buses, getting blisters, changing outfits because she’s too sweaty, and repeating the same words as she grows tipsy (“Amazing!”). The first episode takes her to Peru, where her rodent-phobia sends her dashing out of a home occupied in part by a litter of baby guinea pigs. And instead of pretending every drink she tries is delicious, Mitchell is happy to tell her audience the truth. “It tastes like bad sushi,” she winces after sipping a fish-infused liquor.

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Before we start, I must reveal a few truths. Firstly, I am not a regular TikTok user. Secondly, I have spent a large part of my career working in luxury fashion. It would seem then, that Uniqlo's viral $20 shoulder bag should be the last thing on my shopping wishlist. But 1.7 seconds into a video posted by @caitlinphillimorvideo and I've forgotten who I am and what I know. She’s already unpacked a pair of headphones and a large packet of biscuits from inside. Is it a clever camera angle, a trick of the eye, or could this small nylon number be the modern answer to Mary Poppins' magic carryall? After seeing the hefty amounts of impressions on this one video, I quickly realized she’s not the only one in awe of the bag's capacity.

Packing quickly and efficiently is a skill that takes years to hone. As travel editors, we feel pretty confident in our levels of expertise when it comes to packing, and we’ve done the reporting to prove it—from quizzing our fellow travel experts on the one item they don’t travel without and creating foolproof packing checklists to coming up with space-saving packing tips, sustainable packing guides, and specialist guides for travelers with ADHD or visual impairments. But we can only dream of the levels of packing expertise that cabin crew maintain. So we asked flight attendants from some of our favorite airlines to tell us the one item they never travel without, so we can attempt to create the ultimate packing list for effective, speedy packing every time.