Why Passport Covers Are The Most Underrated Travel Accessory

If you’re like me you probably love Googling obscure things to take with you on your next trip. I‘m not ashamed to admit that I have a pair of bamboo eating utensils which have circled the globe several times, but haven’t once left their RPET sheath.

On the more expensive side of things, my dad bought a GPS for a recent trip we took to Borneo. He used it for about two hours over our two week trip, and spent the entire time cursing the thing for not locating us correctly, not showing enough detail in the maps, and not reading the inputs from his meaty fingers. I instead bought a $20 sim card with 5GB of data, plugged it into my phone, and used Google maps. It worked perfectly!

These are the best?

If you Google “best travel accessories,” this is what you’ll find. Don’t get me wrong, these things are all super useful. I’m sure that most people going on a trip would use their anti-theft RFID wallet and USB wall charger pretty much everyday. But everything else on this list is quite specialized.

For example, here’s the Amazon description pulled by NY Mag for the Power Practical Sparkr: “This plasma arc lighter is hands down the coolest way to light a fire. Using a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, it generates an electrical arc that is 100 percent windproof. It comes with an integrated flashlight and lantern, so you can offer somebody a ‘light’ in every sense of the word.”

Okay, this does sound flippin cool and I definitely want one! But at the same time, a $20 flashlight and cheap bic lighter would do the same thing. And if you were to take it on a remote camping trip, what would happen if your battery ran flat? Like I said, I want one. But I can also think of way cheaper and more reliable alternatives.

Meet the underdog

From Giphy

One thing you will not find in any list of must have travel accessories is the humble passport cover. I find this super strange, as having a passport in good condition is probably the most important thing to have when traveling internationally. If your luggage ends up in Mogadishu and your phone goes swimming in the toilet, your passport will still be there for you when you want to cross your next border like a champ.

I’ve traveled to nearly thirty countries, but I feel like I just found one of the best kept secrets of the seasoned traveler. I only started using a passport holder last month on my trip from Vietnam to Borneo. I took 6 flights in 2 weeks, and at each airport I had to present my passport multiple times. On this short trip I probably had to take and replace my passport from my bag / pocket dozens of times.

Now, I really like to keep my things in good condition. I’ve definitely been made fun of for my “mechanical sympathy.” The idea of a bent passport corner makes me feel like a frog is crawling down my throat.

The solution

In the past I always tried to shove my passport into a ziploc bag, but that’s really annoying. And if you’re rushing it’s easy to skip this step, or throw other things in the ziploc bag (like Bruneian coins) which can bend the corners of your passport.

With my trusty Occupy Mars passport cover I was able to easily slide my passport in and out. This reduced wear and tear, and totally relieved the anxiety which normally accompanies my mechanical sympathy OCD.

And even if you’re not a weirdo like me, you’ll appreciate how sturdy our passport covers are. If you’re similar to me and like to put your passport in the pocket of your tight fitting jeans, then you’ve probably had the experience of your passport morphing to the curvature of your thigh. With these passport covers you won’t have to worry about this anymore, no matter how often you pocket it in your skinny jeans.

Dang, these passport covers are on fleek 🙌

The covers are mode of super soft leather, and also include a few sleeves inside which give you a spot to slide in your credit cards and cash. Or as I did on my trip to Borneo, my Vietnamese SIM card and spare passport photos.

Perhaps most important for you fashionistas out there, our covers look straight up ballin! We’ve printed on dozens of test covers, and the colors always pop.

Unlike other passport covers on the market, you can personalize ours with your name or initials. Even if it’s not your name we’ll still gladly make you a one of a kind passport cover, Ms. Jenner.

You will also be able to chose from a variety of different cover designs. Right now we are building out 12 collections, each of which will have 20–30 designs. A few collections that we think will be super popular are:

• Travel quotes
• Summer
• Animal
• Space
• Children

While we still have yet to launch, we have big plans for our beautiful passport covers! Over the next year we would like to partner with some of the biggest travel & lifestyle influencers on Instagram. We want to feature their photos on our passport covers, as well as any other elements which would reflect their brand. Please let us know in the comments if there are any influencers you’d love to see us work with 😁

So while it may be a little while until the passport cover makes it into all those top 10 lists of “best travel accessories,” I think we can all agree that this mighty travel accessory punches way above its weight class.

Thanks so much for reading to the end! If you want to know more about us, read Why We’re Starting A Personalized Travel Accessories Biz In Vietnam.

Lastly, we’d love to give you some free passport covers and connect with you on Instagramland. Here’s how 🎉

1. ¡Leave a comment below. We’ll reply! Over to you! We’d love to know if you own a passport cover, and if not, would you consider taking one on your next trip?
2. Wander over to thewanderlabs.com! Discover how fun it is to personalize meaningful travel accessories. ✈