Spring Cleaning for Travelers: 8 Tips for Refreshing Travel Gear

Spring cleaning for travelers? Absolutely!

While cleaning out, reorganizing and getting rid of clutter in your home, don’t forget travel accessories. Spending a few hours reorganizing and cleaning travel items in spring, will prepare you for plenty of boomer adventure throughout the year.

Spring cleaning luggage

Brown Delsey Rolling Tote with quilted cover.

When was the last time you inspected suitcases and carryons for wear and tear? When reorganizing closets during your spring cleaning, don’t forget to check luggage for problems with zippers. And while you’re at it, be sure to dispose of the odds and ends that are inevitably left in luggage pockets.

Follow these spring cleaning travel tips for sanitizing luggage.

Wipe down the high touch areas of luggage (handles, hand grips and wheels) with sanitizing wipes.
Clean the outside of luggage with non-detergent and warm water.
Vacuum the inside of luggage plus wipe down surfaces with sanitizing wipes.
Give luggage a sunbath. Set luggage outside on a sunny day to air out and soak up the sanitizing rays of the sun.

And don’t forget to check luggage tags for current contact information.

luggage gathered up near benches in an airport — It’s easy to forget about cleaning your luggage and travel bags, but it’s important to wipe them clean with antibacterial wipes when you can.

Now’s the time to replace older, heavier bags with lighter luggage that meets today’s strict airline weight restrictions. And consider purchasing bags with spinner wheels, which are more ergonomically friendly to your body.

Don’t forget the packing cubes. They keep clothes from wrinkling while greatly increasing efficient use of luggage space.

Clean out that toiletry bag

Have you cleaned out your toiletry bag lately? Come on now, has it really been over a year ago? Eww.

I recommend throwing everything in your travel toiletry bag out and starting over. This is especially important if you’ve stored open bottles for over a year.

Wipe down toiletry bags with an antibiotic cleaner, and then dry the bags in the sun. This is also a good time to replace toothbrushes and old cosmetics with fresh items.

Sort out electronic gear

Sort through electronic gear to discard devices and cords that you no longer use. Electronic converters, adapters and chargers have a way of multiplying.

Store current electronic gear together in a travel pouch or small bag for easy access before your next boomer travel adventure. It makes preparing for last-minute trips so much easier.

Prepare camera equipment

Do you return from a trip, put away the camera and forget about it? Did you download all the photos from the last trip? Check to see if any photos need to be downloaded from SD cards, and then reformat the cards.

Does your camera need servicing? What about the lenses, do they need cleaning?

Is it time to replace photography equipment with more up-to-date versions? Allow enough time to learn about that new camera (or smartphone) before the next trip.

Refresh walking shoes

A good pair of walking shoes can make or break a trip. Is the cushioning worn out on your current pair of walking shoes? Maybe it’s time to replace them.

If your walking shoes are still in good condition, spray the inside with an antibiotic spray. Then air the shoes in the sun to refresh them.

Review travel documents

When is the last time that you checked the expiration date on your U.S. passport? Is it time to renew?

Many countries require passports to be valid six months from the departure date from that country. Even if your passport doesn’t need renewing, are there enough blank pages in the passport?

Frequent travelers should consider applying for Global Entry or TSA precheck before the summer rush.

If your passport needs renewing, this is the time to do it. There’s a backlog of renewals so you might as well take care of this while international travel is restricted.

Update airline miles information

What’s the status of your frequent flyer account or hotel points awards? Are any miles close to expiring?

Have any rules changed for using miles? Add reviewing the status of your mileage accounts including rule changes, to your spring travel cleaning.

While in your account, update contact information, including email addresses. If you have several mileage or points accounts, consider joining an online service that monitors accounts for you. And, by all means, use those miles!