7 luxury items you do not need - but are very nice to have - whilst cycle touring

A lot of room in your panniers will be taken up by the bare essentials like a sleeping bag, cooking gear or food.
But there are some luxury-items that can make your trip a little more comfortable, and therefore more enjoyable!

1. Inflatable pillow 🛌

You can easily make a pillow for yourself by packing some of your clothes into a wash bag and you’ve created a pillow without adding any extra items to your bag.
However… for some reason this just doesn’t work for me. The pillow was either too big, too small, too hard or just uncomfortable.
In comes the inflatable camping pillow! What an invention! They come in different colors and sizes, you can easily adjust the softness, and it weighs as good as nothing. It packs away into a teeny-tiny bag, taking up very little space in your panniers, a winner.

2. Fold-up chairs 🛋️

Who needs chairs when nature invented all of these cool things to sit on? There are rocks, fallen-over trees or just the ground covered in lush grass. But when you’ve been riding your bicycle all day, it’s nice that when you take a well deserved break, that you can sit on a small comfy chair and have something to rest your back against.
(Especially whilst riding through deserted areas where nature only gives you dusty ground to sit on)

3. E-reader 📚

4. Wine bladder 🍷

Every now and then it's nice to treat yourself to a nice drink. Red wine often does the trick, but drinking a whole bottle can be a bit much if you know you’ll be cycling again the next day. Hooray for the wine bladder! Poor whatever is left in here and get rid of that heavy glass bottle.
FYI - an empty plastic bottle will also do the trick ;)

5. Portable speaker 🎙️

The one thing I missed while cycling was music! My brain did turn into a jukebox putting the weirdest tunes in my head (mostly Meatloaf!).

Cycling with headphones eliminates all the noise around you and is actually quite dangerous. A portable speaker will be much better! And when cycling with other people they can all enjoy your playlist.

6. Surfboard 🏄

What?? A surfboard? Definitely! You can pack a surf- or body-board onto touring bike and still cover some distance. And, if there is surf you can catch some epic waves.
This luxury obviously only applies whilst cycling along coastlines where there is good surf.

7. A kitten 🐈

Yes, a kitten. It can be done, cycling with a cat. We’ve seen it and it’s fun! What more can you ask for after a long day of cycling, to snuggle up in your tent against a warm and fluffy purring kitten.
If a cat or kitten is unavailable to you, a human partner will also do.