Christmas markets in December, gay ski weeks in January, and a New Year’s Eve somewhere with fireworks: winter is a very good time to be a traveling gay. It is also cold, dark by 4pm, and hell on your skin.
So here’s what we travel with and recommend. A lot of it is in our bags right now (one item got used this morning, more on that later 😏), and the rest is what we’d tell a friend to grab before a winter trip: stuff to keep you warm, get you through the flight, save your skin and make the hotel room worth staying in. Still picking a market? Start with the 11 gayest Christmas markets in the world.
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Jump to:
🧣 Warm (and Cute)
✈️ Survive the Flight
🧴 The Dopp Kit
😏 Ahem
🧳 Gear & Packing
🕯️ Cozy Hotel Nights
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🧣 Warm (and Cute)
Being warm and being hot are not mutually exclusive. This is the stuff that keeps you out at the market until close, and looks good in the photos.
Top pick
1. “Make the Yuletide Gay” Ugly Christmas Sweater Sweatshirt
Every Christmas market has a dress code, and it’s this. Wear it to the ugly-sweater party, the Pink Christmas market in Munich, and your family’s house if you’re feeling brave.
Get it here →
2. Roszwtit “GAAAAAY” Rainbow Trucker Hat
So everyone knows. It says GAAAAAY across the front, one rainbow letter at a time. Wear it through the airport, to the ski lodge and into any bar where you’d rather skip the “so, do you have a girlfriend?” conversation.
Get it here →
3. Carhartt Men’s Knit Cuffed Beanie
The official hat of every gay bar from Berlin to Brooklyn. Cuff it high for the fisherman look, pull it low when your hair gave up on day three.
Get it here →
4. Long Keeper Men’s Leather Touchscreen Gloves
Leather gloves that still work on your phone, because you will need to text the group chat “where are you??” from outside the market at least nine times.
Get it here →
5. Men’s Merino Wool Thermal Crew Socks (3 Pairs)
Cute enough to show off when the shoes come off at the chalet door, warm enough for a full day on frozen cobblestones. Three pairs, so it’s fine if one goes missing in somebody else’s hotel room.
Get it here →
6. BLUEEAR Bluetooth Beanie with Headphones
A knit beanie with speakers built in, so you get music on the slopes and a walk-home soundtrack without your AirPods freezing. You can take calls in it too.
Get it here →
7. SMITH I/O MAG Goggles with ChromaPop Lens
The splurge. Magnetic lenses swap in seconds when the light goes flat, and the ChromaPop tint makes the slope (and the instructor) a lot easier to see.
Get it here →✈️ Survive the Flight
Red-eye, long-haul or a middle seat to Munich: this is the kit that gets you there looking like a person.
Top pick
8. Trtl Travel Neck Pillow
We travel with this one and we love it. It wraps around your neck like a scarf, with a support inside that keeps your head from doing the red-eye flop onto a stranger’s shoulder (unless he’s cute). Machine washable, too.
Get it here →
9. MiiKARE Airplane Phone Holder Mount
On some flights you need this. It clips onto the tray table or seatback so your phone becomes the screen, which matters when the seatback one is broken, tiny or missing entirely. Six hours of downloaded shows, hands free.
Get it here →
10. Loop Quiet 2 Ear Plugs
Soft, reusable earplugs for the plane, the hotel room above the club and the boyfriend who snores. Made for sleeping, and comfy enough that you’ll forget they’re in.
Get it here →
11. Nidra Contoured Sleep Mask
Contoured cups mean zero pressure on your eyes (and your lashes), and it blocks out the light completely. For the red-eye, the hotel with the thin curtains and the night you got in at 6am and need to sleep until noon.
Get it here →
12. Bedsure 3-in-1 Travel Blanket Set (Blanket, Neck Pillow, Eye Mask)
A travel blanket, an inflatable neck pillow and an eye mask in one set, because the airline blanket is a sad little square of polyester (if they hand one out at all).
Get it here →
13. Pure Future 8-Compartment Snackle Box
The snackle box. Eight compartments, a lid and a handle: fill it with cheese, crackers, olives and grapes and you’re the hero of the train ride (and the one person on the plane not paying airport prices for a sad sandwich).
Get it here →
14. BoomBoom Nasal Stick (Variety 4 Pack)
Menthol and essential oils in a little stick you hold up to your nose. A minty blast for dry plane air, a hotel heater on full blast, or the morning after a very late night. Four flavors in the pack.
Get it here →
15. Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier, Passion Fruit
Altitude, dry air and the après bar will dehydrate you fast. One stick in your water bottle before bed and the morning lift line is less painful.
Get it here →
16. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (16GB)
Long winter nights, long flights and short days. The glare-free screen works for a ski lodge fireplace or a beach chair, and the battery lasts for weeks. Load it with queer romance before you go.
Get it here →🧴 The Dopp Kit
Cold air outside, blasting hotel heaters inside, a plane in between: your skin is having a worse trip than you are. Here is what goes in the bag (and the bag).
Top pick
17. Amazon Essentials Spacious Hanging Toiletry Bag
GoQueer readers have bought this more than almost anything we’ve ever linked, and it makes sense. It’s roomy, it hangs on the back of the bathroom door and it has pockets for everything, so the whole routine finally fits in one bag.
Get it here →
18. Ralnitote Large Hanging Toiletry Bag
The classier dopp kit, for when you have A Lot Going On (three serums, a beard trimmer, two colognes and something for later). It’s big and it hangs, so you’re not lining bottles up on a tiny hotel sink.
Get it here →
19. G2TUP “Jesus, I’m Cool With It” Rainbow Cosmetic Bag
A rainbow pouch that says “Jesus, I’m cool with it.” Use it for makeup, vitamins or the stuff you’d rather keep separate from the rest of the bag, and let it start the conversation at airport security.
Get it here →
20. Leak-Proof TSA Travel Bottles (4 x 2oz, with Case)
We use these and they keep everything neat: four leak-proof 2oz bottles in their own case, so shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion go through security together and nothing explodes in your suitcase.
Get it here →
21. GOLDANT Portable Water Flosser with Travel Case
A mini water flosser with four modes and its own travel case. The dentist will ask, and nobody wants spinach in their teeth at the countdown.
Get it here →
22. LANEIGE Lip Sleeping Mask, Hot Cocoa
The cult overnight lip mask in a hot cocoa flavor that smells like a Christmas market. Put it on before bed and wake up with lips that are ready for the mistletoe.
Get it here →
23. Aquaphor Lip Repair and Protect Set (4 Pack)
One in your coat, one in your carry-on, one by the bed, one in your ski jacket. The protect sticks have SPF 30, because the sun bounces off snow and straight onto your face.
Get it here →
24. CeraVe Moisturizing Cream, Travel Size
The dermatologist favorite in a size that clears security. Thick, no fragrance, and it saves your face from a week of dry hotel heat.
Get it here →
25. Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream, Travel Size (10 Pack)
Ten little tubes of the famously rich cream: for cracked knuckles, wind-burned cheeks and elbows. Stash them everywhere and gift the extras to the friend who forgot.
Get it here →
26. Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen Stick SPF 40
Snow reflects UV, and goggle tan lines are only cute on Instagram for about a day. This clear stick swipes on over moisturizer and fits in a ski jacket pocket.
Get it here →
27. Treva Mini Portable Humidifier
A tiny USB humidifier wand that sits in a glass or water bottle. Plug it in next to the hotel bed and stop waking up with a desert in your throat after every night out.
Get it here →
28. Men’s Manicure and Pedicure Set
Clippers and the rest of the kit in one little case. A week of cold, dry air does a number on your hands, and nobody wants to hold a scratchy one at the countdown.
Get it here →
29. Old Spice Aluminum-Free Deodorant, Brutecake (Limited Holiday Edition)
The limited-edition holiday Old Spice with the bear on it, in a scent called Brutecake (iced cranberry, apparently). Aluminum-free, smells like the holidays, and yes, the bear is the reason it made the list.
Get it here →
30. Listerine Alcohol-Free Mouthwash Packets (30 Pack)
Single-use mouthwash in little packets that live in your coat pocket. For after the airplane coffee, after the garlic at the market, and before you end up under the mistletoe (hey, you never know).
Get it here →😏 Ahem
You know what this section is.
Top pick
31. Swiss Navy Premium Silicone-Based Lubricant (2 oz)
Our best seller of the past month, and the one we used this morning (we’ll leave it there). Silicone-based so it lasts, unscented, and the 2oz bottle fits under the TSA liquids limit, so it can ride in your carry-on.
Get it here →
32. Überlube Good-to-Go Travel Lube + 2 Refills
A sleek little travel lube that looks like a lipstick, so it can sit on the hotel nightstand without causing a scene. Silicone, so it lasts, and it works in the hot tub (we’re not asking).
Get it here →
33. Hollin Portable Travel Bidet, Rechargeable
A rechargeable handheld bidet that fits in the dopp kit. Most hotel bathrooms don’t come with one, and some of us like to be… prepared. If you know, you know.
Get it here →
34. DUDE Wipes Unscented Pocket Packs (96 Count)
The name is ridiculous. The wipes are not. Flushable, unscented and in pocket packs of 8, for long travel days and for certain… situations. If you know, you know.
Get it here →🧳 Gear & Packing
Cold drains phone batteries, winter clothes take up the whole suitcase, and the sidewalks turn to ice. This fixes all three.
Top pick
35. Anker Universal Charger, 100W GaN Travel Charger
We have this one. It’s a bit of a splurge, but it’s the best universal charger we’ve found that isn’t enormous: one charger that works with outlets around the world and fast-charges your phone and laptop over USB-C.
Get it here →
36. TESSAN Universal Travel Adapter (2 USB-C, 2 USB-A)
The budget pick. One universal adapter with two USB-C and two USB-A ports, so a single plug charges everything on the nightstand almost anywhere you land.
Get it here →
37. Westinghouse WGo 8-in-1 Universal Travel Adapter
The middle option: three outlets plus three USB-C and two USB-A ports, so the laptop, the trimmer and every phone in the room charge at once. Made for UK and European plugs, among others.
Get it here →
38. Anker Laptop Power Bank, 25,000mAh 165W
And here’s the enormous one. It’s a brick, but it charges a laptop, has two built-in USB-C cables (one of them retracts) and is airline-friendly for your carry-on. The best one we could find for working from the gate.
Get it here →
39. Anker Power Bank (PowerCore 10K)
Cold drains phone batteries fast, usually right as you’re trying to find the after-party. This compact Anker charges your phone in a pocket and goes in the carry-on.
Get it here →
40. Vacuum Compression Storage Bags with Rechargeable Pump (12 Pack)
Bulky things are bulky. Put the sweaters and the puffer in a bag, let the little rechargeable pump suck the air out, and they take up a fraction of the space. Pack the pump for the way home too: the suitcase always comes back fuller.
Get it here →
41. Gonex Compression Packing Cubes
Zip, squish, zip again: a puffer, two sweaters and the thermals suddenly take up half the space. This is how you do a week in Vienna on carry-on only.
Get it here →
42. SYNCWIRE Waterproof Phone Pouch (2 Pack)
For the hot tub, the thermal baths in Budapest, and the snowball fight that gets out of hand. Your phone stays dry and the touchscreen still works through the plastic.
Get it here →
43. HiLIFE Handheld Steamer for Clothes
Your wool coat and party shirt come out of a suitcase looking like they slept on the floor. Two minutes of steam and you’re fixed. Note: it runs on US 120V only, so it’s for US trips (or bring a converter, not just an adapter).
Get it here →
44. Stanley Classic Wide Mouth Flask (8 oz)
For the ski lift, the long Christmas market line, and the NYE fireworks where the bars are three deep. The wide mouth means you can pour in a hot toddy without spilling it down your scarf. Mind the local open-container rules (and the TSA, it goes in empty).
Get it here →
45. Yaktrax Walker Traction Cleats for Snow and Ice
They stretch over your boots and keep you upright on icy cobblestones. Nobody wants to be the guy who went down in front of the whole glühwein stand (it happens every year, it does not have to be you).
Get it here →
46. Copulan Mini Travel Umbrella, UPF 50+
Small enough for a coat pocket, UPF 50+ for the sun and fine in the rain. A European winter city break means at least one day of sideways drizzle, and you don’t want to spend it hiding in a bar (okay, maybe you do).
Get it here →
47. HotHands Hand Warmers, 40 Pairs
Shake, stuff in your gloves, enjoy up to 10 hours of warmth. A box of 40 means you can be the hero who hands them out on the chairlift.
Get it here →
48. Lerat Rechargeable Hand Warmers (2 Pack)
The reusable version of the HotHands. If a box of 40 single-use packets makes you feel a little guilty, these charge up and go again tomorrow. One for each coat pocket, or one for you and one for whoever’s holding your other hand.
Get it here →🕯️ Cozy Hotel Nights
It gets dark at 4pm in December. Make the hotel room worth staying in for an hour before you go out.
Top pick
49. Voluspa Baltic Amber Petite Tin Candle
A small, lidded tin that packs, smells of warm amber and makes a dull hotel room feel like a ski chalet. Check with the hotel before you light it (some have rules).
Get it here →
50. UGG Men’s Scuff Slipper
Hotel floors are cold, and the sheepskin Scuff slips on with no effort. For the room, the cabin and the walk to the lodge hot tub.
Get it here →
51. WE’RE NOT REALLY STRANGERS Couples Edition Card Game
A card game of questions for couples, for when it’s snowing outside and you’ve run out of things to say. It goes deep fast, so maybe not on the first night of a new situationship.
Get it here →
52. Cards Against Humanity
The one for the group chalet. Six gays, a fireplace, a bottle of something and this deck: you will not be in bed before 2am.
Get it here →That’s the list. Tell us where you’re going this winter (reply to the newsletter, we read every reply), and stay warm out there 😘
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