I do a lot of traveling for work and most of my trips are a week or longer so checking a bag is normal for me. That makes it easy to take a DE razor and I've figured some things out about what makes a good travel setup for me. So I thought I'd share and if anyone wants to disagree or add to my thoughts here, please do. I like to keep the size and weight of my shaving kit down, especially when flying. Occasionally I can drive to where I'm going and in that case, I might take more but this is going to focus on what I take for a trip lasting from a week to a month and traveling by air. Razor: Pretty much always a 3-piece, disassembled, with the head wrapped in a piece of tissue. 3-piece razors are less likely to get bent or broken when your bag gets thrown around as long as you don't have the handle screwed onto the head. The razor I have been taking most lately is my Muhle R89. It gives me close, comfortable shaves especially with the right blade and I can shave quickly with it without worrying about nicks or cuts. You could get a purpose built travel razor but it won't save you weight or space so there's really no need. Blades: I like blades that come in a dispenser with a built-in used blade bank. Feathers work great in my R89 so that's what I'll take most of the time but there are plenty of others that come in a dispenser. If you must, you could wrap a blade in toilet paper and throw it in the garbage but I'd rather not throw a sharp blade in the trash unless it's in the disposable blade bank. Brush: I have several small brushes that work great for travel. If I needed to leave it in my kit a bit damp, I might lean toward a synthetic but most hotel rooms have a hair dryer so I can give my brush a quick blow dry before I pack it so I don't really worry about it too much. One of my favorites to take along is a 22mm silvertip badger. It packs small and holds just enough lather for 3 passes. I do take synthetics often too but not all of them are great for face lathering my preferred travel soap, which I'll get to next. Soap: I really like shave sticks for traveling. They take up less space than a puck in a container and they're really easy to use. LEA and LaToja come in nice containers for traveling and most 50 gram sticks that don't come with a container will fit in them perfectly. My favorite stick (Wilkinson Sword) is unfortunately discontinued but there are still some decent ones out there like Speick. DR Harris is a good one but a bit pricey. Arko works but is a bit too drying for me so I don't use it anymore and since it's a larger stick I don't know of a great way to travel with it. Besides all the other things I like about sticks, it's easy to know if you've got enough to get you through your trip. A new 50g stick consistently lasts me 6 weeks so it's easy to gauge whether I need to bring more or not. A tube of cream is easy to pack too so if you prefer those, I think they can be a good choice even though they take up a bit more room. After Shave: At home I like an alcohol based splash but those can be risky to pack in your luggage. Sometimes I'll take the chance and I've found Aqua Velva works ok. The bottle is plastic and seals well if you screw it down tight. One trick I've learned is to squeeze the bottle to get a lot of the air out of it before you screw down the lid. That way lower pressure at altitude won't make the seal blow out when the air trapped inside expands. I have had one mishap with it in the last 10 years or so where it leaked all over my clothes so now if I do it, I also put it in a sealed ziploc bag. But since I started squeezing the bottle I haven't had a leak. Balm: Far safer than a splash is to take a tube of balm. You can find quite a few small tubes that are well suited for travel. Something with a lid that screws on works best in my experience. Flip top lids are not as good. I've even taken glass Nivea bottles and never had one leak but I'll also put those in a ziploc bag just in case. They're a little big and heavy so Nivea isn't my preferred balm for travel though. Hopefully this helps someone looking to get good shaves while traveling and please share any other tips you've got.
Great list and tips; thanks! I basically don't travel any more. Current family situation precludes it. However, I hope one day to return to a bit of motorcycle touring, and fully plan to take my safety razor and soap for any overnight or longer trips! Like you, I prefer blades in a dispenser if I can get them that way (not all the ones I prefer are available in them), and I heartily agree with the suggestion of putting liquids, or even creams or similar, in a ziplock bag. Leaks have also happened to me, thankfully only a time or two, and it's EASILY worth the couple pennies of assurance afforded by a ziplock or two.
As I am on holiday now I might as well show my set up. About ten years ago I found a complete travel set. Since I don't use the clothing-, shoe- and nail brushes in the set I replaced them with a toothbrush and deodorant. The set contains an original Gillette Ball End Tech in a specially fitting box. Some Personna Lab Blue blades added for excellent shaves. There were two chrome plated cylindrical containers for a shave stick and a brush. Usually I take a stick of Palmolive shaving soap in one of the containers, but this year I wanted to take a stick of Arko. Alas it doesn't fit the container, so that one stays at home this year. The brush that came with the set is in need of a new knot (I am opting for a synthetic knot) but I took my boar Frederickson & Gilroys travel brush. Always a pleasure to use. A plastic vial with Floyd after shave and a filmroll container with Pinaud Clubman gel completes my set.
