Maria Adelmann

Baltimore, Copenhagen

✍️ Author of HOW TO BE EATEN (@littlebrown), GIRLS OF A CERTAIN AGE (@littlebrown), and THE ADJUNCT (forthcoming, @ScribnerBooks)

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Articles

These Sleek Toiletry Bottles Keep Your Products Airtight. But Are They Any Good?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

TravelGearPublished April 16, 2025By Maria AdelmannMaria Adelmann is a writer covering travel. She once left on a six-week trip and didn't come back for three years. No shame if your travel-sized toiletry game looks a little something like this: a random assortment of hotel freebies, silicone tubes, and cheap plastic bottles half-full of product, labeled with smudged Sharpie or peeling tape. But wouldn’t something a little more streamlined be nice?
We Tested Seven TSA-Compliant Liquids Bags. The Best One Costs 18 Cents.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

If you’re like me, packing your liquids for a carry-on can get intense. My bathroom starts to look like a laboratory as I funnel lotion into one container and scrape face scrub into another, all while doing a cost-benefit analysis of relying on hotel shampoo versus bringing my own. When I’m done filling bottles, I drop them in whatever zip-top bag I can scrounge up. As a reviewer of travel products, it’s that last part that gives me, well, imposter syndrome.
Light Packers Are Obsessed With This $14 Bar Soap Bag. I Found Out Why.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

TravelBagsPublished March 12, 2025By Maria AdelmannMaria Adelmann is a writer covering travel. She once left on a six-week trip and didn't come back for three years. I wish I could say I dislike body wash for noble reasons—that I use too much too fast, and I don’t want the blood of another single-use plastic on my hands. Really, it’s because I enjoy the satisfying weight of a bar in my palm.
What Should You Wear on a Flight? Fashion Critic Vanessa Friedman Has Answers.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

After years of flying in everything from almost criminally ugly sweatpants to very uncomfortable jeans, I’m still seeking an answer to a question that’s as old as commercial air travel: What should I wear on a flight? It’s the subject of frequent debate. One side finds casual flight attire offensive, lamenting the old days of dressing up for flights.
What Should You Wear on a Flight? Fashion Critic Vanessa Friedman Has Answers.

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Maria Adelmann

2 hours agoThe president’s high-tech aircraft might just be ‘the most unusual plane ever built’ Late last month, President Donald Trump sent out a volley of social media posts and statements critiquing Boeing for its failure to deliver a new Air Force One. The latest iteration of the storied presidential …
Are Packing Shelves Worth It? Maria Investigates.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

Living out of a suitcase is kind of a bummer. I want to be traveling, yes, but for certain things—say, sleeping or getting dressed—I also kind of want to be home. Which is to say, I would like to bring my whole bedroom with me—or at least my closet. Enter packing shelves, which come in a hanging unit and double as a compression system.
Traveling With Jewelry Is a Struggle. This Solution Costs Just $4.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

Leather jewelry cases, silky jewelry rolls, zip-top bags—I have tried just about everything to keep my jewelry organized on vacation. And I have failed. I have scooped a palmful of earrings from a jewelry case, unable to find a matching pair. I have lost a ring for years in the crevices of a toiletry bag. I have spent an hour in an Amsterdam hotel trying to untangle two necklaces.
These Slipper Socks Are My Green Eggs and Ham. Let Me Explain.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

It’s stretching the truth to say that I’ve been wearing my Bombas Gripper Slippers 24/7 since I received them as a gift a few years ago, but it’s not stretching the truth that much. For approximately three seasons of the year, my Bombas Gripper Slippers go with me everywhere: on a trip to North Carolina in February, to a seaside Danish cabin in March, to Cape Cod in September, to upstate New York in November, to Virginia in December.
Trunk Luggage Is Pretty, Pricey-and Surprisingly Practical

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

In an airport’s sea of squat polycarbonate, trunk luggage stands out. Though the sleek, modern, wheeled incarnation isn’t quite as lovely as the steamer trunks of yore, its silhouette—tall, narrow, and deep—lights up the brain center that yearns for a long, exhilarating voyage through the old world. Which is to say: Trunk luggage hits different, even if you’re just headed to 21st-century Denver.
This New Sleek Suitcase Intrigued Our Luggage Expert. So We Tried It.

Jan 23, 2025 | nytimes.com | Maria Adelmann

When Aer, the San Francisco–based travel-gear brand with a loyal following, released hard-sided carry-ons, I didn’t think much of it at first. Yes, I cover luggage, but in my beat, there’s a point at which you kind of zone out as yet another polycarbonate suitcase rolls across your feed. But it turned out, the Aer Carry-On didn’t just roll: It also stopped rolling. This baby had locking wheels.