The best jump starter doesn’t achieve top status just by shocking your car back to life whenever you have a dead battery. Beyond that prerequisite, this road trip essential has to simplify each step of the process because you might go months or years between uses and no amount of studying the instructions will help them stick in your mind for that long. It’s especially paramount because of how much energy is on the move here; a misstep can do damage to your car or, worse, injure you.

Shaving can happen at two speeds, and Leaf’s plastic-free razors work for either pace. From one angle, a shave should be quick, clean and consistent. It’s a universal science. Once you’ve perfected it with the products that are right for you, that combination of a manual razor and shaving cream might become a constant in your shower or sink for decades.

They say you never forget how to ride a bike, but my inaugural attempt at road cycling put that idea to the test. Sure, I didn’t have to learn how to pedal without wobbling into a wipeout, but committing to road cycling as a beginner was a new challenge.

I can’t stand drinking bad coffee when I travel. No disrespect if you’re fine with the single-serve coffee pods sitting in your hotel room or that questionable can of Folgers in the Airbnb, but I’d rather suffer through a caffeine deficiency than try my luck with those. Sure, there are over 40,000 Starbucks worldwide that could satisfy my need for coffee, but you won’t find me in one because making my own coffee is a ritual, whether I’m home, across the country or halfway around the globe.