For many families, spring break is just around the corner, and that means long trips in planes, trains and automobiles. We scoured the stores and the Web in search of some easy-to-carry items that will keep you feeling fresh and clean during your travels.

Travel soaps for every need
Packing for a long trip will never be easier if you buy an assortment of these task-specific travel soaps in a variety of pleasant scents. The anti-bacterial paper soap smells like fresh mint and eucalyptus. The laundry soap — just a couple of pieces will rescue your socks and underwear — has a clean ocean scent. The body wash will leave you smelling like a fresh mountain rainstorm. Each handy little plastic pod ($5) contains 30 fully dissolving strips; they are approved for carry-on luggage.

Wash and toss
With these two items, which are no larger than a deck of cards when combined, those overnight flights and long-haul car trips don’t have to become stinkers.  
Just wet one or two of these “pill towels” and you’ll have yourself an 11-by-9-inch textured cloth towel that can be tossed in the waste bin of an airliner’s lavatory when you’re done. Each package ($6) contains eight lozenge-size tablets.

Toob your favorite shampoo
Your favorite shampoo doesn’t come in a travel-size container, but you don’t like the waste that comes with filling those hard-to-empty rigid bottles? Go­Toob offers flexible, squeezable travel containers that are carry-on approved and can be filled with whatever you can get into its easy-to-fill opening, including food (the bottle is silicone, the cap is polypropylene  and both are 100 percent BPA-free). And because they’re as flexible as a baby bottle nipple, even the most stubborn liquids can be coaxed out. An integrated label allows you to mark the contents. A 1.25-ounce tube costs $6.45; a 2-ounce container is $7.95.

Where we shopped
• Luggage World: 5727 W. 36th St.,  St. Louis Park, 952-929-7888.  
• Container Store: 3825 Gallagher Dr., Edina (off France Avenue), 952-831-3780
• Walker Art Center: 1750 Hennepin Av. S.; 612-375-7633
• Twin Cities area AAA stores, including 3825 Galleria, Edina: 952-925-2244
• Urban Traveler: 12401 Wayzata Blvd., Minnetonka, 952-546-1216; 2480 N. Fairview Av., Roseville, 651-631-9655.
• Luggage Pros: 1409 S. Fairfield Road, Minnetonka, MN 55305 1-800-595-5456. 
Some items are available at www.rei.com , www.humangear.com  and www.npw.co.uk.