For Rachel Bilson, almost any destination will do. Here are her travel hacks

Rachel Bilson says her travel philosophy is to just say yes. The O.C. actor and co-host of the Broad Ideas podcast says she’s a person who will travel anywhere, carry-on in hand, if invited to see a new destination.

In October she said yes to a trip to Marrakech with her stylist, Nicole Chavez. They went to an event hosted by Fashion Trust Arabia at the El Badi Palace and ate breakfast among the desert skies in a hot air balloon. Bilson, 43, says that she’s been really lucky to travel to some incredible places, such as the luxurious Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle in Thailand, and that the best trip of her life was to Uganda, with Chavez and fellow actor Kristen Bell. “We went to different villages and met just so many amazing people,” she says. “It was educational and like nothing I had ever experienced before.”

The key to tackling jet lag with a jet-set lifestyle is, Bilson says, to just power through (a mentality she shares with golf legend Annika Sorenstam, who says jet lag is all in your mind). “I just don’t think about it. As soon as I’m there, I’m like, ‘OK, that’s what time it is now?’ I mentally do whatever the new time zone tells me. Having a kid and being able to keep a human alive with no sleep also plays into it,” she says.

As for traveling with her now 10-year-old, Briar Rose, whom she had with ex-fiancé Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen? “She’s been traveling her whole life — it was definitely easier once she got to the age where she could use an iPad,” she says. “We had a rule that she just got an iPad when she was on an airplane, which made it much more special. She’s very adaptable, and it’s so much fun to travel with her.”

Bilson spoke with Bloomberg Pursuits as part of her partnership with home security company SimpliSafe Inc. She says it made sense for her to team up with a security company, since she was a repeat victim of the so-called Bling Ring — a group that stole more than $3 million from celebrity homes in the Hollywood Hills and Calabasas, California, in 2008 and 2009, forming the basis for a movie by Sofia Coppola. (More than $100,000 worth of Bilson’s clothes, bags and jewelry were stolen.)

Here are her travel hacks.

Fly Delta Air Lines — for the food.

I never used to be a Delta person, but if I’m flying from Los Angeles to JFK, I love them because the Italian restaurant Jon & Vinny’s caters if you’re lucky enough to fly business. I’m a person who loves food, and having good options even on an airplane is very important to me. (Editor’s note: We wonder what Bilson would make of Delta’s new partnership with fast-food chain Shake Shack Inc.)

I’ve had very good experiences on both Air France and Lufthansa as well, but if we’re just talking about New York, then Delta has come through in a major way recently.

My favorite airport is Paris Charles de Gaulle, but that’s just because they have very good shopping, and you can shop tax-free. My guilty pleasure when I travel is shopping. I will convince myself that I can buy anything because I’m on vacation, even though I really can’t. I feel like all that flies out the window because I’m like, “Oh, different country, different rules.”

The must-stop destination in Paris are the pharmacies.

I’m pretty minimal when it comes to skin care when I travel. I do love my Goop Beauty GoopGenes moisturizer — I always travel with that.

But my favorite thing to get when I travel comes from pharmacies in Paris. I could spend all day in French pharmacies. They’re always my first stop. I make sure to get their version of an Aquaphor — it’s called Homeoplasmine — I keep it in my purse. Whenever anyone travels in Paris, I always make them pick some up for me.

And while you’re in Paris — I don’t even want to give the spot away — my favorite cheeseburger of all time is from this great little place called Ferdi. It’s around the corner from Hotel Costes, which I have a lot of great memories associated with. They put the most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen in my room, and I also got the best massage I’ve ever had there. Paris always lives up to the hype.

Here’s how to be comfortable at 35,000 feet.

Avocado makes this great little travel pillow, and it’s a game changer. I also always need a comfy big scarf-slash-blanket, because I need to feel like I’m comfortably wrapped up in a warm bed when I travel.

I also always pack a few books in my carry-on. I need an actual book in my hand; I’m not a Kindle person. I recently finished psychological thriller "The Quiet Tenant," by Clémence Michallon, which was a fun read. I want to read "Long Island Compromise," by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Editor’s note: It just made Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2024), and I plan to check out "The Reminders of Him," by Colleen Hoover for an easy read. The problem is narrowing down which books I pack, so I don’t weigh things down too much.

Make packing fun by treating it as a game.

I am an overpacker for sure, but I find it to be a fun challenge to pack everything I need in a carry-on, making it like a puzzle. I love Tetris, so I make packing a suitcase like that for me. I’m not a big fan of packing cubes — I don’t think they actually save me space — despite how many videos I've seen calling it a travel hack.

In terms of luggage brands, I really like Away, and I’ve had some tried-and-true Tumi cases for over 20 years that are still trucking along.

This famous hotel in Tokyo is worth the hype — but not why you think.

I’ve been very fortunate to have stayed in some amazing places, but my favorite hotel I’ve ever stayed at is the Park Hyatt Tokyo. They filmed "Lost in Translation" there. It’s funny: When I think of hotels, I just think of food. The Park Hyatt has this bircher muesli for breakfast, which is just the best; it’s what makes it the top hotel for me. Their robes were also extremely comfortable. The cozy factor in a hotel is super important to me.