If your travels include a long flight across the pond, don't leave home without your some type of earphones/earbuds.

Wired

If you are flying from the US to Europe or some other international destination, your in-flight entertainment will more than likely include music, shows and movies to watch on the screen of the seatback in front of you.  Having earphones are essential to listen while watching.  Some airlines may provide cheap, complimentary, disposable earphones, but it's much nicer to have your own and you can use them with your phone anytime during your trip.  Wired headphones are important to have as they do not require a battery to operate.

Wireless

Wireless earbuds are nice, but have a limited battery life, usually around 4-5 hours.  You probably will not be able to sync wireless earbuds to the entertainment system on your  flight, so having a wired pair in addition to wireless is essential.  Earbuds can be paired with your smartphone and can be used anytime you want to listen to something, but our primary purpose is to utilize them when using your phone's GPS Navigation while walking to your next destination.  If you are like most people, you are holding your phone and watching the map.  If you are in a loud location, it can often be hard to hear the navigation directions, so having earbuds is a nice option.  If you are using a Wear OS Smartwatch to navigate, having wireless earbuds are essential to hear the navigation directions.  See our notes below on Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds and Line-of-Sight.

You will find countless varieties of earphones available from inexpensive to very expensive, each having different features.  You may select an inexpensive variety with no options or something you will also be able to use with your phone having a build in microphone, volume control and other features to answer calls, pause and play music.  The wired and wireless examples shown below are examples you may want to consider.

Wired Earbuds Mxditect In Ear Headphones, iPhone Earphones with microphone Stereo Earbuds Anti-winding line and soft touch feeling, these wired earbuds are extremely comfortable in your ear Multifunction control button for hands-free and built in microphone allow you to easily pick up phone calls and talk on your phone everywhere and anytime in handy Multifunction button controls next/previous song, play/pause music Volume control buttons for VOL +/- adjustment 3.5mm Jack Ideal for electronic devices with 3.5 mm interface

Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds EDECUS Wireless TL1 Bluetooth 5.0 Earbuds Stable connection and 50 foot effective transmission distance without losing signal Superior listening experience of hi-fi stereo and deep bass performance ensures you enjoy every second of your music The earbuds can last for 4-5 hours of music playtime on a single charge and up to 24 hours in total with the included portable pocked-sized charging case Ergonomically designed to be compact and lightweight, only 4.5g per earbud makes for quite a comfortable fit The IPX5 waterproof technology protects them from sweat and rain Multi-function Button: Volume+/-, next/previous, play/pause, answer/end/reject calls and activate voice assistant via the earbuds An update on our experience with these - Jan 2020 To charge the earpieces and case, you simply plug in the case containing the earpieces using a USB connection.  Once the case has been charged, you may recharge the earpieces several times, simply by placing them back into the case without needing to plug the case in. If your primary use is to assist with navigation while connected to your phone via Bluetooth, you will only be using the earpieces for short periods of time, only slightly draining the batteries.  You will be able to recharge the earpieces many times over, simply by placing them backing into the case. Depending on your trip and usage, it is possible that you will never need to recharge the case the entire trip. Bluetooth Line-of-Sight Bluetooth works best when the paired devices are in Line-of-Sight, meaning there is nothing in the path blocking the devices from communicating.  Otherwise, they may tend to cut out, causing you to miss bits and pieces of the communication.  This may even occur when your phone is placed in your pants pocket and you are wearing the earbuds.  One way to improve this is to wear a Neck Wallet allowing you to insert your phone and wear it around your neck.  We have tried this and it works well.  Not to worry, if you have an RFID Blocking Neck Wallet, it does not affect the Bluetooth signal.