“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Sometimes the simplest tools are the most effective and most relied upon weapons in the traveler’s toolbox. Inspired by Till’s thread on the Practical Hacks Forum entitled Small Hacks – Big Effect, I’ve been assembling and researching the very best in simple travel hacks that deliver big rewards.
You won’t find any solar powered cooling fan-equipped pith helmets, fancy voltage converters, or crank flashlights on this list; just simple items that can make your travels much more enjoyable. That said, here’s the list:
1. Re-purposed volleyball or wrestling kneepad – ~$5
Forget those fancy silk money belts that sell for up to $20! Get an inexpensive knee pad (here’s a link for one that sells for $5.99) or better yet, find one in your gym bag Use a razor blade to cut a horizontal slit about a half or three quarters of an inch below the top of the padded section, from side to side, leaving a bit of material uncut on each side. Slip out the foam pad. Instant stash for your extra cash, travel documents, and/or passport.
2. $1 image stabilizer for your camera
Visit the hardware store, spend (at most!) a dollar, and you’ve got a nifty camera stablizer!
Honorable mention: The $7.99 Bottle Cap Tripod
3. Ziploc bags
No brainer. Protect camera from the elements. Pack a washcloth in one for transatlantic (or other LONG) flights – shortly before landing, ask the FA for some hot water – pour it in the bag, and use the hot cloth to refresh. Use one for storing your small umbrella – put it back in the bag after use, and it won’t get everything in your purse or daypack wet! Oh yeah – they’re real handy for your 3-1-1 liquids bag!
4. Binder clips
Definitely low tech, decidedly inexpensive, downright effective. Get a few small and medium binder clips and toss them in your bag. Use them to keep the drapes closed at night. Use one for a cheap money clip for several bills and one credit card. Small ones make great bookmarks. Keep your important travel documents together with one. Gather the synthetic pulls on a zipper equipped with two pulls, clip them together, and then squeeze the plated prongs to remove them: instant theft deterrent! (See below; click for your close-up!)
5. Crazy Glue
Repairs of all types, including closing small wounds – pull the skin together, dab some CG on both sides of the wound, and hold in position until the glue dries.
6. Small essentials kit
Take a ziploc bag and put some Post-It notes, paperclips (numerous uses!), rubber bands (ditto!), a couple of inexpensive pens in it. You’ll be equipped for a lot of things that come up as you travel about.
A quick word about notepads: Moleskines are elegant and wonderful. But really, those inexpensive spiral notebooks are just as useful, although not quite as elegant. Toss a couple into your ‘essentials kit.’
7. ‘Tide to Go’ stick or Shout packets
Self explanatory. Stuff happens. Be prepared. Throw one in your daypack or purse.
8. Bandana
The trusty old bandana has plenty of uses: washcloth, impromptu sun shade/hat, neck cooler, headband, dish/spill/washcloth, and you can even fill it with ice for use as a compress!!
9. Dental Floss
As reader AirportRunner says, “It’s the Swiss Army Knife” of travelers’ tools. Just a few uses: repair (with a sewing needle) clothing, luggage, and shoes; use it as an impromptu clothesline; a cheese knife; shoelace replacement… the list goes on and on – make sure you bring an extra floss container on your next long (or short!) trip.
10. Airline slippers
Some airlines provide little slippers on transatlantic flights. Use them as, well, slippers in your hotel. Store your shoes in them when traveling – they’ll protect your other items from damage from the shoes. (Cheap plastic bread bags or shopping bags are great for this use as well.)
11. Duct tape
Any list like this MUST include duct tape. Wrap some around a pen or old credit card and toss it in your bag. It’s great for clothing and luggage repairs, for preventing blisters (feel one coming on? – put some duct tape on the “hot spot!”), theft-proof your luggage while on buses or trains (tape over the zippers), and in a pinch, for use on small cuts or wounds. Know any other uses? – Please comment!
12. Cable ties
I always have half a dozen cable ties in each of my bags. You can fashion an impromptu handle with them, secure zipper pulls as a security measure, or make repairs to numerous items with them. Bringing along a small cutting tool like the Utilikey or a larger nail clipper is necessary if you go this route, though.
Honorable mention: Cell phone with camera.
Not on the inexpensive end of the list for sure, but I imagine many of you already have a camera equipped phone. Photograph your credit cards and passport; your parking spot at the airport; your room number on the door of your hotel room; your luggage, should it be lost; a particularly great bottle of wine; your rental car when you pick it up to avoid scams; and subway or metro maps to help find your way around. (NOTE: if you use your camera-equipped cell to photograph credit cards or sensitive documents, make sure you require a password to unlock the phone.)
Have any other inexpensive but effective travel hacks? Please share them by commenting!!
I’m working on a post which was inspired by Till Richter’s Forum thread entitled “Small Hacks – Big Effect,” and it’s taken a bit longer to pull together than I expected; I hope to publish it tomorrow or Wednesday.
In the meantime, I wonder if any of you have purchased from Saddleback Leather Company. The firm offers a number of heavy duty, handmade leather goods – briefcases, laptop bags, duffels, backpacks, and overnight bags – all of which look quite handsome, and which also feature a “100 Year Warranty.”
A word of warning: all this goodness doesn’t come cheap – the overnight bag is a bit north of $500, and that’s typical. The firm does off a number of wallets and even a luggage tag, and these items command much lower tariffs, of course.
If you go for that classic leather bag look, you can engage in some serious bag lust at the Saddleback site (see link in the 2nd paragraph of this post). And if you have one of these products, I’d love to hear about your experience; please comment.
This has been a winter that started early, was instantly cold and cruel, and hasn’t let up one bit since. No January thaw, none of those freakishly warm, 60° days in February, no relief whatsoever. In the last week or two I’ve seen a couple of robins and heard the eerie wail of the Sandhill Cranes returning from Canada, so the end must be near, but it hardly seems it.
A week ago, trying to force things a bit, a few friends and I traveled an hour to one of the few courses in the area which, despite all odds and common sense, had opened for the day. As we walked off 18 green, it was cloudy, windy, and 41°F. It wasn’t exactly a Chamber of Commerce day.
But spring must be coming, yes?? I hope so; this has been a long one.
With no golf to play and little else to do except read and plan our upcoming trip, I’ve a few moments here and there to scour the web in a search for interesting articles for you; I hope there’s something here to your liking…
We start not with a post, but a wonderful four sentence quote about travel and home from A.A. Gill, discovered at Vagabonding: Travel and home are invariably intertwined.
Perhaps you missed this article at The New York Times – it seems some student travel agencies are extending their discount rates to older, non-students; check it out – it may save you some serious dollars: Student Rates for the Young at Heart
Not sure how, but I stumbled upon this listing of the best travel writing blogs at blogs.com; I’d wager you’re not familiar with all of them: 10 Great Travel Writing Blogs
OK, admittedly a bit of a departure: this is an article which appears on the website for No Jet Lag, a product offered by Magellan’s and which promises to… well, need I spell it out?? Curious: have any of you actually used this stuff? The reviews at Magellan’s are positive; there’s also an article from my old home town newspaper, the Albany (NY) Times Union. Let me know if you have! How to reduce jet lag?
Here’s one from tourdust.com for all of you traveling gourmands and gastrophiles: Cheap destinations for the traveling stomach
I love Lifehacker. Each weekend I peruse their “best of the week” rundown, and there are always some gems. Here’s an article that’s especially apropos for my readers: The Best Tools for Hacking Your Next Big Conference. There are tips on planning, travel gear, and useful apps; check it out!
If you’re a solo traveler, check out this piece from, where else, the Solo Traveler blog: How to Travel Alone: tips for the shy solo traveler. In an interesting twist, the author addresses how to travel solo if you want to keep to yourself, OR socialize.
Aww, why do I do this to myself?! I’ve already admitted here that I cringe every time I see a post about “XX essential travel gadgets,” but like a moth drawn to an open flame, here I go again: 18 Must-Haves for the Business Traveler, from the AmEx Open Forum. Actually, the list isn’t all that bad; give it a quick look. (The piece is from Nora Dunn of Wise Bread, by the way.)
Based upon the nearly palpable yawn that greets every post I’ve written about wine, I am guessing that not many of you are wine drinkers. If I’ve demonstrated nothing else during my life, I’ve certainly established that I am completely untrainable. So, I give you: The 25 greatest cities in the world for drinking wine. Give it a look – these cities presumably offer attractions other than wine!!
Have a great weekend – and keep your fingers crossed that spring somehow arrives here in the frozen tundra. Soon.
As a few of you know, we’re planning for a 9 day trip to Italy in June. I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about packing strategies and what bags to use. Early on I decided to bring some sort of daypack for my onboard stuff, and spent most of the time debating which soft sided non-wheelie bag to use for most of my clothing, focusing primarily on either the Red Oxx PR4 or PR5.
That’s not gonna happen. As I mentioned several days ago on the Forum, I purchased an Adiamo Valoroso 20″ wheeled duffel for the trip. The bag is relatively light at 7 pounds, and frankly has way more capacity than I’ll need. I still plan on packing as light as possible, thereby leaving room for stuff I purchase while in Italy or during our brief, one night stopover in London.
Why the turnaround? I guess a confession is in order. Over the last decade I’ve had my lower back completely spazz out on me 4 or 5 times. When this happens, the muscles in my lower back completely knot up, making simple activities like getting out of bed and walking incredibly difficult. Each time it’s happened, I’ve spent 4 or 5 days shuffling about like a 110 year old man.
How is this relevant? It distresses me to admit that every time this has happened, it’s directly followed my traveling with a heavy bag slung over my right shoulder. My own diagnosis (“I’m not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express…”) is that things get a bit out of kilter with my spine as the result of a weight being on my shoulder for an extended period of time; the next day – or perhaps two days later – I’ll do something relatively innocuous like swing a golf club, bend over to pick up something, or cough (!) and all hell breaks loose. My lower back muscles tighten up to prevent further injury; the result is the sort of stuff that could be shown on America’s Funniest Videos or whatever that show is called. I am basically crippled for several days.
The last time it happened was in December. I’d traveled for a couple of days with the PR4 overloaded (a bit) with clothing, books, netbook, my 3 lb Nikon D-80, and other odd bits and pieces, and about 30 hours after getting home (after noticing my back was “tight” the next day), I sneezed and was in agony for the next 3-4 days.
As you might imagine, I have very, very little interest in repeating this while in Italy.
And so, as the title says, I caved. I thought about using the eBags TLS Mini, but (feel free to roll eyes here) it’s a bit too downmarket for my tastes. I know, I have issues. Yes, I’m a bag snob. I can’t help it. The Andiamo bag is better suited to my tastes, and it’s black, which is far more attractive to my eye.
So the Andiamo Valoroso 20″ wheeled duffel is the bag I’ll use for clothing and perhaps – egad! – an extra pair of shoes. The Pacsafe Metrosafe 350 will be my onboard bag (iPod, netbook, book, snacks, etc.).
And so there you have it – my big confession, or more accurately, my bag confession. I’m still committed to one bag, non-wheelie travel, but in this case, I’m taking no chances.
(via Lucky at the One Mile at a Time blog) – I just completed the survey and the 300 points posted immediately; take the survey
Edit:
2 more, each worth 100 points:
300
See below; CLICK HERE
