Things I Learned After My Latest Trip Abroad

Yes, I'm kind of OCD about packing the perfectly useful but light bag.*

                             * but everyone knows that already and it isn't a bad thing.  ;)

1.  It's best to plan to wear some of those souvenir t-shirts on your trip and home. Trust me -- you won't care.

2.  If your bags are getting slightly too heavy to make it through the carry-on restrictions check, wear a bunch of that heavy stuff to avoid checking your bag, and then go to the bathroom to take it all off and put it in your bag again.

3.  Research before you go how you can ship souvenirs home mid-trip.  I'm not sure what it is, but there HAS to be a way.  I've got a couple of years to research this.

4.  You don't have to bring everyone back a souvenir.  Your shoulder isn't up to it, and besides, they don't bring you souvenirs when they travel. ;) (Hey. Hundreds less you'll spend!)

5.  Bring a tiny pack of Sugru in case something BIG, like a suitcase handle or wheel breaks. Just add it to the fix-it kit with your duct tape (wrapped around an index card for compactness -- why buy a special, expensive travel roll?) 

6.  Washi tape can stick things into your travel journal instead of having loose bits and pieces of paper fluttering around in your way.  You don't even need a dispenser.  It's basically decorated light-tack masking tape, and it comes in fun designs in small rolls. 

7.  You can make a great travel journal out of a basic school composition book.  Create pockets inside for different purposes, secret hiding places, and decorations.  You can write your memories of the day, reminders, stick in receipts and pamphlets, and keep it all tidy.  The sewn-spine kind lasts forever, and you can tear out excess pages if you know you won't use all of them anyway.  Just remember to tear from the center, because both halves of the page come out together.  They usually have a hard back so you can write on your lap or bed if need be.

8.  I added tie ribbons and a cord lock to my inflatable neck pillow's cover.  This kept it in place around my neck.  I usually turn mine sideways for comfort anyway, and without a tie, it would fall off pretty quickly.

9.  An inflatable beach ball is more useful than inflatable water wings.  You can use it for a pillow, lumbar pillow, foot rest, lap pillow, or cushioning for breakables in your luggage.  You can also just play with it if you're bored.  They're so cheap that if you gave it away or it popped, it would be no real loss.

10.  Teva Tirra sandals are awesome walking shoes, and great for flying because they let your feet expand on a flight.  

11.  Rolling clothes really DOES take up less space than folding them.  

12.  I believe that my wiping down my seat, armrests, and definitely my tray table when I first took my seat saved me from some germs that made other people in my group rather ill.  Single-use Wet Ones packets to the rescue!

13.  Bring reliable, travel-proof snacks.  And then make sure to snack a little all through the day on carbs + protein.  Maybe even hard candy if blood sugar is an issue for you as it is for me.

14.  It's possible to crash so hard that you sleep for four hours face down in a pillow and nothing wakes you up, even though you normally can't sleep on your stomach.

15.  Just because someone (me) swaps seats with a lady so she can sit beside her husband on a flight for a few hours, don't think taking your shoes and socks off and sitting there nasty and barefoot will earn you an empty seat next to yours.  That kind person still has to sit somewhere.  And there are things they could do during the flight to make things unpleasant for you, so be polite, you nasty, disgusting, gross mofo.

16.  Dr. Bronner's liquid soap is a serious multitasker in your toiletry bag.  Shampoo, body wash, laundry soap, mouthwash, toothpaste (ICK though!), shaving soap, face wash. 

17.  Eucalan is a great mild hand washing detergent for clothes (especially wool) that doesn't require rinsing, just in case you have a tough time rinsing soap out completely when you hand wash.

18.  Some flight attendants deliberately give you the wrong meal if you dare to be awake an hour after takeoff.  I asked for pasta (to help me get sleepy); I got some Mexican chicken dish that was too spicy for me to eat.  And you know, I do like spicy stuff, but that was inedible.  It's why I didn't give them the chocolates I'd brought for them.  (I'd given some to the flight attendant in my previous flight who had helped me get my carryon stowed -- someone took my allotted space with extra bags -- she seemed thrilled about the treats.)

19.  It's not worth it to bring any kind of jewelry or expensive scarf when you travel.  You become too worried about accidentally losing your nice things. I didn't bring a bit of jewelry, but I regretted bringing my silk scarves, because I didn't wear them.  I did get a lot of use out of my pashmina, though.

20.  The more equipped you are to help other people with their travel needs / emergencies, the more likely they are to expect you to take care of them. Take care of yourself, and stopping worrying about the quality of their travel experience.  Sometimes travelers need to learn from their mistakes.  They can buy toothbrushes and toothpaste, improvise pajamas, and buy their own safety pins when they need them.  Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

21.  Tons of secret pockets in your jacket are awesome.  Just make yourself a list of what's in each pocket so you don't have to dig.  

22.  Baggu still makes great fold-into-your-pocket shopping bags that weigh almost nothing.  I suspect the extra large ones could be worn as backpacks. (The regular ones are a bit too snug across the shoulders.). They're great as carry-ons for the plane, bus, or train.  Attach a carabiner for hanging help.  

23.  Tis better to pin things to the lining of your bag than to go searching for a single safety pin when you need it.  If you leave five safety pins attached in a highly visible location, you'll always know where to find them.  Leave them there forever, until you need them.  

24.  Bring along an external battery for your smartphone.  Although airports are finally starting to add charging stations, it's not always easy to find a seat beside a free one.  Besides, it's a drag running out of battery life when your phone IS your travel camera.  Now airports require all smart phones to have enough power remaining to prove its a phone and not a bomb detonator, or they won't let you fly.  Better have backup power!  One caveat: People might think that you brought the battery to charge THEIR devices.  Recommend a good charger for them to purchase before you go.

25.  Turn on location tagging for your photos so that later you'll know exactly where you took that picture.  It shouldn't cost you a cent.  (I forgot!)

26.  Sugar free gum will ruin your trip if it is sweetened with Xylitol or Sorbitol.  It's horrible stuff!  It does nasty things to your stomach!  (And if you find out accidentally that you're sensitive to it, your whole torso may swell up.  I kid you not!  I suddenly had problems fitting into bras and stretchy pants that had fit me a few days before. Not being a regular gum chewer, the issue snuck up on me. ). You're better off going with good old fashioned sugary Juicy Fruit on the plane and accepting you consumed another few calories.  Read about the pain and nastiness here: http://www.askahealer.com/xylitol.htm. 

27.  Eating bread before you fly causes gas.  I didn't find that out from personal experience... Just from reading. Lol

28. If you can sew the most basic running stitch, you can retrofit a travel bag with pockets.  I have a 31 Retro Metro Weekender bag that is a cavern of almost pocketless space on the inside.  I cut up a cheap mesh laundry bag and sewed pockets into the sides of my bag with the mesh because it wasn't working for me. It was so much easier to stay organized that way.

29.  I know people say that adding packing sleeves and cubes will keep your bag organized, but if you are putting all those extra bags inside of bags, aren't you adding some appreciable weight and girth? I'd rather use Ziploc bags... I always end up needing them anyway.  They're almost weightless and take very little space, besides being almost guiltlessly disposable. Besides, if your bag is subjected to a random search, wouldn't you feel better knowing your undies weren't directly touched by some stranger, because they were zipped in a clear plastic bag that's easy to examine without touching your underwear??

30.  After a transatlantic flight, I can't drive.  I just can't stay awake.  It doesn't matter which direction I'm traveling -- my narcolepsy hits hard.  It would be better for me to stay the night in my arrival city after returning, than to attempt to drive home.  Next time, I'll stay the night in a hotel before I head home.  If you want to live, please don't ask me to drive right after that flight.  I can't handle it.

31.  It doesn't matter what kind of hair dryer you buy -- if it was made for American voltage, you might get lucky and have it run for a few seconds, but it WILL DIE before you can use it.  I bought a travel dryer with dual voltage (only set for UK and Ireland voltages - I made sure), used an adapter, AND a transformer, and it died the first time I turned it on in Ireland. Buy one made for your destination.  Amazon UK sells them, though shipping won't be really fast.  This is when I discovered that my hair is healthier when I don't wash it every single day, as I was doing before this trip.  :). Though I'll admit, my hair looked hideous after letting it air dry.

Duct Tape Traveling

We have a saying here in the South: if it is supposed to move, and doesn't, use WD-40.  If it moves and shouldn't, use duct tape.

Well, I have more than duct tape and spray oil in my tool box, but I've found that duct tape is really handy to have when there is a problem traveling.  For example, eight years ago, I was driving and hit a deer at 55 mph.  It shattered the plastic front end of my SUV and bent up the hood, but I had duct tape to hold it all together for the drive home.  (I won.  Deer lost.  The frame of my vehicle looks like a battering ram just behind the grill, as it turns out.  Thank you, Toyota, you saved our lives, even though the air bag never deployed.)

Duct tape can be used for so much, traveling: holding stubborn curtains closed, doors open, taping notes, making replacement handles on beleaguered luggage, quieting noisy roommates, making a desk caddy, closing luggage with broken zippers, makeshift bandages, holding up hems, and I've heard about use as a strapless bra in a pinch.  My experience is that good duct tape rips my skin off, and cheap duct tape sticks to nothing, so I'm not likely to stick it to my breasts. I've heard it works.  Just... No thank you.    

There are many more ridiculous uses for it, but let's just say that you should pack some, just in case.  Having it is great insurance that you won't actually need it. Lol. Well, except when deer are involved... And I'm pretty sure I could turn my roll of tape into a workable mace, if I'm feeling threatened.  ;)

Duct tape typically comes on a hard cardboard roll, which is heavy and takes a lot of packing space. I've seen suggestions to wrap it around a pen, water bottle, or even to buy premium-priced travel rolls, but you really don't have to buy anything special, and you can use the tape you already have.  I just wrap it around a 3 x 5 index card, folded in half.  It stays flat and I have a pretty good idea just how much is left on my roll, with the exception of the tiny portion stuck on the paper itself. I fold the end of the tape over onto itself and I don't have to find the end when I need it.  Pocket-sized and pretty close to free, because I already keep it at home and work.  

Zip Bag Airplane Phone Mount

This is a brilliant idea I found in a "life hacks" article.  No matter what phone model you have (or if you have an iPad Mini), this should work fine.  I've bought stands for my iPhone that are useless when a case is on the phone, and a little turbulence may just send your device flying.  If for some reason, you can't put your tray down, such as a reclined seat in front of you, this works anyway.

                                 

I've also used inflated zip bags as emergency pillows before. (Hello, lumbar support?) They take up almost no space in your luggage, and can easily be repurposed for laundry needs.

Laugh With Me & My OCD!

Cast:

Me - the OCD planner / packer
My Sister - the "fly by the seat of your pants" one

I texted her the other day, "There are apps to help you remember what you need to pack," in regard to our upcoming cruise.

She responded with, "Only you would know that lol."

So I said, "And only I remember all my stuff. LOL"

I win! :D

You know why I'm so into planning for a trip? Because it makes me happy to think about where I'm going. :). I know it's an unusual way to show optimism, but it means I'm thinking ahead of something good to come.

Confession: I Cheated on my 3-1-1

You know how the TSA limits your liquids and gels in carryon luggage to what will fit into a quart bag? Well, I cheated a little bit.

Allow me to plead my case, for those men and clean-face women out there. I wear contacts, wash my hair with color-safe shampoo and use color-safe conditioner. The best hotels don't ever provide samples that protect your hair color, let alone the cheap places I usually stay in.

I need hairspray for my layered hair to stay out of my eyes. I can't get my hair into a simple and neat ponytail no matter how many hairpins I add to the mess, or I would certainly ponytail it when traveling.

I was using styling gel until my hair stylist noticed recently that my hair is rather dessicated and falling out, so now I'm using hair serum instead. (That's likely a hormone hurricane causing this problem.)

I like to use my favorite body wash in the shower, too. Feels like home that way. :). Bar soap isn't my friend. Waxy, soap scummy, drying....

Even with my hormones being goofy, as they sometimes are in middle aged women, I'm still having to fight mild acne. It's been a thirty year fight. I need clear skin, and Nature has decided otherwise. So I use a four-step facial treatment every morning, which controls it and keeps my skin normal. Okay, dry. Those four steps alone would be too big for the quart bag, so I downsized them drastically. After all, I don't need a two month supply on a week-long trip, right?

Still, the more products you use, the more small bottles you have, and those bottles take up a lot of space.

Enter the contact lens cases.

Every time I get a new prescription, I get a new case. And I keep 'em, because I'm weird. Well, I don't have ALL of my old cases. Just several. I can put a week's worth of product into each side of the case. :). All four steps into two contact lens cases. Takes up very little room, and I don't put it into the 3-1-1 Baggie. That's where I'm cheating, though if it does fit, I put it in there anyway. What can I say, except that it works beautifully for me?

Lens cases can hold a lot of stuff. They're just little pots, with (hopefully) leak-proof tops. I've put small dry things in there too: earplugs, earrings, OTC drugs.

There's also that bonus that it really lightens up my baggage if I don't have to wag around full bottles of my stuff. :)

3-1-1 Baggie tip - use freezer bags with pleated bottoms. They're thicker and sturdier than the storage bags, but you can reinforce any of those bags with a little clear tape.

Confession: I Threw Away My Underwear

When I went to Italy this summer, I tested something new out. I packed some clothes that I intended to throw away after I wore them. Underwear that had seen better days and a couple of polo shirts that were stretched or stained were discarded, along with a couple of pairs of socks.

The socks were actually new, but after a day of walking for hours in them, I couldn't bear to put the sweaty things back into my suitcase and contaminate everything else that was clean. I think my shoes were to blame. They were great walking shoes, but they chose this trip to suddenly start reeking. Maybe I was the only one who noticed. My roommate said she couldn't tell, but I could, and I was really anxious about it. So I switched shoes and tossed my socks, which greatly improved things.

I took laundry soap sheets to wash some fast-dry tops I'd brought along, and they (soap sheets) were really handy when most of my travel group's luggage was lot by Iberia. Lesson learned: carry on until you're not allowed to. I always do, because I'm a little panicky without some of my stuff. That's why I've condensed all my necessary items into the tiniest possible spaces.

So... The polo shirts had some stubborn stains that wouldn't come out no matter what I tried, but they wouldn't be likely to show while I travelled, so I tossed them after wearing. Maybe someone in Italy would have a solution to remove the stains I couldn't, or they could just stay in the trash. I don't care, really. They had been part of my attempt to look perky and professional at work. One was such a pale pink it had always looked dingy anyway. I was disappointed when I received it, and it was very stain-prone. Another stretched in weird places and just didn't look flattering. Good riddance.

My underwear... Well, you know how that is. Elastic starting to wear out, tiny holes beginning to appear, annoying fit from the start, stretched out fabric, or just too darn big after a few pounds lost. Besides, you have to consider the appeal of having NO dirty underwear to bring back home. After you've worn them in 100 degree heat on stone Italian streets, sweating all day... I was happy to trash them.

I just wish I'd been brave enough to throw away my shoes!

It wasn't hard to throw away my old stuff. Today I'm eyeing my sock drawer AND my closet and underwear drawer as I get ready for my next trip.

Pocket Stashes

I've seen several websites offering clothing with secret pockets. I actually own a travel vest of this type, but I think it may be too hot for wearing it on my upcoming trip. Maybe on the plane it won't be so bad, considering that the flight may actually be rather cold.

But if it is too hot in the daytime... What then?

I have also seen some underwear with secret pockets for hiding valuables such as extra cash. The camisole on Magellans.com looks great, but again, it's an extra layer when I was hoping for light and airy. Also, there is a size concern. Big bust on a medium sized woman here. Most sizes are not accurate for me. :(

However.... If I can get hold of some mesh material (and I think I might now that Wal-Mart carries fabrics locally once more), I could make a simple fold-over mesh pocket and sew it into the front of each blouse with a pin or velcro for security. The tops I'm planning to take are so busily patterned that a few stitches in a matching color will never show on the outside. Or even pins might work.

I could even make a mesh sling bag to wear under my clothes, or a bra stash, considering the many mesh shopping bags I've crocheted lately.

I did look for mesh by the yard, but there was none available. I went to another department and found this mesh laundry bag for $1.38. I'm going to cut it up for pocket making. ;) probably cheaper than buying yardage and faster than making my own crocheted mesh. I considered buying some lace fabric , but that was $8 a yard. Ripoff for what will never be seen anyway.