01.18.23

Indispensable Items to Carry when Traveling

In today’s parlance of social media, we use the word, “hacks,” which implies shortcuts or easy ways to do things. We’ve all seen hacks of things you can do with duct tape, plus scores of ways to “pack a bag properly,” and they are usually terrific pieces of advice. When I started traveling I learned a lot about HOW to pack, and WHAT to bring from videos like these, so the tips I mention below are things that Kat and I carry with us and find indispensable. She is the queen of innovation and sometimes I am in awe of how she uses some of the items below. I hope you get some pointers.

• Shower head holder: Have you ever used a shower where the shower head was NOT attached to the top, but was at the end of a long-corded wand? Yea, well that is the norm in Europe, and we hate it! One hand to hold the wand and the other to wash your hair—with one hand. Somewhere on the road we found these suction cup holders that attach to the shower wall and the clip holds the shower head in place. Simple, brilliant, and oh so lovely! We have left a few behind along the way so I picked up two of them via Amazon when I was last in the US. If you are irritated by showers that are not connected at the top, find this sucker!
• Power pack for power on the road: Phones are indispensable when traveling and even with stronger batteries they lose power throughout the day. Video and Netflix are power hogs and even having your phone searching for wifi signals eats into it. Many of these small portable power packs have cords to power up TWO devices, and now that USB-B is a relic, almost everything is USB-C, at least for Android people. You iPhone lovers have your own version. Kat’s portable unit works on Chromebook, which is terrific, but my Lenovo laptop requires its own plug-in cord. I am amazed at how many travelers do NOT have one…
• Fast dry underwear: I did an interview a few months ago with a fellow nomad named Rax, who hails from Singapore. We had a great conversation which you can listen to here, and he asked me a question that stumped me. The question was, “what items do you always carry with you?” and after coming up with just a few (like these listed), I asked him what OTHERS came up with. He said, “quick drying underwear,” and I laughed and said, “hell, yes!” I guess I take them for granted, but on the road, socks and underwear are the two things we need to wash the most often. Many times in a sink. When they are quick drying you can wash them at night and they’re dry by the morning. SCIENCE! Thank God for it.
• Buffs: The Survivor TV show introduced me to buffs many years ago and they are fantastic for their many uses. I wear it around my neck since that area is exposed between a jacket and hat, but, since I am bald, I also use it to keep my head warm by wearing it as a fashionable sock! If you Google “buff” videos you can find about a dozen ways to use them. This was something I took for granted until Rax’s conversation brought it to mind.
• Double stick tape: This is Kat’s thing, and whenever I go back to the US, it’s a “must buy” request. She uses it for many things and that includes hanging hooks on the walls, securing loose cords out of the way, and a host of other ways. This product is not easy to find on the road, so if you have a chance to get one wherever, I suggest you do.
• Clips: Clips, clips, clips; they come in various sizes but we use the relatively small to medium sized ones. They can be used to secure a cereal bag, keep cords together, hold curtains open or closed, and lots of other places.
• Hooks: like clips, they are small and come in many variations. We’ve stayed at over 100 places since 2019, and some are “equipped” better than others. Some bathrooms are tiny with no shelf for anything and sometimes having a simple hook to hang a shirt or towel is like heaven! Simple pleasures sometimes require simple resources.
• Faucet head for kitchen: This is one of our newer toys, and it came about because the kitchen faucet in our Athens unit (for 6 weeks) sprayed all over. We’ve had that problem before and in Mexico we had a great faucet head and it made things easier. We never thought to keep it since the stuff we carry has to REALLY make sense or make our lives better, but going forward this may qualify for that.

These come to mind now and others may come up in the future. What about you? Do you have your own travel hacks to suggest? Let us know.