You don’t have to pack these travel accessories on your trip but why wouldn’t you? They don’t take up much room in your luggage and they make things a lot easier.
How many times have you been packing and you start to put that tube of toothpaste in your carry on only to stop and ask yourself, if the highly trained security personnel at the airport are going to confiscate it thinking you might turn it into a weapon of some type? What do you do, put it into your checked bags and let it explode all over your clothes? Buy a travel size that will last for 3 days? Wait until you get to where you are going and then go shopping? How about toothpaste tablets? That’s right, little pills you can put in your carry on and use whenever you like. These are cool, just chew, brush and rinse.
Have you ever seen Hotel Impossible with Anthony Melchiorri? Anthony goes to hotels that are having problems, identifies the problems and gets them on track to be successful. He uncovers some nasty habits and one of the things you want in a Hotel is cleanliness. A great tool to use is sanitizer wipes. Wipe down the phone, the TV remote, door knobs and fixtures in the bathroom. The wipes will get rid of most of the bad stuff and remember don’t use the glasses in the room, sometimes the cleaning staff will use furniture polish or other stuff to make them nice and shiny.
In a lot of countries we take clean water for granted. There are a lot of places that the water can make you feel anywhere from a little queasy to downright deathbed sick. This little item is portable and highly useful for anyone camping, traveling off the beaten path, or visiting countries where the water may not be the safest to drink. The SteriPen offers various models that can kill off e-coli, cholera, various bacteria’s and microscopic critters that want to do you damage.
Now if you are a backpacker wandering around with a pack and sandals the next item might not do you any good. If you wear hiking boots or shoes these are great, especially on flights. A good pair of compression travel socks make a world of difference on long flights or days when you are walking around seeing the sights. Wear these all day and your legs and feet still feel great. No swelling of the feet and legs on flights and after all day of being on your feet you will definitely feel the difference. With all the warnings of Deep Vein Thrombosis occurring to people who sit on long flights these can help prevent that also.
I always pack this last item. It doesn’t take up much room and there are hundreds of uses. Repair tears in clothing or mend a shoe. Luggage or backpack zipper broken? No problem. Out camping and need to hold something together? Works great. Seal a container, repair a broken radiator hose, fix leaks, make a bandage, repair broken glasses and much more. That’s right I am talking about duct tape. Hundreds of uses limited only by your imagination. I wouldn’t recommend it as a substitute for toilet paper but it might come in handy next time that kid on the plane gets too loud.
Fancy travel gadgets can be useful and fun but these travel accessories can make your trip a lot easier and they come in handy.
Oh by the way, I was not compensated by any of the people or companies mentioned in this article. But you can always offer if you want.
Nice article. I love my steripen and great idea about the Silver tape, I never thought to take it with me. Two things I always take with me are my menthol foot powder, (for both smelly and tired feet) so nice after a hard day walking, and Aquaseal. Aquaseal is this amazing, waterproof glue which fixes anything – liquid duct tape!! 🙂
Yeah nobody likes stinky feet. I’ll have to check out the Aquaseal.
Unique tips, sound advice = love it! gonna source the toothpaste pills now. Thnx!
Thanks Maria
Haven’t seen most of these on a packing list before, but you make a good argument for including them!
They can come in handy.
I haven’t seen that brand of tooth tablets before. I’ve been using the LUSH brand ones and they don’t taste the best – they taste really soapy. I’m going to have to check that brand out. Thanks!
Your welcome.
Duct tape really is that useful, isn’t it 🙂 As to your other suggestions, I am surprised to say that some are entirely new to me – toothpaste tablets, for example! Where did you source these? I have heard that compression socks are amazing, though had yet to try them. Interesting – I am definitely going to pick up a pair for my next long haul flight!
The socks are great. After a long day walking around or on a long flight your feet feel great.
Toothpaste tablets? Wow, I have never heard of those. Interesting… Personally in lieu of duck tape I opt for zip ties. Small, lightweight and convenient, they are definitely one of those accessories that you suddenly find hundreds of uses for once you actually have them 😉
That’s true, zip ties are very useful the one advantage of duct tape is making a seal. It works great as a short term fix to make sure things don’t leak.
I like the idea of the toothpaste tablets for carry on. Might get me some of those!
They can come in handy.
Tootpaste tablets! Never heard of them before but what a brilliant idea. I just realized, I travel with a trusty sarong everywhere — it makes for a great blanket on cold bus trips, a towel, a coverup, and a good pillow 🙂
Good idea, anything that can be used as multipurpose is always handy.
Never heard of the toothpaste tablets. What a great idea
Good list, especially the Steripen and the toothpaste tablets. The things I never travel without are a) granola bars — great for any time you get hungry and there’s no edible or affordable food around, and b) a disposable raincoat — folds into a little package, fits in your bag, and has 1,000 uses besides keeping you dry in sudden rainstorms. By the way, someone told me her brother was grilled at an airport when a security dog sniffed the duct tape in his bag. Apparently drug dealers use them to wrap their stashes.
Thanks for the head’s up re SteriPEN! I can think of several people I need to give this to as a gift. The fact that it’s solar powered is so useful. Excellent tip.
It’s a great product.
I never heared of toothpaste tablets. 🙂 Will substitute the toothpaste in my carry-on bag with those tablets for sure! 🙂