Probably Useless Travel Gear
Here I took a picture of the travel stuff that has accumulated for the trip. Any experienced world traveller would probably say it is all useless and I am stupid for bringing it. Those world travellers can be jerks sometimes because they think they are so great.
So what have we got here….starting at the top we have probably the silliest item, a twisted clothesline with suction cups and a universal sink plug. Then the blue blanket is a PackTowl. On that is insect repellant, a swiss army knife, travel antibacterial toothbrushes, calculator, and WetOnes wipes. Also, an umbrella, protein bars (they were on sale!), floss, tissues, inflatable travel pillow, sunblock, odor eaters for my feet, small first aid kit, locks, antibacterial gel, all purpose soap, lotion, Q-tips, earplugs, eye shades, and plug converter thingys.
Of course there is more stuff but I didn’t take a picture of it.
It’s snowing really hard out now and I don’t think there will be work tomorrow.
(Eds Note: There was.)
Click here to see how my travel gear fared during the trip.
Tags: Pre-Trip
Kelly
Ha ha. This makes me think of my friend packing for China–she bought a ton of these little toilet-seat covers that come in individually wrapped packages. (:
Ha! I have a portable clothes line thing too, but after six months on the road have yet to use it… Maybe that’s just a sign I don’t wash my clothes enough. The universal sink plug has come in handy occasionally. I’ve found my umbrella to be really useful, not sure why anyone would travel without one – and a couple of locks for bags and lockers are very nice to have along. But, travel antibacterial toothbrushes? What are they supposed to do?
Hmmm, just don’t put your knife in your carry on luggage…! 🙂
Also, I’ve heard that they’ve started doing random searches of peoples’ checked baggage! That is, they don’t see anything suspect to check your suitcases. They are now advising people to not lock their bags, because if your bag is pulled for a check – they’ll destroy your lock (and then tape it back together)! I read about this Swedish guy that this happened to a few weeks ago… – he was one furious MF…! 🙂 Anyway, after bithing to the airline company about how they hadn’t informed him about this, his (expensive) suitcase is now being replaced by the airline.
But it’s sort of a catch 22, because, for years now, we’ve heard about how things get stolen at airports. Airport employees open bags and steal shit, so… if you lock your bag you run the risk of having your bag destroyed, and if you don’t lock it…
/Carl
Random searches–good times. Dear God, I got pulled out of the line in Amsterdam at age 18–what the heck. I had no idea what they were saying, but they searched me, not my luggage. I was an innocent little highschool grad who went home with a flier called “why did this happen to me.” HA.
Daniel – we got the toothbrushes just because they were “travel” ones that sort fold up (as you can see in the pic) and it was just a bonus that they are antibacterial. I think that means when you put them away and they are still wet they won’t get nasty. Thanks
Carl- yeah, I know we can’t lock the bags when we fly, but we will other times. I am ok with random searches since I know they are a necessary evil, and I have nothing to hide.
Leigh-I had mini toilet paper rolls when I went to China and I ended up using them to blow my nose more than anything. Thus, the tissue packs are multipurpose. 🙂
I’m so freaking jealous! I wish Jerry was more adventurous… he wont travel unless we stay at a 4 star hotel with hot showers and clean restrooms around every corner… and of course, that’s 1- super expensive, 2- hardly possible when you want to go somewhere like China, and 2- count out camping, ever! so we hardly travel anywhere. I wish I had a travel buddy like you guys!
oh yah, don’t forget toothpaste!
Hi Jenny!! You don’t have to be jealous, because when I come back I won’t have two pennies to rub together and until then, you can live vicariously through me and my blog. ha ha.. 🙂
I’m not sure if I’m going to be a person who likes to “rough” it either… I don’t mind most hostels but I will DEMAND a/c in Singapore and Thailand…
Of course, it should have read:
“…they don’t have to see anything suspicious to check your suitcases”
Buuut, you got that anyway! 🙂
Anywho, I haven’t heard about any other country doing those types of random checks, so you could probably lock your bags once you get outside of the States (if you have to claim them at a layover somewhere).
I’m not 100% sure about this though…
that is interesting, Carl.. I never thought that maybe the other countries don’t do it. Good thinking!!
Did anyone else notice I wrote “z-tips” instead of q-tips? what a sillyhead.
i noticed that, but didn’t think anything of it because I ACTUALLY SAW Z-TIPS!! at the 99cent store once! and I’m so glad that was a typo because they were the most cheapy knock offs of Qtips and I swear to god, they looked like toothpicks with a piece of lint at the end. Poke that sucker into your ear and I guarantee you can poke right into your brain!