Reader tip: shave w/conditioner

OBOW reader Peter M. shares this on shaving:

“I read the article about shaving with “shaving oil” which takes very little volume and is easy and light to carry. I have not tried shaving oil myself, but I would like to recommend another idea: Hair Conditioner!

Many hotels include shampoo and conditioner, so you usually don’t have to carry any (except for a small emergency reserve, if you think your destination won’t have any). The hair conditioner seems to have both lubricating and hair softening qualities, which makes for a GREAT shave.

I first tried shaving with hair conditioner out of desperation many years ago, and have been so happy with the results that I shave this way all the time, even when not traveling.

Oh, I should mention that I usually shave in the shower, but I think this method would work just fine at a sink.”

I’ve used clear gel hand soap (which I also use for travel laundry) for the same purpose. Olive oil would probably work great too, might give you that Italian look. If you do want to try the oil and you don’t want to mail-order then you might try Shave Secret which is available at Wal-Mart and probably lots of other places.

Flickr pools for packers

Thanks to Kit for reminding me of some interesting pools on Flickr: Lightweight travel, Do you pack light?, What’s in your bag?, and - last but not least - the Hey, what’s in your bag? pool. Here’s Kit’s photo (click on it to find a link to her packing list with weights):

http://www.flickr.com/people/compactmanifold/

A personal (item) take

Here are tips from OBOW poster Paula on beating the liquid rules, personal items - and more:

I have managed to replace all my liquid/gel toiletries / make up with solids, so no need to show these items at security:

• Shampoo / laundry liquid = I now use chemical free soap (ordered fromwww.clearwatersoapworks.com (BC Canada).

• Liquid mascara = La Femme cake mascara (through amazon.com)

• Face foundation/liquid eye liner etc = Lauren Hutton’s Face Disc. (I love this all in one compact with brushes, eyes, lips and face are accounted for in this neat, travel friendly disc. (Bought through the Shopping Channel)

• Hair styling gels or sprays = Alberto VO5 Hair Clay (bought in Boots the Chemist, UK)
   
• Perfume or body spray = (this was tip from Rick Steve’s graffiti wall), take some cotton wool balls and spray them liberally with your favourite perfume or scent, pack them in a small screw lid pot. No longer a liquid but last a good while that you can rub your skin with them to apply the scent.

• Hand lotion = In a pinch I use Nivea lip seal as a hand and cuticle moisturiser.

Other helpful items:

Metal nail file = replaced by The Body Shop matchbook emery boards.

A microfibre towel is excellent when handwashing clothes, after rinsing and wringing them out, roll them up in the towel and wring it further, it soaks up excess water and the clothes dry that much more quickly. I wished I’d taken two towels with me last trip….they are great on wet hair as well.

One serious tip. If you are going to handwash stuff, for pete’s sake take a sink stopper. For some inexplicable reason some hotels and apartments (especially in the UK) do not supply sink plugs. Last trip, out apartment kitchen and bathroom sinks didn’t have these which made washing clothes / dishes quite frustrating. If you haven’t got one and you come by a plastic tub lid, use that, it’s quite effective.

Right for the rain

Lots of light travelers like to use the little Moleskine-type pocket notebooks for recording experiences and information when the laptop gets left at home. Here’s another take on the notebook, and an all-weather one at that. The Rite in the Rain products have special waterproof paper that stands up to rain and moisture so you can jot in any clime. The Rite in the Rain website has a bewildering array of notebooks and even waterproof copy paper. 

Why go?

BootsnAll has launched a new travel guide site that looks very promising - WhyGo:

“Each WhyGo Guide is created by writers who are truly passionate about their country, region, or theme. Part guide book, part blog, WhyGo Guides feature first-hand travel information to help you have the best experience on and off the tourist track. Of course, each guide includes the basic information a traveler needs to know: when to go, how to get there, where to stay, what to see. But, more importantly, WhyGo Guides provides ideas, inspiration, and insider tips you can’t find in other guides. That’s the kind of info that makes a trip truly special. That’s why you go.”

13 pounds of happiness

Lani at Travelite is all smiles after a lightweight Euro trek. Lots of good information and tips to be found in her account. An excerpt:

Weighing every item, and taking only what I planned to use – I had to make some tough decisions about my wardrobe. In hindsight, I wish I’d gone with two short-sleeve shirts and a long-sleeve instead of three of the latter, but I really didn’t expect weather in the high-70s all week in Rome. That said, I still chose the most lightweight of my shirts; they were even lighter than cotton T-shirts. Every liquid toiletry item was carefully scrutinized. Did I need a full ounce, or could I manage with half an ounce?

Using the smallest version of everything – Instead of large and clunky AC adapters, we took a USB-to-AC adapter that was as small as a film canister. A laptop was out of the question, but the iPod Touch gave us the option to send email in wi-fi hotspots (including a free one in a small part behind the Notre Dame in Paris!).

Do you need a fake wallet?

Maybe a fake wallet could save your trip:

Your grocery store club card: Don’t leave home without it.

That’s my advice as a frequent visitor to places far off the beaten path. My Safeway card, along with a couple of other innocuous buyers’ club cards, helped save the day on my last trip to sub-Saharan Africa. These, plus a fistful of four- and five-figure bills of nearly valueless currencies from places like Vietnam and Ghana. This stuff pads out the “throwaway wallet” I use to create a diversionary hip pocket bulge when I travel in dodgy areas. -  OttawaCitizen.com

The lost art of flying standby

Gadling has an excellent post on the finer points of flying standby - a potentially time-saving approach that requires flexibility and and information. One of the essentials:

”Don’t check luggage. If you can’t confirm a standby seat at the ticket counter, you’ll have to try to get in at the gate. Unfortunately you can’t fly without your luggage (and they won’t move it for you), so you can’t standby if you checked it.”- Grant Martin at gadling.com

Travel disobedience

AOL Travel’s Peter Greenberg says don’t take too literal an approach to airport information - or rules:

I’m one of those people who consciously disobeys airport signs and airline instructions — in most cases, because they’re either misleading, or wrong. And you should as well.

Consider the airport departure boards: they constantly lie. The words “On Time” are — as I think we would all agree — relative. Is the plane “scheduled” to leave on time? Of course it is. But that doesn’t mean it will.

Here’s what I do. When I get to the airport, I only look at the departure board to determine what gate my flight is scheduled to leave from. And then I immediately ignore all other information on the departure side. Instead, I go immediately to the arrivals board and check to see what is arriving at my supposed departure gate. If nothing is arriving there until next Tuesday, I now know I won’t be leaving from that gate. The key here is to get solid information and to retain as many options as you can in the flying experience. - AOL

Readers respond: How light can you go?

Are you really a light traveler, or - should I ask - are you a really light traveler? Tell us how light you can go for a trip of four nights or more. I’ll go first: just over 10 pounds (including day bag/personal item) for five nights, trans-Atlantic to Europe.  And this summer I did sub 15 pounds for 11 days in England and Scotland - including day bag/personal item. I don’t know if I’ll ever beat Tim Ferriss’s 10-pound kit which includes a computer. I’ve resolved not to buy another laptop until I can afford a featherweight (three pounds our less).

 

How to weigh? Well, you can step on the bathroom scales with and without your bag. Even better is a luggage scale (above). Mine came from Target. It actually has a tape measure built in.

Cheapskate or economic opportunist?

Not all light travelers are cheapskates, but anyone who would consider washing underwear in a hotel sink is suspect in all categories. Mea (ahem) culpa. Here’s a pence-pinching Brit’s recipe (many have to do with food) for stretching pound notes and dollar bills on the road - found in the Times of London. A few of my favorites:

• 1 SMUGGLE DRINKS AND SNACKS - It is quite astonishing what hotels have the nerve to charge for a bog-standard drink or a packet of non-fancy crisps (ed. - potato chips) or plain old water.

• 3 NICK LUNCH FROM THE BREAKFAST BUFFET -This is quite low-rent, but what do they expect if they put out lunch-based items (cheese, ham, steak, champagne) at breakfast? I make the sandwiches and bag them long before I’ve finished breakfast.
  

• 8 MAKE THE MOST OF MONDAY- Museums, galleries and exhibitions the world over offer free admission on Mondays to let the impoverished locals have a squizz. How very civic. But scrimpers are impoverished too after refusing to take advantage of a 1p flight. Do wandering around, beach, eating – whatever it is you get up to – over the weekend and squeeze all the free stuff in on Monday

Actually, in most of the places I stay there’s no shame in carrying in food. For the UK I can suggest a cheap lunch which is available in most areas: the delightful Cornish pasty. At t£1.50 - £3 each they make a tremendous lunch. Pub lunches can be a great value too. The Ploughman’s lunch is filling and wholesome - had one of those at the historic Eagle & Child in Oxford.

In west London the lovely Churchill Arms pub is not to be missed. It contains a fantastic Thai restaraunt with a variety of £6 curry plates - a bargain for London. It has an amazing collection of chamber pots hanging from the rafters, and the exterior of this corner building is usually covered with hanging flower baskets.

 

Me & Tom in London

Back in January I took a quick museum-hopping trip to London and good old Tom Bihn was right there with me. At least it felt that way. We took three TB bags: the Aeronaut, new Western Flyer, and a Large Cafe Bag (borrowed from my son) for everyday use.  It was my wife’s first one-bag experience. Usually we’re leading student trips and they all check bags, so she saw no point in going carryon-only. But a rare trip when she’s travelling only with me meant she could give one-bag a try. She’s sold. Skipping baggage claim and jumping straight onto a train from Heathrow was a delight. Crowded lifts, stairs, and escalators are much less hassle without a 30-pound rolling bag in tow. Ditto for wet streets and uneven sidewalks. Watching others struggle with their own personal baggage train on the Underground was further confirmation. Carrying everything on our backs or shoulders (at about 15 pounds per person thanks to her heavy textbooks) meant we could shop hotels. I wouldn’t recommend it in peak season, but we were able to get a much better rate by walking up to half-empty hotels than by reserving online. And the less you’re carrying - meaning you can turn and walk down the street - the easier it is to get a good rate.

 

Future posts will include a long-term test update on the Aeronaut, new review of the the Cafe Bag, and thoughts on winter clothing. 

Ten Travel Commandments

Leah McLaren of Canada’s Globe & Mail has some tips, er commandments, for the forlorn traveler - some serious, some comically anti-social. A couple of excerpts:

1) Wear a hoodie. Preferably a cashmere hoodie, but any old hoodie will do. The deeper the hood the better. Pull it up whenever you want to sleep or dissuade others from taking the free seat next to you. For best results, accessorize with a scowl.

2) Eschew all silly travel accessories and accoutrements. Beanbag neck pillows, travel blankets and book lights are all more trouble than they’re worth. Comfort is about avoiding hassle, not creating more of it, and that’s exactly what you’re doing while fiddling with your portable Obus Forme 10,000 metres above sea level. Leave such stuff at home, or, better yet, don’t buy it in the first place. The one exception to this is a sleep mask, but most decent airlines provide them anyway.

7) Do carry-on only wherever possible. Pack lightly and stuff everything into the smallest possible container. Hide overflow in a giant handbag and hold it over your shoulder and behind your back to avoid having your hand luggage go over the weight limit. Ignore people who give you dirty looks for filling up the overhead locker.

For the traveler who has everything...

I’m not making this up. You can buy zipper lubricant in a can. And it’s called Jig-A-Loo:

Jig-A-Loo is a revolutionary new product that combines the power of a lubricant with a water repellent.
Unlike any other lubricant, it contains no oil, grease, wax or detergent, so it doesn’t stain or stink. It stops squeaks, unsticks just about anything, protects against rust, and is an exceptional water repellent.
With thousands of uses around the house, garden, cottage and more, it’s the all-around solution in a can. 

The manufacturer calls it a “lubri-pellant” and recommends it for zippers and practically everything else you can think of. They claim it’s non-staining. This would make it appropriate for luggage…or trousers. And, hey, it’s from Canada, eh?

From the website FAQ: 

Can I use Jig-A-Loo on garments?

Yes, Jig-A-Loo does not stain. Have a stuck zipper on your white jeans, your wife’s dress? Your kid’s jacket? Or another piece of clothing? Just spray it with Jig-A-Loo for quick and clean results.

Advice from a fellow traveler

OBOW reader Alain shares a little common sense for travelers. He says not to be surprised - wherever you may be - that that the whims and moods of those you must deal with affect the often-trying process of travel, and adds “My rule number one, no matter how unpleasant the person is, smile, be helpful and enthusiastically cooperative. It may not help all the time but I feel it helps in most cases. And a hello in their language always helps.” Thanks, Alain. We needed that.

10 ways to afford Europe

The IHT has ten ways to beat the Pound/Euro exchange nightmare. Another tip: Get more out of your travel dollar by going one bag, thus avoiding wasted time chasing checked bags. The light traveler, who carries everything on his back or shoulder, can walk the extra block for cheaper hotel and can use the least expensive methods of public transportation. Light costs less.

Leave us a tip!

In an abundance of counselors there is a wisdom - so we’ve added a link for reader tip submissions. We welcome any and all travel, luggage, packing, or clothing tips from savvy globetrotters, frequent fliers, gear geeks, or manufacturers. Heck, you can even use it for questions or special requests. We’ll look at everythng that comes in and publish all those we deem to be helpful. We’ll only use your initials or first name, and your e-mail address will not be saved, displayed, or distributed.  So come on, get tipsy with us and share your hard-won wisdom.

Advice for the fairer sex

One-bag travel is not just for men. There’s no law that says women must have three heavy suitcases. But, I don’t feel fully (or even partially) qualified to pontificate on packing — to the fairer sex. Hence, this link to blogher.org for carryon packing advice for women, by women. In a way, I think females may have it easier than men in this carryon business. Their clothes are usually lighter, more interchangeable, and probably more often synthetic than mens’. And most women are just plain resourceful - which helps a great deal.

Like the plague...

“I’m not flying anymore this summer, except in extraordinary and absolutely unavoidable circumstances.”

So says uber-traveler Joe Brancatelli, prefacing a portfolio.com article on airlines and airports to absolutely avoid this summer…if possible. 

More noise-killers

If my cheapo suggestion for travel headphones that reduce noise was a little down-market for you, here’s a review of 10 more expensive — and probably better — options from gizmowatch.com.