By Must Have Travel Hacks: JustFly’s Fave Travel Tricks
The fact that travel should be fun should be self-evident. It doesn’t pay. It doesn’t feed you. It doesn’t hold you at night while you sob into your pillow moaning “Hold the door” over and over again.
Travel is fun, but preparing for travel can be a stressful process. Not only are you trying to condense the things you require into a relatively small space, but you’re contending with your own preference towards procrastination.
Sure, you could be packing or making a travel playlist, but there’s ever so many episodes of How I Met Your Mother that aren’t going to rewatch themselves.
And haven’t you always wanted to sort your sock drawer by brand name and colour?
Even once you get passed one’s own ability to self-sabotage at every turn, there’s all of the little things you need to contend with. Limits on liquid sizes, all of the cords you need to maintain your tenuous grip on your social networks while away, condoms (in the vain hope that you’ll strike it lucky), medicine you almost certainly won’t need, something to keep you sane while waiting on security…
This shit adds up.
I could claim credit for all of the nifty ideas that are about to follow, but that isn’t fair. The ideas below come from JustFly, a travel agency who have figured out a thing or two in their time in the industry.
I’ve just taken their good ideas, rewritten them, and given myself a congratulatory pat on the back for getting some work done tonight.
Deodorant Safe
According to JustFly’s review, a deodorant safe is a must have.
This isn’t, as I believed at first, a safe in which you should store your precious collection of Axe Body Spray. Quite the opposite – it’s a deodorant can where you can store your valuables. This seemed dubious to me, but a quick Google of deodorant safes shows they are, in fact, a thing.
While your wallet might get nicked and your bags may get rifled through, chances are that the smelly miscreant liberating of your belongings is unlikely to take the time to steal your deodorant.
Other options for places to hide your valuables are toilet rolls (preferably with paper still attached), socks, or garments with hidden pockets like those in Adventure Underwear.
I wouldn’t advise muling it. No amount of spending money is worth that.
Uses Straws As Travel-Sized Shampoo and Lotion Carriers
Nothing says “I’m a creepy foreigner” quite like the suggestive jut of a tube of sunscreen crammed into your front pocket.
Rather than having to lug an entire tube (or, heaven forbid, pump top bottle) of sunscreen everywhere you go, you can use straws as tiny personal carriers.
Don’t believe me? Lifehacker wrote all about how to make your own DIY travel-sized lotion bottles.
Me? I’ll likely continue forgetting to pack it and then having to choose between paying tourist prices or being slow roasted.
Glasses Case = Cable and Headphone Case
I recently wrote about how your obsession with your electronics has turned you into an insufferable asshole, but if you must keep your electronics with you, here’s a travel tip I actually use myself.
Rather than attempting to untangle a nest of cables upon arrival, you can save yourself a lot of headaches by either buying a cheap glasses case or using one you already have as a place to neatly roll and store your cords and headphones.
I even store my SD cards in my case, since my glasses are usually on my head and my SD cards would look stupid there.
Binder Clip Doubles As Razor Protector
If you’ve seen me after a few weeks on the road, you’ll know that I rarely (if ever) remember to bring a razor along for the ride.
Honestly, it’s not even laziness. If you had a face like mine, you’d try to cover it up too.
But if you insist on maintaining a thin veneer of civilized behaviour while abroad, you’ll probably have a razor along for the ride. If so, whack a binder clip on the end to protect your belongings and the digits of over-zealous airport security officers.
Or don’t and live dangerously. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
Bring A Power Bar, Buy People’s Love
While you’ll no doubt remember your iPhone charger and your other travel essentials, packing a power board (otherwise known as a power bar or power strip) is a good way to win the adulation and adoration of your peers.
With outlet availability always frustratingly limited (especially at airports), you could go from being “that arsehole hogging the only outlet” to “that genuinely intelligent and good looking bloke who let me use his power board”.
Not only does this win you brownie points with your fellow travelers, but it also keeps them tethered within conversation distance. Time to subject them to the plot for your Twilight fan faction!
Want to go all Inception and travel hack your travel hack? You can coil your cords around your power strip as a way to avoid them getting tangled up.
Of course, this renders your glasses case absolutely useless, and it’s been feeling so bad about itself lately. Shame on you.
Power board too big? A double adapter is the new double date.
Your Say
What are your travel hacks?
Want to learn a few more ways you can use mundane household objects to be a more organised traveller? Google is your friend. Don’t be lazy.
Or go here. Don’t say that I don’t ever do anything for you.
Featured image courtesy of cmor15.