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Another folder had a discussion of travel deals, and I'm always in the market for cool things to use for travel. Things that save time, money, space or headaches!
Not that it is cheap and granted mine is work provided...but an ipad has been fantastic for traveling. I don't have to haul a laptop out at TSA, as you are allowed to leave ipads in your bag as it goes through the xray. This saves time and the worry of scrambling to get my laptop at the end of the belt...there are a lot of black laptops out there and a few times someone has almost taken mine instead of theirs. Yikes.
I can load my books on there, saving space. I can do all my work on there, including viewing/editing documents, checking email, etc. Plus, I have all sorts of games when I just feel like vegging out on the plane.
The most important thing to save is Weight. If you can reduce your baggage to what you can carry a few blocks or get onto public transport, you can save enough on cab fares to reduce your cost of a vacation by hundreds of dollars.
I've heard of backpackers who drill holes in the handle of their toothbrush, to get their weight down.
For longer trip (like 1 week or more at a time) where I'm flying, I usually pack a small bottle of Woolite (3oz or less in a bottle for carry on if I can). I'll use it to wash a few things like shirts / undergarments in the hotel sink, because it allows me to pack fewer clothes.
Also, when I used to train newer employees who were starting in their first high-travel jobs, the single most important item I would tell them to pack: safety pins.
Travel size toiletries and cosmetics for 4-7 day stays are brilliant! If I can't buy something in a small size I'll just decant something into a 3ml bottle, of which I now have many.
I once thought of a travel invention, that you can make yourself. A double screw-on toothpaste cap, which is an open tube, threaded on both ends. You can use it to squeeze toothpaste out of your giant bathroom tube, into a little travel tube. Buyng things like that in travel-size containers is insanely expensive.
You can make one yourself, by drilling out a hole in the top of both caps, and then supergluing them together.
You might be able to make a squeeze connecter just by wrapping a narrow band of duct tape around both open tops, nice and tight.
But, in fact, there is no need to keep your toothpaste in a tube at all. Just squeeze out enough for the trip into a pill vial, and dip your toothbrush in as needed.
For toothpaste, you can use salt, baking soda or (when I'm in Thailand I buy) tooth powder. All very effective. The baking soda is also a brightener for those of us who drink copious amounts of coffee or tea.
If I'm carrying my neti pot, it's salt all the way.
I still use a netbook. That's right, a netbook... the tech rage of 2008.
The reasons?
1) Size. Netbooks are small and compact and EASILY travel well. 2) Battery Life. I get over 10.5 hours of continuous use (wifi) out of mine. 3) Price. At around $300 for a very good netbook, it's FAR cheaper than an iPad. 4) Hard Drive. My Netbook has a 160gb hard drive. More than double the BEST iPad. 5) Speed. My netbook has 2gb RAM. I know that was quite a bit more than the iPad 2. 6) Keyboard. I use my netbook for work and play. A keyboard is a MUST for email and word processing. I know ipads and tablets have keyboard accessories, but why carry two pieces? 7) Display. I can easily watch HD movies and TV shoes on my netbook.
Until the iPads/Tablets can offer the hard drive space and functionality of a netbook for around the same price, I won't go near one. I get that the iPad works for many, but I wouldn't trade my netbook for any travel item at the moment.
Same here, Irfox. Still have a notebook. No ipad until the notebook dies - hopefully >4-5 yrs.
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