Have you ever been on a trip and realized you’ve forgotten something? It’s never a good feeling. Last week on a trip I forgot some prescription medicine, but luckily there was a CVS down the street. Unfortunately, there’s not always a CVS, or an open pharmacy or store. So here are some of my favorite travel hacks that everyone can use.
1. Bug bites – getting bitten by a bug or bugs is the worst. I’m a magnet for mosquitoes. If you don’t have any bug creme or lotion with you, you can try these two hacks. For bites try using some toothpaste. The mica in toothpaste is a good solution for calming itchy bites! Sure, it’s a little sticky, but it’s better than scratching. If you get a bite on tropical getaway, and that happens to me with some frequency, you can rub raw papaya on the bite to get some relief. Many breakfast buffets have tons of papaya and you can also ask the hotel if they have any. In some places you can find it roadside or at local markets. It’s a natural way to ease the itch.
2. Dirty shoes – if you’ve gone hiking or just walked through a muddy park, you know what a mess those shoes can make in your suitcase. If you’re on a trip and can’t find anything to wrap your shoes in try the shower cap. It’s an item that you probably overlook in the hotel bathroom, but it makes a great shoe cover!
3. Bent cords – I have so many iPhone cords and they all get tangled and bent at some point along my travels. A friend taught me that you can take a pen spring and wrap it around the cord to keep it on the straight and narrow. No more bent cords for me.
4. Lost chargers – it’s so easy to lose the part of the charger that plugs into the wall. Either I leave it in the wall, taking the cord and phone with me, or I forget it on a desk, or I just plain misplace it. With all of the different electronics that we carry these days, it can be hard to find an outlet! If you have a cord with a USB, you can charge a device by plugging the USB cord into the back of a TV. Many TVs now have USB plugs and will charge up a phone so you don’t have to save what little battery life you have left.
5. Jewelry – there’s nothing worse than finding your favorite necklace is a tangled mess. You can avoid the tangle by threading your necklace through a straw and closing the hook at the end. This is also a great trick for earbuds. Your fingers will thank you later when you don’t have to untangle a mess.
What are your favorite travel hacks?
Have we now reached the point where any tip whatsoever is called a “hack”?
@Adam, before travel hacks became synonymous with deals and tricks, they were actually about actual travel related items.