Pack Smart: The Weird (and unmentionable) List

I used to be a Road Warrior, traveling 25, 50, 75+ thousand miles a year and over the course that time I picked up a few things that I have found make a world of difference in making travel to an unfamiliar (or even a routinely unfamiliar place - a concept I think road warriors understand) a bit more sane. I also am a Rick Stevie type who likes things to have double use - on the road or at home!

Note, any hyperlinks here to products are not neccessarily ones I've used but just to give a pictorial idea of what I am referring to.

The List
Matches - Wooden matchsticks are better but anything will do except a lighter. This is the most lightweight and effective odor eliminator I've ever found. Especially if you're traveling with a companion who is having issues south of the border.

Lightweight Sarong - This is great for short urban luxury getaways, cruises, international hosteling and I'm sure it'd be good for Appalaichan camping. A lightweight sarong can be used as: bed sheet in nasty hotels, robe for communal baths or even just modesty on girls weekend, pillow case for train or car trips, laundry/hobo bag and even a use-with-caution exercise or yoga mat. If you get a good lightweight one, it can be washed and dried very quickly.

Fabric Sheets - If you get a small box of them they will keep your suitcase smelling fresh. You can tear one out and shove it in your sneakers if you have stinky feet or in a foul smelling room you can ball it up and shove it in the airvent or lay on top of a radiator

Downy/Wrinkle Releaser - This is the best thing since sliced bread. No need to iron (assuming you haven't sat on silk or linen for 10 hours in 90 degree heat) and also acts as quick laundry. This is better than Febreze which only takes a stink out and doesn't release wrinkles

Extension Cord/Multi Plug Outlet - This takes up literally no room but can be a huge help for the techie who can't leave home without it. Many hotel rooms overseas but especially cruise ship cabins have one out of reach plug - this will extend your power supply to wherever you need it. A multi-plug will help power up a few items at the same time (everyone's cell phone died at the same time). I've never seen a suitcase that can't fit 6 foot extension cord.

Clorox Bleach Pen - If you're a germaphobe, you can annhilate mildew or some offensive looking sinks/tubs. Also you can use it to disinfect phones, sinks and door handles if you are concerned about sanitary conditions. If you have a penchant for wearing white and spill a lot, it can bleach out something foul as well.

Tide Pen - Remove stains on the go - fits into anyplace a pen will go! I like these better than shout wipes.

How I Pack:
I like packing cubes. They keeps clothes from getting smashed and jumbled. If you're really anal, you can keep shirts with shirts and skirts with skirts, or color code whatever. Packing cubes are also a life saver if something spills - it's one more layer of protection

For unmentionables I like to use a regular mesh lingerie wash bag. If you're really efficient you have one for the clean stuff and one for the worn so when you get home you can chuck it right into the washer.
It also helps to avoid the TSA from giving you crabs by handling your unmentionables shortly after handling someone else's really unmentionables.

If you don't have packing cubes, then use plastic zipper bags or even a grocery bag works too. Typically all the TSA really needs to do is feel the item to ensure you haven't zipped in a weapon, explosives, cocaine or heaven forbid more than 4 ounces of Evian.

For my liquid items (which you can no longer carry in your carry on - but I never did. Even Fleabag Motel gives you soap and shampoo compris)

I also don't have a verdict on whether or not it makes sense to bring shampoo or not. I have mixed feelings about this. As a young adult/teen I never fully understood how the wrong shampoo can completely alter your ability to have decent hair. So now I'm a lot pickier and selective about what I wash my hair with. But I also have learned that the shampoo of choice at home may not react the same with different water. Soft water, hard water, treated water etc and of course climactic conditions specific to humidity all play a factor. So, generally speaking if I'm traveling in the "planes, trains and automobiles" with a different city every night I'll just use whatever shampoo they give and use a leave in product post shampoo/conditioner. Conditioners, by the way, work even more erratically depending on the water source.

So there are my thoughts on packing. That was a spectacular waste of time...

Imus

Oh all the chatter online, on TV, on radio about Don Imus' racist comments.. Rev Sharpton and Jessie all out in outrage (and they should be, actually).

What he said is not funny, it's reprehensible but today rather than getting all up into the moral judgement of it all, I asked myself a bigger question: Who the hell cares what Don Imus thinks? Or anyone else for that matter?

You think about Michael "Kramer" Richards rant/tirade or any given rap song, think about the celebrities who spew some form of misogynistic or racisit rhetoric and we think that's destroying our society? Well maybe it is, but I'm actually more concerned about the racist rhetoric, the verbal and physical abuse of women that happen in homes across America where absolutely no cameras or microphones are present. What a wonderful world it would be if Rev. Sharpton could show up in a home like Spiderman everytime a young black woman is called a Nappy Headed Ho by her boyfriend, father or husband and he beat the shite out of him the way he's spending his time wailing on Don Imus.

I mean, honestly, who gives a damn what Mel Gibson, Don Imus, or Kramer thinks of black women? I could give a damn.

Chicken (Identify Fraude) Supreme

I watched last week's Dateline NBC show: "To Catch AN Identity Thief" and there was something oddly familiar about the hotel where they were meeting with the thieves.

It was none other than my old hotel Alma Mater, the Mariott Renaissance Zurich

Ah, the salad days.

Happy Easter!

Seems that I'm constantly showing up at Raglan Road every major holiday dinner. I'm not in a food coma per se but I certainly am still flying on chocolate sponge cake w/ marmalade.

Not much to report here - except to tell a tale in photos.

This was taken on Saturday:



This was taken on Sunday:




See, y'all up thar up north think you're the only ones with psychotic weather. Nawp.

One for each hand...

Thanks to the AMAZING Italian deli by my grandmother's and a utterly FANTASTIC wine shop that just opened up in Orlando, my two long-sought beverages of choice have now arrived...





I can't tell you the trouble I've gone through trying to obtain a bottle of LaCastellina anything. The last bottle I had was a 1994 Chianti Classico Riserva that I brought to a dinner party - thrown by a chef. He was insane over this wine. Anyway, this is a 2000, not sure how that will be. But I wonder...could it be from the same vine of which we stole grapes off the SS222 road? Hmm! This will be a fun bottle to enjoy - since my first trip there was in 2000. I miss Castellina....

And the San Benedetto water (I also found the LEMON and peach ice tea!) is fantastic. D and I went to a new pizzeria here last night. It was delicious - cut and served just like in Chicago. Turns out the owners are from Milwaukee and so they do pizza like we know pizza. I can't wait to go back and try the Chicago style. In fact, I might order it on my way home. Crispy crackery crust..da bomb!

I'm also going to my first professional baseball game this week. D has season tickets and we're going to the opener tomorrow night - I'm sure whatever they have going on at Devil Ray stadium will be a let down compared to Wrigley, Fenway and Camden Yards but hey it's baseball.

Promises Promises

I shan't promise that I'll blog. But I've gotten zero sleep the last two days - I've been on call for work and I'm just wiped the hell out.

But at least I got my wireless figured out at home at long last. I was being stupit.

This post surely isn't worth the wait, is it? Sigh.


G'night, I have to go back to bed.