travelling light: travel gadget secret

For travelling light, its really important to plan well and shop well. However, that doesn't mean walking into every travel store or every travel department of each store and buying all the latest travel gadgets.

I'm going to let you in on a big secret.

Listen very carefully...

You don't need most of that stuff.

I have my favourite little travel gadgets to take with me. I have slowly accumulated them over time, and they have become part my tried and tested travel kit. But, I can walk into most travel goods places these days and walk out again without purchasing anything.

Sure, the camera attachments that let you use a bottle as your camera stand for taking a photo are pretty nifty. But you know what? I don't actually need one.

Those chemical handwarmers which are like little plastic pillows filled with gel look rather clever, but I don't need them for travelling either.

I love looking at outdoor and adventure store catalogues. They're quite fun. I enjoy looking at the weights of all the products and seeing how heavy they are. I enjoy looking at all the latest must-have gadgets and then... turning the page.

Once in a while I'll come across a new product that actually looks like it might work for me. Then I'll weigh it up against what I've already got, I'll consider its multi-functionality, I'll consider its weight and size. If its an item of clothing I'd want to see how easily crushable it is, whether its quick dry, and whether it goes with my existing travel wardrobe. If it is no better, or not appreciably better than what I already have, then I won't buy it.

Life isn't about how much stuff we can accumulate. I think one of the most paradoxical things about travelling light is that it takes most people a lot of effort, and a lot of products (to work your way through and then discard as not being good enough or light enough or whatever enough) to get to the point where you can travel really light. It also usually costs a lot of money.

For some, the act of travelling light becomes just another exercise in consumerism. You CAN go lighter! You DO NEED to spend another huge wad of cash on the LATEST thing. You DO NEED the smallest/lightest/coolest/niftiest doodad, because if you DON'T your trip won't be any good!

UTTER RUBBISH.

That said, I do espouse the principles of travelling light. But I need to remind myself that I do not constantly need more stuff.

Ladies travelling light packing list

A week or two ago I read an article on the Skyscanner website about travelling light. The author, Sam, wasn't sure that ladies would be able to manage a 3 day weekend with only carry-on luggage. I wrote to him to let him know that of course you can! I sent Sam my packing list, including weights and even some photos.

Sam was pretty impressed by the list, but later the same day I received an email from one of the female staff at Skyscanner, noting that I didn't include any make-up, and THAT was the real sticking point for so many of the ladies in the Skyscanner office. Well, personally I don't bother with make-up unless I have teaching engagements, which I don't when I travel internationally. I just think that the people I meet while travelling couldn't care less whether I wear make-up or not - and if they do, that's their problem, not mine!

The follow-up article has now been posted on the Skyscanner website, with a large slab of it devoted to my personal packing list.

The photos haven't been included, so I've got them here for you.

First up, we have the contents of my packing list, all laid out for you to see. For the details, see the article at Skyscanner.

Next, we have everything packed into the bag - very messily, I might say!

Lastly, we have the packed bag, ready to go.


Travelling light, with one bag is completely achievable for ladies. As for the make-up issue, if you're only travelling so that people will see you and appreciate how you look, maybe you've got things the wrong way round? On our last holiday I saw a T-shirt which said something like "Come to play, not to show off your clothes". Amen.

DIY toiletries bottles

It is a fact of life that if you want to take liquids on board a plane in your cabin luggage, they now have to be a tiny size. Depending on where you are, they have to be either 100ml or less OR 3oz or less.

Its a bit silly really (well, completely) because those two amounts aren't even the same (100 millilitres = 3.38140227 US fluid ounces), so we people who use millilitres actually have a larger capacity allowed than those who use fluid ounces...

But anyway, you can either buy travel size products, and get to like them (!) or buy generic bottles and put your favourite products in them. We go for the latter. The problem with buying generic bottles is that the authorities in charge of these things like to SEE what the capacity of the bottle is. Its not good enough for the bottle to LOOK like it is 100ml/3oz or less, it has to SAY it is. And often the generic bottles don't have their capacity marked.

Now, on a good day, you'd probably get through. But if you just happened to get the security person who's had a bad hair day, you can say goodbye to your carefully re-packaged favourite toiletries!

For our last trip, I bought small empty bottles from the local pharmacy that had no size on them. I knew they were less than 100ml, so that was ok. Took them home, worked out that their capacity was about 75ml, and made up some pretend labels for each of the products I needed to take (with my own fake brand name and logo etc) and their capacity clearly labelled on each. Doesn't hurt that I'm a graphic designer so can make them look pretty respectable. :)

You can use plain coloured paper as I did, and put clear packaging tape over the top to stick them on, or use Avery type adhesive labels that are suitable for getting wet.

No-one questioned my bottles, and over the course of our trip, we went through many checks.

There are lots of rumours going round that the liquids rules might be relaxed some time this year, so we can all hope for the best! However, if you are travelling light, then its always a good idea to keep your liquids to a minimum, because they're quite heavy.

Another travel cot option: the PeaPod by KidCo

I just learnt about a new travel cot option today: The PeaPod. I've not seen one of these in person because they aren't available here in Australia, but they look like an excellent idea.

They are a tent-style fold out cot, which is completely zip-up-able, so can keep out the little biting insects. They come with either a pump/blow up air mattress (and its pump), or a self inflating mattress, depending on the model you choose. I'd probably go with the self inflating one - it looks a little more sturdy. A cot-size fitted sheet would probably fit perfectly, and teamed with a cot sheet and blanket (if needed) your kid will be ready for some ZZZZs!

The PeaPod P102 model (which is the one that I think looks the best) weighs only 4.5lb/2kg, which is an excellent, light weight. The models with more features such as a sleeping bag are a bit heavier. They easily pack up into a disc shape, and have their own carry bag for storage and carrying. From the video sequences on the website, it looks like it is VERY quick and easy to both put up and down - definitely one for the dummies or even just the tired parents who have grumpy kids that need a sleep NOW!!

Open dimensions:
47"L x 30"W x 19"H / 121.92cm x 76.2cm x 45.72cm
Storage bag dimensions:
14"L x 5"W x 14"H / 35.56cm x 12.7cm x 35.56cm

Going by the length of the opened out cot, you could easily fit a child who is up to 2-3 years of age in there (as long as they are not exceptionally tall!) with room for them to move.

The side (door) zips down, so provides easy access for you to get to your crying baby, or for tucking your kid in, or for the older child to get out to go to the toilet by themself.

All the sides have mesh "windows" for good cross flow of air, but if you needed to close it up a bit (so the child can't see out so well and be distracted by the rest of the world) you could easily throw a sheet over it to block the view a bit. The fabric is also apparently good for UV protection - not sure if that is just the main fabric or the window mesh as well.

From the type of construction that it is, I cannot imagine that you would have any trouble getting this onto a plane as part of your carry-on luggage. (Of course I can't guarantee that - because who knows whether the powers-that-be would agree with me!) But to me it seems like there is nothing in its construction (such as chunky metal poles) that could be construed as a weapon, so you should be able to take it in cabin with you, if you are travelling the one-bag way with cabin luggage only. However, I don't recommend you try to use it during the flight itself...!



There are a few different models at different price points, so you can choose what suits your needs and budget.

All in all, this looks like a really good product, which would be perfect for road or plane trips. Just whip it out, put it up indoors or out, and its kiddie sleep time. Sweet dreams!

Kids and cameras

When The Bookworm was six (almost seven) we got her a cheap digital camera and memory card for Christmas. This was in preparation for our last overseas trip - thinking that it would be nice for her to be involved in recording what she saw, from her perspective.

On our return from the trip, as I was sorting through the photos, it turns out that she'd taken about 900 photos in all - in just three weeks. We were amazed! Now, she's no brilliant photographer, and she definitely improved as the holiday progressed, but from time to time she took some amazing photographs. 

What also impressed us were the subjects of some of her pictures. She frequently took photos of things that we adults would never have thought of taking - goldfish in the ponds at the Real Alcazar, the tile patterns on the Alhambra walls, the chandeliers at Versailles - and it really demonstrated the point of view of children. They have not been taught "how to see" or "what to see" or "what to photograph". So they just take photos of things that are of interest to them. Sure, the composition isn't always fabulous, but sometimes the photos are really striking anyway.

She took a photo - accidentally, I think - of the white gravel approaches to the gates at Versailles. The top 10% of the photo is the Chateau and approaching tourists crammed in at an odd angle, and the rest of the picture is the gravel. But it is an amazing picture to look at because the perspective makes it look as if the Chateau is warped in shape.

She took a photo looking down from the Tower of Belem, Lisbon, at the pavement and people below. She set the angle diagonally across the picture and thereby created a very strong image using the white pavement edging as a dominant visual element. This photo is so good that it has been entered in the Photography competition at the upcoming Sydney Royal Easter Show. We're looking forward to seeing how she goes - even just being selected for exhibition would be great.

We wondered if she would be too young to manage looking after a camera - after all, kids don't always look after their belongings particularly vigilantly - but we thought it would be a good way to teach her to be responsible for something valuable (though not too valuable, in case she did lose or break it...). But we gave her lessons in how to hold it securely so you don't accidentally drop it, and showed her how to keep it stowed under her clothing when not using it to make it more inconspicuous. Naturally, we also showed her how to use the basic functions as well. 

And she succeeded admirably! Since coming home, she hasn't really used it - so I don't think she's yet hooked on photography (that's OK, she doesn't have to be) - but she does have the skills to use it confidently should she ever want to.

The process of learning to travel with one bag

Our journey from too much luggage to one bag each has taken a long time, not the least because we only heard about the idea of one-bagging before our last trip. We immediately fell in love with the challenge!

But we expect that with each big trip we take, and with the changing needs as our children grow older and larger, that we will change and improve our packing list a little each time. With each trip we have taken, we have learnt something new. With each destination and season we will adjust our packing to suit.

From our first big trip, I learnt that you shouldn't allow your mother and sister ANY access to your suitcase beforehand. As it was for our honeymoon, they thought it would be fun to put confetti in everything. Thanks SO much!

From our second trip, we learned from one of our travelling companions, that a bag weighing 28 kilos is just TOO heavy! Try lugging that up and down steep, narrow stairs... or any stairs for that matter.

From our next trip, we learned that things can easily get crushed in checked luggage. We had a number of plastic items in the bags that got broken or cracked, and therefore were rendered useless. Fortunately this happened on the homeward journey, so we weren't without those things while we travelled.

On our most recent trip we learned that one bag/carry-on/cabin luggage only is the way to go!! I also decided that I would prefer not to have a bag with wheels, though my husband still prefers wheels on his.

So for our next trip, we will certainly take some things off our packing list - at least one of the car seats, for example - and add new things on. We learn a little more each time, and I'm constantly searching forums, blogs etc for new ideas.

So if you've never tried one-bagging before, don't expect that the first time you do it, your packing list will be perfect. We'll be trying to shave off a little more weight and a little more bulk each time.

But you have to start somewhere!

kiddie leashes

Look, some people love them, others hate them. I think most people fall into one of the two camps. Child leashes seem to polarise people. I think its because the people that hate them can't understand why you would want to treat your child like a dog, but the people that love them realise how valuable they can be at keeping ultra-adventurous kids from running off.

Personally I don't much like the look of a child on a leash, however, when we were first thinking of taking Bendy on her first overseas trip, we wondered whether it would be a good idea to have one. The Bookworm is a very compliant child, and if you tell her not to do something, she will comply. Bendy, however, likes to see what she can get away with. For her, we wondered whether a leash might be really useful in busy places like airports and on New York sidewalks.

At the time, I only knew of the sort of leash that is just a harness. I don't like the look of them, and I can't imagine a kid does either. So I thought about how I could make a leash a little more inviting and even desirable to a child. I decided to make a harness with a built in tulle skirt with sparkly sequins sewn onto it. For a little girl I hoped that this might make it more desirable. It did. We tried it out at the shops with Bendy before we went on our trip. She did like it (a bit). However, by the time our trip came, we realised that she really didn't need it, so I don't think we even ended up taking it with us.

My nephew though, has a backpack type leash that he loves. The backpack is in the shape of a dog, and he calls it Scrufty (I think this is the name of Bob the Builder's dog) and he loved it. He no longer needs it as he has matured. But it was really useful when he was younger.

Its in the same style as the one pictured at the top of the post. I had a look on Amazon, and there's actually a large range of different animals that you can have: a lion, a horse, a panda, a pink poodle, a cow, a giraffe, a monkey, a koala, a lamb, a frog, and even a unicorn. And then there's a range of Disney characters including Piglet, Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Pluto (who looks like his neck is broken - nice touch!), Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Pretty much something for all tastes... So they are quite a bit more palatable (for the adults) and desirable (for the kids) than the plain harness type (which are also still available) I used to see when I was younger.

For travelling with kids, they can give peace of mind. Though you'll have to ignore the dirty looks that people who find them offensive might give you! For me, I don't think I'd care what other people thought if I felt it was going to keep my child safer than without.

Alternatives to money belts

Money belts are useful for carrying valuables that you don't need to access regularly, such as passports, larger stashes of cash, alternative credit cards etc. Some of the alternatives we have seen include:

• extra internal pockets in clothing
  
• wrist wallets
  
• singlet vests with pockets
  
• socks with hidden zip pockets
  
• clothing belt with hidden zipper pockets

Not all of these, in our opinion, serve as useful a function as money belts/pouches - but they are certainly worth considering depending on what you need them for. The idea of putting a passport into a wrist wallet is just silly, but the idea of having additional internal pockets in clothing is a potential solution if you have sewing skills.

I found that for small, regularly used items (e.g. credit card, small change, transport tickets etc.), a discreet zippered pocket in my shirt was the best place to store things. One shirt had a pocket in the side seam at waist level which was invisible unless you knew to look for it. It was great for ease of access as well as for security of valuables.

Extra internal pockets in clothing

Yvette came across the Instructables website which contains instructions on how to add extra internal pockets into clothing. Personally, I think this is the best option out of all of these alternatives to money belts, however it only works if your clothing already has pockets! And you also need reasonable sewing skills. The advantages include being able to make internal pockets to suit your needs - whether you only need small ones for credit cards etc., or one large enough to stash a passport.

 
Wrist wallets

By "wrist wallet" I do not mean a wallet with a wrist strap. I mean a cuff-like object which has a zip pocket inside it. Here's a link to one variety so you can see what we mean. I like the idea of storing the car keys that way, though not having done it before, it might seem a bit weird at first - and maybe too lumpy. Looks like a great idea for going to the beach or other outdoor environments. If you have the right sort of contents, it wouldn't matter if the whole thing were immersed in water. Here in Australia, our banknotes are polymer so they won't disintegrate if you happen to go for a swim. Metal coins ditto. Credit cards ditto. Keys ditto - but you can't have the automatic battery-operated door opening devices: they'll be ruined. 

Obviously you can't fit your passport inside it, and it might look a little dorky in summer, but could easily be covered by a sleeve in winter. It may also be a bit too visible and hence attract muggers. You could also wear them around your ankle to minimise visibility - especially under trousers or socks.

Singlet vests with pockets
This means "undershirt" not singlet tops as outerwear. Envisage a singlet top (tank top / vest) with a velcro or zipper pocket. Here's a link to a ladies' version.

Socks with hidden zip pockets and Clothing belt with hidden zipper pockets are a couple of other possibilities. Here are a couple of examples of Ladies' and Men's Zip It Sox which have pockets sufficiently large to take even a passport. These would be obviously not much use if it were too hot to wear socks. Another possibility is the "ordinary" clothing belt with a cleverly hidden zipper pocket. Not great for travel documents or passports, I wouldn't think. You'd need a cummerbund for that - perhaps a bit overdressed for the beach?

Without having tested each of these options, my personal preference is for hidden pockets in clothing, maybe in conjunction with a wrist wallet. We'll have to give them a go sometime.

5 top items for travelling kids

These are our top 5 suggestions for what to take for your travelling kids. Some are for fun, some are for comfort, some are for safety.

1. A hat. Protect your kid's precious skin from the sun by taking a hat for them to wear. This doesn't just apply to sunny places, as UV rays can make it through clouds.


2. Sunscreen. Hats don't cover everything, so use sunscreen also.


3. A special (small) toy. Travelling can be unsettling for kids. They don't have their usual routine, they don't have their usual surroundings, and sometimes apart from their family, they don't even have their usual language. By taking a small special toy, the child will be able to take with them something that is special and familiar. (You'll need to keep a good watch on it though, because it would be disastrous to lose their favourite toy.)


4. A small bag for them to carry at least some of their own stuff. Even small kids can have a light backpack with a piece of warm clothing, a snack or a small drink. Kids love to be helpers, so why not encourage them to help with carrying a few small things. As they get older, they can carry a bit more. We're not trying to make them packhorses, just to share a little of the load. NB: This is for day tripping, not as their actual luggage.


5. A surprise pack for the journey. This is a parcel of things that the parents put together as a surprise for the child. It could include a couple of reading or picture books that you'll know that they love, a sticker book, a colouring book, some coloured pencils, a small quiet game etc. The idea is to present it to your child at the beginning of the journey (plane, car, train etc) so that they can keep themselves occupied with new and exciting things as you travel. It does not need to be expensive to put together - you can pick up a lot of these sorts of things at discount shops. It could be parcelled up in a special cloth bag, or even just a paper bag with their name written on it in large happy letters!

If the kids are happy, it means that you can all be enjoying travel with kids!

shoes for travelling

IF you can get away with it, take only one pair of shoes, and wear them on your feet! This will reduce bulk and weight in your luggage. It may be though, that you have to take more than one pair. If this is the case, if at all possible, wear the larger and heavier pair on the plane so that you have to carry less in your luggage.

Tips for travel shoes:

• Only take comfortable shoes. If they're not comfy at home, they won't be on holidays either.


• If they are new shoes, wear them in so that you are used to them before you go. Blisters and travelling are not fun!


• Choose shoes that are culturally appropriate. Even though joggers/trainers etc can be comfortable, in some places they are considered too casual.


• Ladies, DON'T wear high heels for sightseeing. Surely that is common sense, but apparently not...


• In some airports you have to take your shoes of for x-ray screening. Shoes that are easily removed and put back on again are advantageous in such circumstances

Any other decisions will likely be based on the weather you're likely to encounter. For hot weather, wear shoes that keep your feet cool, and allow any sweat to dry easily.

If you're going to need to dress up, say on a cruise, you'll need to consider which shoes will be dressy enough. If you can manage dressy, comfortable shoes that can do your whole trip, great! Otherwise, this is a case where you might need to pack an extra pair.

If you're going to a very cold climate, make sure your shoes are really warm, as well as taking warm socks. My sister is planning a several month trip to Germany around Christmas. They're planning to buy shoes there simply because you can't get warm enough shoes here in Australia. We just don't have that sort of climate.

If you're going somewhere REALLY wet, take shoes that are either waterproof or dry really quickly.

If you need to take more than one pair
If you've tried and tried to work out how you can only take one pair of shoes, and no single pair covers all your likely needs, then you may have to succumb to packing an extra pair. If this is the case, make sure both pairs are light. Wear the heaviest, bulkiest shoes on your flights as this will cut down bulk and the amount you have to carry.

Pack a plastic bag that you can store the extra shoes in, so that any dirt doesn't get spread around inside your luggage.

The MOST important thing, though is that ANY shoes you take are COMFORTABLE!

clothes for traveling light

If you're planning to travel light, you're going to need to choose your clothes wisely. Whether you're putting together a travel wardrobe for yourself or for your kids, there's a bit of planning involved.

We have talked about which items of clothing and how many are a good idea in older blog post, so I won't go into that again right now.

The idea of travelling light in terms of clothes is to limit what you take, and wash it more often. Some tips for choosing your clothes for travelling light:

• All your clothes should mix and match. Everything should be able to be worn with everything else. One way of doing this is to keep to a completely neutral palette. If you like a bit of colour, maybe your hat could be brightly coloured, or maybe all your t-shirts/shirts could be the coloured items that you wear. Otherwise, if you don't mind looking like my daughter Bendy, just don't worry about putting odd colours and patterns together! (She is well known for putting patterns with as many patterns as she can. The more the merrier! And it suits her bright and happy personality.)


• Choose clothes that don't wrinkle easily. Even though you'll be living out of a suitcase, you don't have to look like you are! To test this in a shop, grab a handful of the fabric and give it a good hard scrunch in your hand. Let it go, and if it looks completely crushed, leave it there on the hanger. You do not want to be ironing clothes on your holiday. That would mean either taking an iron with you (weight you do not need to carry!) or finding one at the place you are staying. Its better not to have to do either!


• Choose clothes that dry quickly. Heavy cords and jeans do not dry quickly. Don't even think about taking them! Many synthetic (or synthetic blend) fabrics dry quickly. Cotton does not.


• Choose fabrics that breathe well. In order to get quick drying clothing, we could wear nylon everything, however nylon does not breathe well. You don't want to feel like you're living in a sauna, so you need clothes that breathe.


• Choose clothes that can be easily hand washed in a hotel sink. Don't choose dry-clean only clothes! The ability to wash all that you take in the hotel sink will mean that everything can be washed out at the end of each day, ready for the next.


• Where possible, take items that can double up. Some people swear by taking sarongs, because they can be used in so many different ways. For the ladies they can be a skirt. They can cover shoulders in the churches you might want to visit where modesty is important. They can be wrapped around your head as a scarf for sun or dust protection. A sarong can also be used as a picnic blanket, a beach towel, a bag for dirty clothing... I haven't bothered with a sarong on my travels, except for the trip where I bought my sarong in Tahiti. I haven't missed it when I haven't had it with me, but others may find them useful.
  
  Some people absolutely loathe zip off pants. I have two pairs, and I must say that I like them. Sure, they look a bit dorky, and they do scream tourist, but I find them great for the days where the temperature starts cool, gets REALLY hot, and then cools off again. It also means that by taking them, I'm taking 4 pairs of pants instead of just two: two pairs of shorts, two pairs of long pants. I also wear them at home when I know that I'll have to be out walking in the rain a lot, because mine dry really quickly. If you don't like them, that's fine, but some people do.


• Choose clothing that is culturally sensitive to the places that you are visiting. If you will be visiting places of worship such as mosques, churches, temples etc, dress modestly. In many places, short skirts, shorts, bare arms, bare shoulders, bare heads are not culturally appropriate. Do a bit of research before you travel to find out what will be appropriate, so that you do not offend your hosts or appear to be offering more of yourself than you had in mind...
  
  When we were in Rome and visiting St Peter's Basilica, there was a family who had obviously not read the guidebooks. At least one among their party was wearing shorts. Of course, they were not allowed in. They were completely indignant about this: "But that's cheating!" (why, I don't know!). Do your homework.


• Make sure all your clothes fit you properly and are comfortable. If you wouldn't wear it at home, you won't wear it when you're on holidays. I made the mistake of assuming that a pair of pants that I put in for The Bookworm, fitted her. After a few days of our holiday, she told me that the waist was too large and they kept falling down. Now, I'm not sure if they had just never fit her (as our kids have a lot of hand-me-downs, and she has a very skinny waist) or whether the elastic had perished. But it meant a quick hand-sew fix in the hotel room, with one of my very precious needles that I had brought with me.


• Choose clothing that can be layered. For warm weather, you'd wear the lightest layer. For colder temperatures you will add more layers. This way, you won't have to take twice as much if you are likely to encounter warm, cool or cold temperatures.

A lot of this sort of travel clothing can be purchased from travel or adventure stores, but keep in mind that not everything in these stores is going to fit the above criteria. And of course, some clothing in regular clothing stores might fit the bill perfectly, without the inflated "travel" pricetag! Read labels carefully, and do the scrunch test. You can't really test the quick-dry-ness of a piece of clothing unless you're sure you're going to keep it. I can't think of any shops that are happy for you to return clothing that has already been washed!

By shopping carefully and evaluating what you already own, you should be able to piece together a good travel wardrobe for yourself and the kids.

favourite travel items: collapsible bottles

On our last trip we took with us two collapsible water bottles. The ones we took were 1 litre Flexi-Bottles from Kathmandu (shown right), because that's our local outdoor gear shop. For people not in Australia, you'll probably find Platypus brand much easier to find.

We LOVED these bottles. Why? Oh, I'm so glad you asked!

• they collapse and roll up really small when empty
• they can be partially collapsed as the water is drunk, taking up less space in your pack
• they weigh only 27g/1oz (Kathmandu ones)
• they can be filled even with boiling water
• even though they flatten when empty, the gusseted base means they can stand up when full
• ours had a sports pop-top you can drink straight out of
• they're made of strong, durable plastic.

How did we use them?
We used them to carry extra water around with us each day, as a backup for when our individual water bottles were empty. Because they're strong, we could just put them in the backpack with all our other stuff. We also left them in the car if we knew we'd be coming back to it through the day.

We boiled water each night and poured it straight in to let it cool down. On a previous trip, we didn't take bottles that we could pour boiling water into, which meant that we had to pour it into our bowls and let it cool down like that. Pouring it straight into the bottles meant that we didn't have to worry about it spilling (especially as it could easily scald). We could leave the bottles out overnight to cool, or if we had a fridge, we could put them in there so that we had chilled water.

The water tasted fine, and didn't have a plasticy flavour at all. We had no problem with leaks, and I've even heard of people filling them up with hot water, putting some fabric around them, and using them as makeshift hot water bottles to keep themselves warm! Not a bad idea!

I highly recommend collapsible water bottles (Platypus brand shown left) for travelling with kids. It just meant that we didn't have to worry about running out of water on our daily tripping about, and when we didn't need them, they could be rolled up so wonderfully small. We saved money because we didn't have to buy bottled water. There's nothing like saving money, worry and effort for enjoying travel with kids!

Of course, you don't have to only use them for travel - they can be used any time!

Travel cup/mug comparison

When we travel we often eat in our room, for convenience when kids are tired at the end of the day, and would be too grumpy to eat out. Because of this we take a "picnic set" of sorts with us, consisting of 4 bowls, 4 plates, 4 mugs, disposable cutlery and a chopping mat.

While what we took last time worked ok, we are always interested to know if we can do better: either lighter or take up less space.

Whatever we consider, it has to be suitable for adults to eat off with it sitting on their laps, and unlikely to be easily knocked over by young children. You know how they get distracted, turn around, and - OOPS! - there goes the dinner/drink onto the floor!

Today I'm going to do a cup/mug comparison. Our criteria are as follows:

• can take hot liquids, for John's cups of tea and my hot chocolates
• are stable enough not to be easily knocked over
• are as light as possible
• are as compact as possible
• can be successfully picked up by the kids
• can be moved across the room from where the food is served to where it will be consumed, without squashing and spilling

Last time we took a set of 4 plastic mugs from Kathmandu with us (see below). Having taken our scales with us all around our local shops, these were the lightest that we could find. They weighed only 31g each but don't stack very compactly, measuring 15 x 8 x 10cm when stacked. They came in a plastic carry case, but we did not take them in it - unnecessary extra weight! We just put them in a long tube plastic bag (one that the newspaper was delivered in, actually!) to keep them together.
The stats: weight: 31g/1.1oz | dimensions: 10 x 8 x 6cm/4 x 3 x 2.5" | capacity: 150ml/5 fl oz | plastic

Since then, in my online travels, I have found the following options:

• Fold a cup: These cups are apparently standard issue to the Swedish and Norwegian armies. They are sturdy, solid looking and unbreakable. Reviews from people who have had them for years and years say that they last and last really well. They look to be extremely stable.
  The stats: weight: 28g/1oz | dimensions: (closed) 2.5 x 9cm/1 x 3.5" | capacity: 200ml/7 fl oz | crush-proof plastic


• Flatterware collapsible cup: I'm sorry, but I've never though that these sound like a very successful idea. I just think surely they must leak? They look reasonably stable, because of their base, but I'd be almost sure that kiddie fingers would experiment with collapsing them with their drink still in it... Too much of a temptation, I'd say! However, if you were just using them to take your daily medication with, they'd probably be fine - because you're not likely to keep it full for very long, so they wouldn't have much time to leak.
  The stats: weight: 85g/3oz | dimensions: (closed) 3 x 9cm/1.25 x 3.5" | capacity: 350ml/12 fl oz | material: plastic


• Light My Fire spill-free cup: These cups have a lid that you can use to make the cup spill proof. The lid, which has a sip spout, is attached by a cord, so you won't lose it. It has lines marking 100, 200 and 300ml. Because they are quite squat, they look very stable. They are microwave safe - a plus if you happen to encounter a microwave when you are travelling! I do wonder about the usefulness of the "handle" for holding it, though I suppose big hands could hold it around its body - little hands might not be able to.
  The stats: weight: 65g/2.4oz | dimensions: 15 x 11 x 5cm/5.75 x 4.5 x 1.9" | capacity: 300ml/10 fl oz | material: polypropylene


• Guyot Designs squishy bowl & cup set: These come in a set with bowl and cup - you can't buy them separately. They're squishy, so they're obviously not going to break, and you can fit them in the spaces in your luggage. They look like they'd be reasonably stable on the table. As for little hands picking them up, I would hope that they are not too squishy - hopefully the kids wouldn't just pick them up and accidentally squeeze everything out all over themselves! They're made from silicone, so they're heat resistant. (Picture from www.guyotdesigns.com)
  The stats (cup only): weight: 48g/1.7oz | dimensions: 6 x 9cm/2.45 x 3.45" | capacity: 200ml/6 fl oz | material: food grade silicone


• Orikaso mug: These are just the most amazing idea! A piece of plastic that folds up into a mug. Wow - that's origami for you! They are very lightweight, and when unconstructed can be completely flat (though I'd say the plastic would have a bit of memory along the folds). I'd be concerned about a couple of things: that they would conduct heat too well, making them difficult to hold comfortably despite the handle, and that they're so lightweight that they'd be easy to knock off the table if only partly full.
  The stats: weight: 85g/1.9oz | dimensions: 11.5 x 10.5 x 9.5cm/4.5 x 4.25 x 3.75" (constructed), 25 x 24.5cm/10 x 9.75" (flat)| capacity: 200ml/6 fl oz | material: polypropylene


• Sea to Summit X mug: These mugs are made of silicone and collapse concertina-style to form a flattish disc. The mug has a hard plastic ring so that it maintains its shape, especially when you pick it up. The ring is the part you hold if it contains hot drinks, though being silicone it would be pretty heat resistant anyway. The base is reasonably wide, so should be fairly stable. It would be interesting to see if these have too large a diameter for the kids to pick up easily. These cups could possibly double as a breakfast bowl, having by far the largest capacity of all the cups compared here.
  The stats: weight: 60g/2.1oz | dimensions: 11 x 11 x 7.5cm/4.5 x 4.5 x 3" (expanded), 11 x 11 x 1.5cm/4.5 x 4.5 x 0.6" (flat)| capacity: 480ml/0.5 quarts | material: silicone

Well, that's my list. Please feel free to add your suggestions for other cup/mugs and any reviews of any of these products in the comments section.

I'm still really undecided about which is our best option. I think perhaps my ideal solution doesn't exist yet. All of the above cups and mugs have their good points and bad points. I think I'll have to get back to you.

make your own gear: finding clothing patterns

I often enjoy looking at other people's packing lists. On some of the Ultralight (UL) and super-ultralight (SUL) backpacking websites, you can read really interesting articles about people's efforts to cut the amount and weight of stuff down so that they can travel REALLY light. I look at these lists and think "Yes, but how much does all this cost?" Beside the weight column, I often wish they had another column: cost!

Because a lot of technology and experimentation goes into the high-tech fabrics and gear that people use for these sorts of exploits, the dollars add up pretty quickly! BUT if you make your own gear, this can considerably reduce the cost.

However, one of the most difficult aspects of making your own gear for travelling light is trying to find patterns to use. If you're like me and are incredibly jealous of those people who can draft their own clothing patterns, but are not able to do it yourself, you're going to have to find a suitable pattern from somewhere. Most of the regular clothing pattern companies don't really do patterns that are purpose-designed for outdoor gear, so you have to look further.

In my online travels, these are the ones I have found:

• Jalie patterns. Jalie make contemporary ultra-multisize sewing patterns (from child to adult) for outdoor gear, sportswear (cycling, gymnastics, skating, swimming, and ballet), maternity and casual wear.


• Green Pepper Patterns. Adult and children's outdoor clothing, and acccessories such as hats and bags.


• Shelby Extreme Materials and Gear. Outdoor clothing tested by the Finnish Scouts! Both shareware and retail patterns.


• Thru-Hiker.com. Kits for outdoor gear, including materials needed. Not available as patterns only. Forum community to help with construction and any questions.


• Sew-Go patterns. Bags, tents, bike bags, sleeping bags, clothing, etc.


• Controlled Exposure Patterns. Hat, gloves, gaiters, pants.


• The Rainshed. Books and patterns for outdoor gear.

If you know of other patterns for outdoor gear, please let me know, and I will add them to the list.

more on packing cubes

Have been reading up more about packing cubes. (Mesh packing cubes from Magellan's shown right.)

One really good case FOR them is that when your bags are searched by airport officials, they don't mess everything up so much, because they can simply take out the cubes and put them each through the scanner.

I reckon that even though we use Doug Dyment's wonderful clothes packing method, the whole bundle could still be put into a packing cube to keep them neatly bundled.

I DO like the idea of everything being nicely sectioned off, so that all the little things don't fall to the bottom of the luggage. I'm really getting close to wanting to try them.

Now, I wonder if they could help me organise my office and keep it nice and tidy...?! Maybe that's going a bit far...

Self-catering: How do we do it?

OK, so one of the best parts of the travel experience is surely the experience of food. In a previous post, we mentioned kids and restaurant behaviour. We love to take our kids to restaurants so they can experience dining out, as well as experience the local cuisine. But it can be expensive, and add to the general unsettledness that kids feel when away from home. We have found that self-catering in our hotel room is possible, though it calls for a LOT of creative thinking!

To prepare for the self-catering experience, here's what we take with us:

• 4 x plastic plates
• 4 x plastic bowls
• 4 x plastic cups
• 6 sets of disposable picnic cutlery
• 1 x flexible cutting mat (ours is actually a Tupperware freebie giveaway cutting mat)
• 1 x washing up brush
• concentrated washing up liquid (less than 100ml, to comply with LAG regulations)
• a universal sink plug
• 1 x quick dry face washer to use as a teatowel

Naturally, we have weighed everything - and we never buy expensive items. We had two bowls cracked through careless baggage handlers when we used to do checked luggage, so it all has to be cheap. We went with disposable picnic cutlery because we really didn't know if it would be confiscated at customs: it wasn't (and we went through baggage screening in Sydney, Hong Kong, Paris, Lisbon and London).

Here's some things we have done. Firstly, find a supermarket, general store, or similar near to your hotel. For example, in Seville, we found a small shopping centre about 5 minutes walk from our hotel. In Paris, we used small stores such as boulangeries, greengrocers and cafes. Even in Tahiti, where we stayed at a very plush hotel, we walked about 20 minutes to the local Carrefour supermarket (where the cheese counter was breathtakingly huge, and stocked full of French cheeses. Mmmm...!).

These sorts of stores are the self-catering key to success. Secondly, scope out your hotel room for possible equipment bonuses. Sometimes they have fridges. OK, so these aren't always very cold, but they open up the possibilities. A few have had microwaves - but they are a rarity. Many have tea and coffee facilities, including either a kettle or a coffee machine. The equipment provided will dictate the limits of your catering options. 

KETTLE

One of the key appliances will be a kettle. There's a lot you can do with boiling water. For someone like me, the main thing is a decent cup of tea. If the hotel lacks tea-making facilities, I buy my own tea at the supermarket. In Portugal, we purchased a cheap kettle at a supermarket for the whole journey, then 'donated' it to our last hotel room. There are all sorts of substances in packages that you can turn into meals (or partial meals) simply by adding boiling water. These include soups, noodles and rice dishes.

When in America, we had to make do with the ubiquitous filter coffee machines. We had to run boiling water through them quite a few times to reduce the coffee taste! And I did wonder whether you could actually cook on the hotplate that sits underneath the coffee pot - though that's probably a safety hazard!

We boil fresh water each night and pour it into our 1 litre collapsible water bottles to cool down in preparation for use the next day. Boiling the water is a safety precaution against picking up some bugs or diseases, though obviously in some destinations you would need to do more than that to get safe drinking water.

KNIVES

In addition to a kettle, when we finally arrive at our longest land-based section of the holiday, we buy some cutting knives. We got a packet of two perfectly adequate vegetable/fruit knives in a Lisbon supermarket for only 0.50 eurocents. We use these for cutting fruit, vegetables, cheese, bread rolls - anything at all, really. Buy some knives - they are incredibly useful. Obviously we can't take them on planes any more...

PLASTIC WRAP

We also usually buy the cheapest roll of plastic food wrap, so we can contain any partly used food - half tomatoes, cheese etc. An alternative to this is ziplock bags that can be washed out when used, ready for re-use.

FOOD

Food ideas we have used successfully:

• Barbeque chickens (either hot or cold)
• Fresh bread rolls / baguettes / sliced bread
• Salad vegetables, such as tomato, lettuce - things which may not need refrigeration for a day or two if we don't have a fridge
• Some just-add-water rice or noodles
• Fresh fruit
• UHT milk, which doesn't need refrigeration. We spent two weeks in New England and Quebec surviving on powdered milk. By the time we got to our last week in New York we were positively craving fresh milk. Our walk to the supermarket each afternoon for a litre or two was a delicious treat.
• fruit juice in resealable cartons or boxes
• cheese (it doesn't always need refrigeration. The fromagerie we visited in Paris had hundreds of cheeses, NONE of which were refrigerated)
• tinned beans (a cheap alternative source of protein, instead of meat) with ring-pull lid - or you will need to buy a tin opener
• breakfast cereal

Sometimes we have purchased items such as yoghurt, fresh milk or ice-cream late in the afternoon - on the way back to the hotel - with the intention of eating it that night for dinner. In Paris, we were fortunate to have a cafe across the street from our hotel, where we were able to buy fresh croissants each morning for breakfast. Be sure to take advantage of opportunities like that!

PACKAGING

Take note of the packaging that your food comes in. Sometimes it can be transformed into something very useful, such as a storage container. We bought some cherries which came in a plastic box with a flip-top lid: and the box became a perfect holiday food storage container after we washed it up.

Obviously, once in the hotel room it can be a bit tricky to prepare all this food. The little writing tables sometimes provided are not designed to be as spacious as your kitchen! If chairs are provided in the room, we usually insist that the kids sit at the table to eat. This helps to contain the mess. Having them eat from plates delicately poised on their laps, or sitting on one of the beds is, to us, just asking for trouble. And trouble is what we try to avoid.

Washing up is done in the bathroom sink. Some hotels provide huge benchtops in their bathrooms. Make the most of these. Some provide little more than the sink itself. Either way, if your kids are old enough, they might need to pitch in to help clean up because there probably won't be room to neatly stack the washing up. Taking a universal sink plug is a good idea. Once we had a hotel room with a plug that didn't seal the hole very well, and found washing up frustrating to say the least. We also use some of the boiling water from the kettle to ensure that the water is hot enough to remove greasy food residue and to prevent bacterial growth on the plates.

kids travelling with a (small) friend

Particularly for small children, travelling to unknown places can be rather disconcerting and unsettling. Despite the fact that we espouse the idea of travelling light, we believe that favourite soft toys and blankies are really important.

If your child is going to be in new surroundings their best soft toy friend or blankie from home can be a real comfort. It provides familiarity when all around seems alien.

We have a few rules:

• the child may take only one “friend” and it must be small.
• the owner is responsible for that friend at all times.
• when leaving a plane, car, train, hotel or other accommodation, the child MUST be able to tell you where Bunny/Blankie/Dolly is at that moment, and preferably be able to SHOW you that it is in the luggage.
• if we are heading out on a day trip, Bunny must stay at the hotel, to look after the bags. Bags can get very lonely... If it is a long drive in a hire car, Bunny may come, but has to stay in the car.

So far Bunny (below, aged 3 - still slightly pink - now nearly 8, and no longer pink) has been to 11 countries apart from Australia and is still with us.

packing cubes - are they any good?

I've been wondering about packing cubes. We've never used them.

Sometimes I think, "but they'll just add more weight to what we have to carry", but other times I think, "if we're carrying so little in order to fit under the weight limit, we're either going to need smaller bags, or some way of stopping everything from just tumbling around in the bag."

Just to be clear here, I'm not talking about vacuum type bags that squeeze everything down and take up less space. I'm talking about bags that help to organise the space in your bag. The ones shown left are eBags Packing Cubes from Amazon.

Last trip, our bags were mostly filled up with large emptiness i.e. the car booster seats (which were mostly air) took up a lot of space, and very little of the weight limit. If we'd filled the same space with clothes, the bags would have been much heavier.

Therefore, next time, without the booster seats, the bags are going to be much more empty, because we still can't go over the weight limit.

Because we use Doug Dyment's wonderful clothes packing method we have a nicely shaped bundle of clothes all together. But then there's just lots of little things that can float around the bag. When the bag gets stood upright, I figure that without the car seats, all the little things will fall to the bottom in a chunky mess.

This is where I wonder if packing cubes can help me. On many of the travel packing websites people rave about packing cubes. There are lots of different brands including Rick Steves, eBags and Eagle Creek.

I'm thinking that if I can convince John (my husband), we might try them on our next trip. Personally, I think that they would help to keep all the little things in order and in place. Would that be right, in your opinion?

more about our packing list

Yesterday's post on our packing list showed you all the things that we took last holiday. So what did we find useless and what do we wish we had been able to take?

What we didn't need
As it turned out, we didn't go swimming anywhere, so the swimming costumes, the flotation device and the goggles were not needed. However, they're things that I would still take with us "just in case" next time, on a summer holiday. There would be nothing worse than wanting to have a swim and not being able to for lack of the right things! Next time though, we won't need the flotation device as their swimming lessons have brought their skills on quite a bit.

Travel Cluedo and Uno - we just didn't have time for these! Because we were out most of the time, if we were in our room, any spare time was taken up with writing in our diaries. Maybe if we'd been stuck in transit anywhere for a long time they would have been worthwhile, but they didn't even get opened!

Next time we may not need the booster seats - for us these are about our kids being short and not being able to see out of the car windows. We'll have to see how much they have grown by the time we next head off on a trip!

We didn't use the packaging tape, but I'd rather have it just in case. Because we're travelling light, you never know when it might be useful to be able to post something home. Packaging tape would be really useful for that. Of course, if push came to shove and something had to go, packaging tape would be top of the list!

What I would have liked to take
I've mentioned before that I'd love to have some small enough (less than 100ml to comply with Liquids-Aerosols-Gels restrictions) ice bricks to keep things cool when we are travelling. I still haven't been able to find any, but this morning on the Kathmandu website, I found a product that is worth searching out: ice mat coolers. It says that they are not available at all stores - yes, well I've certainly never seen them at our local store. They may not end up being the right size, but from the picture it looks like you could cut them down if you needed to. They'd have to be well labelled too, or the airport security people might not know what they are, and therefore prohibit them.

Next time we may take a Birko food and drink heater. We would use this for "cooking" in our room. Before going, I will need to work on and try out some Birko "recipes" to make sure that it will be useful enough to justify. Its not really heavy, but its not really light either, so I will need to weigh up (ha ha!) whether the weight is worth it for its usefulness. However, my aunt and uncle took theirs on several overseas trips and found it incredibly useful.

Travelling light with kids: packing list

When you travel with kids you can take a ridiculous amount of STUFF with you. BUT, you don't have to! We find that travelling light with kids is completely liberating. There's less stuff to lug around, and there's less stuff to lose. We think it is the best way to travel!

It definitely makes it easier if you have a packing list to work from, as you can check that the things you need are in, and everything else is optional and probably could/should be left at home. Take your packing list with you, and use it to check that you've still got everything with you along the way... nothing left behind in hotel rooms or cars or on planes or trains!

Whenever we looked for something to include in our luggage, our rule was that it had to be small and light. Everything was weighed before its approval to be included.

Following is the list of stuff that we took with us on our recent 3 week Europe summer holiday, which was to both reasonably temperate and HOT locations.

Luggage

• 2 x 40L rolling bags/backpacks
• 1 cabin luggage size rolling bag (a gift, not our choice really...)
• 2 foldaway daypacks - one used as carryon luggage, the other packed in luggage
• 1 small handbag with shoulder straps
• one money pouch
• one money belt

Clothes
Each person took the following items. Wherever possible, these were quick-dry, breathable wash and wear fabrics. We decided regular washing was better than taking heaps of clothes. It only took about 15 minutes each night to wash everything in the hotel ensuite hand basin, and squeeze and hang it all out.

It was difficult to find quick-dry clothes for kids, so I purchased specialty fabric and made my own.

• 1 pair of long pants
  
• 3 t-shirts or blouses
• 2 shorts/skirts (3 for the kids)
• 3 undies (the youngest member of the family is still prone to the occasional accident, so took 6 pairs)
• 1 swimming costume and rash vest/swimming t-shirt
• 1 hat
• 1 pair socks
• 1 nightdress/night shirt
• 1 pair of sandals
• 1 jumper/sweater
• 1 long sleeved thermal top
• 1 bra (for the adult female only!)
• 6 nappies (for the youngest member of the family only, just in case)

Toiletries

We kept these to an absolute minimum. We test drove our shampoos, conditioners and moisturisers beforehand to work out how much we would use over a week, multiplied it by three and added a little extra for good measure.

Between all of us, we took:

• a small pot of moisturiser
• 2 x 75ml bottles of shampoo
• 2 x 75ml bottles of conditioner
• a travel-size bar of soap
• 2 x 100ml tubes of sunscreen
• 2 travel-size tubes of toothpaste (one adult formulation, one child formulation)
• a solid deodorant stick
• 1 x 75ml bottle of dish-washing liquid
• one electric shaver
• one safety razor
• 4 toothbrushes
• one comb
• one small hairbrush
• one pack of paracetamol tablets
• personal prescribed medications (and copies of the prescriptions)
• tampons
• hankies

Kitchen items

Because we did a lot of self catering, we needed to take some kitchen items with us so that we could have picnics and eat in our hotel room.

• 4 plates
• 4 bowls
• 4 cups
• plastic cutlery: 6 spoons, 6 knives, 6 forks
• 2 very small plastic containers with tight-fitting lids
• bendable thin plastic cutting mat
• universal sink plug (you never know when you might not get one in your room!)
• 4 empty water bottles
• 2 drink bottle bags (purpose made to fit the water bottles - our kids carried their own water in their own bags that had a long string to sling over their shoulders)
• washing up brush
• 2 collapsible water bottles
• microfibre face washer to use as a dish drying towel

Laundry

Often people suggest that you should take a thin nylon bag  for dirty laundry etc. We don't bother - usually we end up buying something along the way that comes with a plastic bag. We just use the plastic bag to collect the dirty laundry for a day or two, until we wash them in the ensuite sink. This will be more of a problem as plastic bags are phased out around the world.

• we packed a small drinkbottle with washing powder, that also doubled as a stain remover as when heaped on stains it removes them. Unfortunately it was confiscated at our departure airport because it was detergent. Next time we'll try again in bottles less than 100ml. We used handbasin soap for our washing in the end - not great, but better than nothing...
• pegless clothesline

Car travel

We decided to take our children's car seats with us - just less hassle.

• 2 base-only booster seats (these were packed IN the luggage)

Miscellaneous stuff

• plug adaptors
• 2 door stopper wedges
• 4 postpaks (padded mailers) - for use as mailers if necessary, and our clothes packing cores
• 4 luggage locks (all keyed alike)
• USB stick
• 2 umbrellas
• thank you gifts
• small sewing kit (no scissors!!)
• battery charger
• digital SLR camera, extra lens, batteries
• tripod
• small digital camera, batteries
• netbook computer
• 4 neck pillows
• 5 sets earplugs
• 4 eyemasks
• packaging tape (end of a roll, so not much on it - deliberately)
• swimming flotation device
• swimming goggles x 1
• ziplock bags
• 2 small microfibre Sea to Summit Tek Towels
  
• travel documents
• photocopies of all documentation

Entertainment

• 2 colouring/activities books
• 2 childrens stories
• 2 small soft toys
• coloured pencils
• crosswords (saved from the daily paper for a week or two)
• Uno card game
• Travel Cluedo
• 2 child "blankies"
• 4 lined/blank books for travel diaries
• 4 pens