travelbunny

New favorite travel trick!

2 Comments

This is not a new trick, though I just learned it myself. But I love it! Putting a bar of soap (I generally use the soap where you can’t get travel sized unless you use it down to travel size then put it in your bag 😉 . Also travel sized stuff is overpriced and wasteful.) in the microwave for about 20 seconds on a paper towel then cutting a slice off of it that is small enough for your travel soap container.

See it in action here (it gets to the interesting part about 1:09):

I like the smaller containers that I used to get from Daiso, sorry there’s no link I haven’t seen them for a while, but they fit the sample sized bars of JR Liggett soap perfectly. I mostly hoarded them in my Ready-To-Go bags. But primarily I just used the worn down soaps that I had been using in the shower in this little zip pouch.

I also used to carry the smaller square soap Radius-style containers or others of the same size for the large Liggett bars (albeit after a few washes so that it would fit in the container – do you see a trend here? It’s almost like the hot dog and hot dog bun industries are in control of the travel soap industries. NOTHING MATCHES.)

So now I can take custom sized slabs of my various soaps, such as JR Liggett shampoo bar, Dove white bar (for my face and/or body), some Dr Bronners, the citrus scent and the lavender scent, for all sorts of things including washing clothes or making sure that I’m not sending chemicals into a sensitive environment.

(Also I like that all the soaps I can bring easily now come wrapped in compostable paper or cardboard… or even better, no packaging! I’m trying to eliminate the plastic packaging on my product choices.)

So what do you think? Will this help you? Or am I just a little obsessive about soap? LOL.

Let us know in the comments!

travelbunny

Goodbye GateGuru :(

Hi GateGuru fans –

We are writing to inform you that we will be shutting down the GateGuru apps and service, effective January 18, 2019. On that date, opening the GateGuru app will just show an error message and no content will be available.

GateGuru was a great app for its time but we have decided to close the app. Over the past few years, as part of the TripAdvisor family, the talented team at GateGuru has been prioritizing their time and efforts to help consumers find the best flights for their money. The team can now continue their work to help travelers better compare itineraries, seats and amenities on TripAdvisor and SeatGuru to help them get the best flight for their trip-at the best value.

We couldn’t leave without expressing our heartfelt appreciation for all of the GateGuru users who used the product and submitted content for all their fellow travelers. Thank you to the entire GateGuru community for going on this journey with us.

Best,

The GateGuru Team
— Read on gateguru.com/

NightFlightTravelDuffle, Tom Bihn, Travel: The Americas, travelbunny, Wisconsin

New iPad and Night Flight Travel Duffle

I was happy to have gotten a new iPad for my birthday (and I can use the Apple Pencil now! Great for my design work!) but was bemoaning the fact that my old iPad mini fit so perfectly in my NFTD.

Lo and behold, the new larger iPad tucks in just fine on top! I can live with that 🙂

EDIT: looks like my search fu in the Tom Bihn forums let me down. This (and much more good info) was discussed.  🙂

travelbunny

Alpaka Sling Video

This looks super useful for travel!

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Bags & Luggage, Synapse 25, TeamUltraviolet, Tom Bihn, Travel: Packing List, travelbunny, Wisconsin

Riding the Rails prep

I’m doing a preliminary pack for a long weekend in February (I’ll be kind of riding the rails so I wanted to be super mobile). I haven’t flown American Eagle with my Aeronaut 30 yet and I didn’t want to take the risk of it being gate checked – because O’Hare airport is consistently the airport of chaos and evil. Instead, I’ll be using my Synapse 25 and I loaded it up with just the basics to see how it feels.

So far I have socks and underwear, a merino wool shirt, pajamas, my sleep system and charging cords in the TB Packing Cube Shoulder Bag and travel cubelet (both in Island blue, either of which can be used as a purse while I’m there), flip flops in a shoe sleeve (from who knows where), my stuff pillow. Not pictured: my little kit that I never go anywhere without as well as my 3D organizer cube that I use as my purse catchall that I will clip into the top of the bag from the cache rails loops. I’ll have a long down coat that packs into its own envelope that will go in there when it arrives, a couple more T-shirts and probably a few more odds and ends or presents that I’m bringing people.

In the front side pocket, I have dry toiletries and a travel towel (see below for a list with linkies) that don’t need to be separated out for TSA.

In the other front side pocket I have a couple of shopping bags, a power plug, a couple of cables and things I might need to get to easily in the airport.

Front small pocket will have my ear buds and some batteries, bigger pocket will have a water bottle and my reusable straw.

The bottom front pocket has snacks (on the plane) and my fold up silicone mug. There will be more food in there before I leave but there’s lots of room left.

I bought the new frame sheet from Tom Bihn recently and I am excited to try it out on the Synapse 25. I already have the frame sheet for the Aeronaut 30. I used it when I went to Detroit last month and it really made a huge difference. (I carried my Aeronaut in Paris and much whining ensued about the long walk with ALL our stuff since the metro station nearest us was closed; the difference between carrying it without the panel vs. with it is incredible!)

I’ve had this backpack for several years now and while I do use it, I don’t use it as regularly as I would if I like the panel as much as I did on my Aeronaut. This might make the difference between being madly in love with it and just thinking it’s pretty cool.

I’ll definitely do a final set of pictures when I get all this packed up, for now, I’m pleased with the set up.

Dry Toiletries:

https://youtu.be/Ynedk112cAw