Traveling Tricks of the Trade

Wunderbar!

Every now and then you stumble upon something truly excellent—this is one of those moments. I've found some travel tricks that really look like they'll come in handy. Some are simpler and intuitive; others are downright MacGuyver-esque. Here's a list of some of the ones I found most useful:

• Talcum Powder - Toss a little under your arms on feet or anywhere else (*ahem*) to prevent sweating and the resulting smell/blisters/rashes, or use for brushing off sand from beach. Gold Bond Medicated Powder is supposedly the best, but different people also used St. Luke's, baby powder, or just plain talcum powder. Baking soda can work as a good antiperspirant as well. Someone else reports a little pale yellow plastic tub she found in Thailand that is the "absolute bomb-shiznat", so if you're in the area you could look for some. Speaking of Thailand...
• Tiger Balm - Must be the Asian kind. Great for stopping the itch of nasty insect bites. 
• Trash bag liner - Use these inside your backpack as a liner—if you pack two, you can use them to separate clothing as well. Added benefits: 1) keeps the contents of your backpack nice and dry and 2) you can pull everything out in a cinch. Of course, if your pack opens from the front this might actually get in the way, so YMMV.
• Empty pillow case - When looking to take a nap, you can easily stuff clothes in these to act as a pillow, and if yours has a zipper it can double as a safe for your money/money belt while you're sleeping. While on the move, these can also be used as a bag to separate dirty clothes.
• Safety pins - People list all kinds of uses for these. One of the more useful ones was using one to attach your money belt to the corner of your towel when you go to the communal showers in hostels so you don't forget it afterward. Another ingenious use was to close off your pockets to prevent pick-pocketing. Some other possible uses are hanging laundry or making minor repairs.
• Iodine - Besides its disinfecting properties, many use a few drops of iodine in sketchy water for purification. A few drops in water also apparently works as a remedy for food poisoning. Who knew!
• 100% Aloe vera - Use this little slice of magic to heal sunburns overnight to with no peeling, close deep cuts overnight with no scarring, get rid of rashes, or kill athlete's foot. 
• Makeshift contact cases - Lost your contact case? A shot glass apparently works pretty well, and the plastic caps from a soda/water bottle are a perfect fit!
• Duct tape - Ah yes, the tape with 1,000 uses. You're bound to run across one in your travels. The whole roll takes up space though, so many suggest wrapping some around your flashlight or water bottle. 
• Drain plugs - No drain plug? No problem! Try the top of a milk carton, or just stuff a sock in there to slow things down long enough for you to wash your clothes. I would not suggest putting that sock on immediately afterward though.
• Taping your camera - Speaking of tape, one person taped up their camera to make it less attractive to thieves.
• Scanned passport copy - Scan your passport and e-mail yourself a copy that can be easily shown or printed anywhere in addition to the copy you should already have in your bag/money belt.
• Pickpocket protection - When leaving your pack behind, leave a few bucks and an expired or cancelled credit card in an obvious place. Some would-be thieves will stop looking once they find your "stash". Those worried about getting robbed can also keep a dummy money clip with a small amount and an unusable card in your pocket to hand off to would-be crooks. Another idea was to carry a few cheap wallets to use as dummies, either in your bag or on your person. Personally though, I like another person's suggestion of sewing a pocket onto the inside of your pants somewhere. Sneaky!
• For heat - Drink hot tea, take a shower as hot as you can stand it, or wear MORE clothing for extreme heat. The explanation was surprisingly logical here on the clothing: up until the outside temperature reaches your body temperature you want to wear less clothing to keep the air flow going, but above your body temperature you want to use clothing to insulate yourself from the extra heat and keep the (relative) coolness around your body. Also remember that lighter colors reflect.
• Floral essences - Try sticking some kind of fragrance—say incense, smelling herbs or dried flowers—inside your bag to keep everything smelling fresh. Some apparently use dryer sheets for this as well; one person even stuck one in her money belt as it was the only thing that never got washed and was starting to get funky.
• For seasickness -  Glad I don't have this problem! If you do, put a freshly cut slice of ginger between your cheek and teeth. 
• Shoestrings / nylon string - Have a spare shoestring? Try hanging it from a leaking faucet in the exact position that's dripping. This is another item that could have 101 uses.
• Blister prevention - Tons of advice on this—you're bound to hike long distances on the road, after all. Besides the talcum powder tip listed above, there were also recommendations on cutting off women's stockings to shove in your boots, double-socking it, lubing up your boots with vaseline or simply wearing wool/moisture wicking socks. Many mentioned moleskin as well. Cotton socks are a no-no.

Next time I'll have to post a roundup of useful traveling gear we've bought for the trip.

Is MacGuyver your middle name? Do you have any traveling tips of your own? Let us know in the comments.