10) Travel Speakers – It is amazing how music has the power to bring people together and to turn a dull evening at a hostel into a lively social gathering of soon-to-be best friends. Sure you can use headphones for private listening, but like a good bottle of tequila, music is better shared. Gone are the days of the big bulky travel speakers that need to be connected to a wall plug. Today, most portable travel speakers are small, light weight and battery-powered, making them a perfect addition to any backpack. I use the X-Mini II Capsule Speakers and I am very happy with the sound quality and battery life. For more on travel speakers, see the Best Travel Speakers of 2001.
What item would you say is a must-pack for any long trip? All recommendations will be considered.
Here are 6 more items suggested by travel experts on Travel MSNBC http://on.msnbc.com/m3BvjD (6 essential items to ease your travel experience).
Hey! Thanks for including our sink-stopper suggestion and we'd like to add one more very important use for this lightweight and cheap item: covering shower drains to keep bugs and funky swamp gas smells out.
One more handy must-pack? A couple of large metal binder clips like you used to use to clip large stacks of papers together back in cubicle land (grab a couple on your way out the door).
They're perfect for clipping curtains closed so you can leave the breeze into your room without letting the whole work peak into your room.
Great list! I bring many of those things while traveling as well.
One of my unlikely must-haves is twist ties/cable ties (ie ty-wrap), they take up no space at all and often come in handy. I was using them in place of luggage locks for a while before I got luggage with tsa locks. Customs would often cut my lock to inspect my luggage so after a while I just used ty-wrap, cheaper than buying new locks every time and still pretty secure.
Twist ties keep my cords bundled, my bread fresh, double as key rings, tie up garbage bags, and they're a good reinforcement to keep zippers on bulging bags closed.
@Trans-Americas: I am heading to the hardware store for my sink stopper. Funky swamp gas and bugs rising from the bathroom drain sounds like a horror movie of the worst kind. Just for practice, I think that I am going to hand-wash some clothes this week in my bathroom sink. Thanks for adding the binder clip suggestion, I will see what I can find.
@Ada: Great suggestion. I always carry zip ties in a Ziploc bag (a genuine MacGyver wanna be). Although I recently discovered and bought TSA approved luggage locks, I will still carry a few zip ties just in case the need arises. As in the case of my last trip when I bought one lock, not taking into account that my backpack had two points of entry, so one lock wasn't enough. What saved the day – Zip ties
Really, I would have thought your camera, fishing rod and passport would have made the list.
Well my fishing rod is a must for me but I don't think that too many people people would take up valuable space with fishing gear. The camera and the passport – I hope no one forgets those two.