Tag Archives: Essentials

Travel Tips: Solid vs. Liquid Products

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Lush products that are great for travel. Or are they?

Lush products are great for travel. Or are they? Photos by Lush.

 

Over the last two years we’ve traveled a lot. But on most trips we’ve been forced to check our luggage due to highly restrictive carry-on requirements imposed by our long-time air carrier of choice: Uzbekistan Airways. I mean choice with a bit of wink and nudge, mostly because Uz Air was just about the only carrier we could fly internationally while we were posted in Tashkent, and they had a very serious 8kg carry-on restriction. As a result, even our smallest carry-on suitcase had to be checked, despite the fact that most flights were less than 50 percent full and there was a ton of available space in the overhead bins. While it wasn’t always convenient to wait for luggage after a flight (Tashkent International Airport, I’m looking at you), it was nice to be able to pack a sufficient amount of toiletries for a two-to-three week trip.

Adapting to carry-on only travel has been a bit challenging. On our first domestic US flight we were held up at the TSA checkpoint in Houston because Paul packed his Leatherman tool in his carry-on. Um, no, that’s not allowed through security, my friends. His excuse for the oversight? That he’d been packing it in his small suitcase on every trip for the last two years, so he just did what came naturally. He also forgot to pack his dopp kit on that trip, but that’s a story for another day. Figuring out how to get all the lotions and potions into containers less than 100ml that all fit in a quart-sized bag should be second nature after more than a decade of such restrictions, but somehow the magic still eludes.

So of course I was thrilled to read about Lush’s solid shampoos, conditioners, and soaps as I was looking for product alternatives for our nearly three-week jaunt across Mexico. I’ve enjoyed a variety of Lush products over the years, especially their bath bombs (most of them, anyway. One day ask me about the one that left seaweed sludge all over the tub. Ick.). A few days before our trip Paul, my sister Cheryl, and I headed to the only Lush outlet in Houston, located at the Macy’s in the Galleria. Like most Lush shops, the space was small, but packed with the usual wonderful variety of products and scents.

We honed in on the solid products and spent a good ten minutes with one of the associates who explained the various options for shampoo, soap, lotion, conditioner, and toothpaste. We sniffed and rubbed and washed and lotioned and finally settled on the quintet of products you see in the photo collage. I’ll leave you to check out Lush’s site for specific ingredient details, but here’s a quick and dirty (ha!) review of the stuff we’re traveling with.

From top left:
Peace Massage Bar ($13.95 for 2.3 oz.): This lotion bar smells divine, and it was tough for us to choose which of the massage and lotion bars to take. I loved the fragrance mix, but Paul found it a bit overpowering. It melts beautifully into the skin, leaving a soft sheen once it’s rubbed in. However, it isn’t long-lasting at all, and in less than a week we’d used more than half of it. I’ve been conserving it and bought a small pot of Nivea at the local supermarket. For the price, I wouldn’t buy this product again to use as a lotion since it runs down so quickly.

Dirty Toothy Tabs ($4.95 for 20): These have been a fantastic surprise. Two boxes of these tablets take up about as much space as a travel-sized tube of toothpaste and don’t count against your quart-sized baggie of liquids and gels. While I don’t think that this variety tastes like mint, as advertised, the tabs do foam up nicely and clean the teeth well with a mixture of baking soda and neroli oil. They lack fluoride, which is okay for relatively short-term travel. The taste takes some getting used to, but I would absolutely buy these again for travel.

Trichomania Shampoo Bar ($9.95 for 3.5 oz.): This shampoo bar is for coconut lovers! Paul and I both tend to have slightly dry hair, so we asked for the most moisturizing shampoo in their shop. The coconut scent is sweet but not overwhelming, and the lather is rich and creamy. I’ve actually used the lather as body soap on the days I wash my hair because there’s a lot of it and it doesn’t seem to make my skin dry. This is the longest-lasting bath product we purchased, and our chunk of the bar is still going strong after two weeks. It’s also worked well for quick clothes-washing, just a quick swipe over the garment to be washed. With all that we’ve used about 1/4 to 1/3 of it. I won’t need to buy more before our next travel, but if I did, I would definitely buy this again.

Honey I Washed the Kids Soap Bar ($7.95 for 3.5 oz): This soap has a sweet, subtle honey scent, and comes complete with a little edge of beeswax straight from the hive. As much as I love the scent of this soap, we used it up very quickly (hence I’m washing with the Trichomania). It’s not a very dense product, and despite carefully conserving the bar in a soapdish that closes, it just doesn’t have much staying power. I would not buy this again (despite the heavenly scent) and I’d opt for a bar of Dove or Caress in the future.

Jungle Conditioner ($8.95, 2 oz.): Despite how short our hair is, Paul and I both like to use a bit of conditioner. This conditioner bar has a nice scent, though it’s a bit heavy on the sandalwood. Unfortunately, like the Honey I Washed the Kids soap, this bar disappeared pretty quickly. After reviewing the Lush site, it seems we may have been overusing it. It doesn’t make your hair slick the way liquid conditioner does. In fact, it’s quite hard to even sense that it’s on your hair while it’s wet, but it does work as advertised. I might buy this one again to see if more judicious use still gives a good result.

To protect all your goodies, Lush also sells aluminum containers sized for the products. They are lightweight and the product fits perfectly into them. It’s nice that they are made from a recyclable material, and even if you choose not to refill it with a Lush product, it makes a good travel accessory or mini container.

Overall I like the Lush solid products, but I’m not convinced that they are the perfect solution for travelers. However, just freeing up the space that shampoo and toothpaste take up makes a huge difference for me. Even though all of the products weren’t wins for travel, I did enjoy using all of them!

Travel Blog Spotlight: Her Packing List

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I haven’t quite gotten a blogroll or list of links I love together, but I thought I’d start a series spotlighting travel (and food) blogs I love. Today’s entry is Her Packing List. As the title indicates, it’s a website dedicated to helping female travelers pack their bags and get on the road. I have to admit that this blog won me over with post titles such as A Packing List for Girls with Ginormous Boobs. I promise this post will remain family friendly, despite that title :).

Her Packing List is such a well-organized site, offering readers easy-to-access information in a handful of categories: Packing Gear, Electronics, Clothing, Toiletries, Extra Bits, and Stories and Advice. While the blog does offer quite a number of product reviews by the contributors (who receive items free of charge for a fair and honest review), it also offers smart packing tips, how-tos, and ways to MacGyver your packing to keep it light and functional.

Resources for specific locales and itineraries. Great stuff!

One of the greatest features, though, is the “Ultimate Packing List for…” feature. Each list gives a destination, such as San Francisco, provides a brief overview of the destination and a list of suggested items to pack, from clothing to shoes and specialty items that might make life in that part of the world a little easier. There are packing lists for unusual trips, such as carnival in Brazil, and specialty lists and recommendations for vegan travelers, the aforementioned well-endowed chicks, and first aid items.

For those planning extensive travel and backpacking there is a fabulous collection of reviews of backpacks by their users. These are real reviews from the field on the features, benefits, and drawbacks of several commonly available backpack models. There are a handful of reviews of other luggage, bags, and packing resources.

Overall this site is easy to use and chock full of information. Even if you’re the greatest packer in the world, you’ll find a useful tip or idea on Her Packing List.

Favorite Stuff to Travel With

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I’m not the lightest packer in the world, but I do OK. I have several gadgets I like to travel with, so I compensate by taking fewer clothes and shoes (and then usually buy something on the road, which is a baaaaad habit I should overcome!) to make room for the things that really matter. There are a few smaller items that I usually tuck in my suitcase or backpack because they almost always get used somewhere along the way, but some of these are the bulky bits that I rarely leave behind.

Morning reflection on the lake at Khao Sok, Thailand

Morning reflection on the lake at Khao Sok, Thailand

1. Canon Rebel T1i: For years we kept saying we were going to get a good camera and for years we kept putting it off. Around the fall of 2010 we started saving up Amazon giftcards to put toward the new camera, and by Christmas we had nearly 80% of the cost covered. This is the first dSLR we’ve owned, and it’s been a learning experience. But from the beginning I’ve been able to take some fairly decent photos, so it goes along on every trip, despite its bulk and heft. I’ve added a 50mm lens to the kit, as well.

2. iPad: A little secret? Somewhere along the way I transitioned from being a Mac girl to being a PC/Android girl. It happened after I poured coffee into my iBook at 5 a.m., but that’s another story. This summer I bought an iPad2 and I admit I’m still on a learning curve. I do hate that many sites don’t work too well on the iPad, and that I have frequent wifi connectivity problems, but the loads of free and low-cost apps that make travel easier make it worthwhile. I also use it as my primary reading device, having downloaded the nook and Kindle apps. And we’ve always got a few sitcoms loaded on it for downtime viewing.

3. Longchamp Le Pliage bag: These nylon bags fold up into little packets so you can tuck them into your bigger bag. They are also water-resistant, even on the bottom, so they are great on drizzly days. The medium-sized one is like a magic bag of holding–it seems much bigger on the inside than on the outside! I can get a camera, mini umbrella, wallet, iPad, and other bits and bobs in there. It’s a bit of a black hole sometimes, but overall a great bag. The drawback is that the corners fray after several months of use, which is frustrating because they aren’t exactly inexpensive.

4. Noise-cancelling headphones: I’ve had mine for going on 10 years, I think, and they are a bit worse for wear. They are also enormous and clunky and take up a ton of space. But they are invaluable on long flights, making music listening and movie watching far more enjoyable. Paired with some earplugs they also seriously cancel out the noise if you want to sleep. But they are bulky. Did I say they are bulky?

5. Unlocked cell phone: One of the great things about buying my cell phone overseas (a little Samsung Galaxy Gio) is that it’s already unlocked. When we travel I can just buy a new sim card with calling credit and data, and usually it’s activated right away. Easier to manage and smaller than the iPad, it’s just incredibly helpful when you’re in a new place. And it can help with translation when you’re stuck and need help expressing your needs with more than sign language.

I realize that this adds up to a hefty pricetag–all together it’s a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff. Bear in mind, I’ve acquired these items over the years and I’m a big fan of thinking in terms of cost-per-use. Apart from the headphones, I use everything on the list almost everyday. Which is probably why they are must-go essentials when I travel!

I travel with a few other “essentials,” so I’ll share more faves in the future. What are your go-to can’t-leave-the-house-without travel necessities?