Unexpected Travel Uses for S Hooks

As much as I love using caribiners, sometimes they just don’t cut it. Either there’s no hook inside the bathroom door or shower stall, or the pole that you could otherwise clip it to in order keep your bag off the ground is too wide to accommodate your caribiner at all. While these issues don’t arise that much during luxury cruises or resort-style getaways, they sure come up during long term independent or adventure travel where going light and low budget is critical. Two ways to use s-hooks to your full advantage?

Create a hook where there is none.

This is great in those bathroom stalls with wet floors. Using an s-hook over the top lip of the hinged door, create your own spot to hang a pocketbook, day pack, backpack or any tote bag type of item you don’t want on the floor getting dirty. It also helps keep them out of reach and out of view of thieves walking by who could reach under the door gap and grab your gear while you are otherwise engaged with answering the call of nature. Hey, it happens.

The hybrid approach.

We like to keep large caribiners permanently clipped to the loops on the tops of our packs. When hooks and properly sized poles are available, it takes three seconds to get your pack or purse out of the way. When they are not, having an s-hook in a readily accessible side pocket is the next best thing. Just hook it over the pole or stall door and use your caribiner as normal. I wouldn’t recommend this for hooking your pack on the side of a truck or off the back pole of a tuk-tuk, but for stationary situations it can save the day.

I’ll admit that finding the large thin s-hooks even at various hardware chains can be a bit of a pain. The safest bet that works for us every time is Ikea. They even have large thin s-hooks that are flat instead of tubular. The regular ones would work fine of course, but the flat ones can provide extra stability. Do you use s-hooks for anything else on the road? Do you have another inside travel tip to share? Sing out loud in our comment section below!

Photo Credit: Ikea