L.L. Bean offers a pair of pants that I feel is perfect for traveling.  They are called ‘Perfect Fit Pants’, and there is a style to fit most women’s shapes as they are available in misses’ and women’s sizes.   They come in traditional pants, cropped, straight leg, boot cut, and slim.  What makes them perfect pants is that they wash and dry well, retain their shape thanks to the touch of Lycra in the jersey knit fabric, and come in four nice colors that traditionally go with everything – black, brown, grey and blue.

I own a black pair of the standard Perfect Fit Pants.  They’ve held up over time, a modest weight gain and subsequent loss, and a handful of trips out of state.  Give these pants a go.  You won’t regret it.

Photo credit: malias

Travel in Turkey Driving to Cappadocia

This is one of a two part series on driving in Turkey.

Traveling to Turkey is fantastic. Visitors  have the opportunity for many cultural and historic experiences. One adventure I wasn’t expecting in Turkey was  my time behind the wheel of our rental car.  Turkish drivers live on the edge with their death defying driving maneuvers. I will never forget my week of driving in Turkey. It felt like life on the edge every day.

 By the second day my travel companion was enjoying the motto, “When in Turkey, live as the Turkish do.” For him that meant driving with the same insane vigor as the local drivers. For me it meant a great deal of clinging to the arm rest and closing my eyes as I gasped at the continued antics of Turkish drivers. By day two in Turkey my companion had decided I should put my driving skills to the test. I think in that moment I stopped breathing. Was he insane? Seeing he was serious  and wanted me to give it a try I braved it and sped off on the mountain roads, wondering how we’d survive.  His emotional support made all the difference. Yes, there were more than a  few hair raising moments when Turkish drivers passed me on curves and tight roads where it seemed perfectly insane, but we survived and had an amazing adventure.

Tips I recommend for your time traveling in Turkey.

* Drive Defensively and realize you are NOT driving in America. You are driving in foreign country, where the rules are very different.

* Start with short drives to areas that feel managable.

* Drive in daylight.

* Be prepared with maps and make sure you fill up your gas tank for driving in the mountains.

Photo Credit Tricky Driving 300td.org

Whenever a group of more than two people is traveling together, the potential for missteps increase exponentially. You all should know the ‘rules’ of where you’re going and follow them.  I went to Italy in 2000 in a group of 6 to see family we’d never met.  The sons of the family worked for Roman public transportation, so really, there was no excuse for what happened one day.

We were staying in the village of San Cesario, which makes Rome easily accessible via bus. We purchased a Multi-Pass at a local tobacconist (tickets are purchased for bus travel, unlike the coin-in-the-box American approach) as we had every other day that first week, and waited for the bus to arrive.  Two of our party were over 60, so when the bus doors opened, four of us zipped in the back door and found seats for the oldest of us.  The remaining two of us (myself included) entered the bus from the front door and, as we were firmly instructed by our Italian family, had our multi-passes stamped with that day’s date and time.

The four who entered through the back door just figured they’d do it on the way out of the bus.

Nope. Caribinieri boarded the bus and checked everyone’s passes.  With our combined Italian language skills, we explained about getting the oldest into seats and would stamp on the way out.  Nope. No quarter for ignorance.  The four who had not stamped their tickets received $50 fines for not being stamped. Although, they were not alone.  There were at least four other unstamped people on the bus…they were local.

When we retold to story to our Italian family, we were roundly scolded for not listening to direction. A mistake we did not duplicate on this trip.  The moral of the story?  Follow the rules!

Related Reading: 11 Things to Do in Beautiful Bolzano, Italy

Photo credit: tanvach

There is enough budget wise stuff to do in and around here to fill a day.  Boutique window shopping, street performers, amazing food (or pack a lunch), and room for kids to leap and hop are just some of the attractions.  Planning a trip to include Quincy Market (Faneuil Hall Marketplace)?  Make it on a Saturday, bring shopping bags and include a trip to the nearby Farmer’s Market.  There are good deals all day, but visiting at the end of the day is best for two reasons — you’re not toting fresh produce all day AND the vendors are more willing to deal, because they don’t want to tote that produce back home.

Also, the Freedom Trail passes by Quincy Market and the remarkably moving Holocaust Memorial is right there as well.

Photo credit: fuzzcat

Always on the lookout for affordable travel tips, I was thrilled to find these sturdy, zippered bags normally used by plumbers and other contractors to keep their gear organized.

I first found them when designing zero waste lunch kits for my husband and I that could literally be used from backpack to briefcase. I noticed in that online product reviews that several contractors had been using them to keep fittings and such organized on tool belts and in gear bags. Made by a company called Custom Leather Craft, they apparently held up to a serious amount of abuse.

So I decided to go for it. The result? These clip-on, zippered bags are going strong with no wear and tear in the corners and zippers that are still performing well. The cool thing about these? You get three of them per pack. So after I ordered two sets to have one of each at the size we needed for the lunch kits, we had four remaining pouches (two of each of the other sizes) to use in various ways to organize our travel gear, which we did on our recent jaunt to Ecuador. The sets of three are less than ten dollars regularly, and have been known to go on sale for between five and six USD.

Some other suggested uses for these include organizing eco-friendly feminine hygiene supplies, keeping security items such as padlocks, s-hooks and door jams organized, or using them to store travel-sized pharmaceuticals all in one place.

Related Reading:

• Gift Ideas for Adventure Travelers
• Travel Gear You Can Buy at the Hardware Store
• How to Travel  Light and Low Budget

Do you have a favorite piece of travel gear from a non-traditional source? Share your affordable equipment hack below.

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

Tired of spending big bucks on your travel supplies? There are many places to shop affordably for things the specialty stores overcharge you for. One place that’s often overlooked is your local pharmacy chain.
Here are three travel items I like to purchase at my local Walgreens or CVS. The price is right, and all three items suit my desire to be as streamlined and compact as possible on the road.

Cotton cosmetic pads.

By choosing the flat round cosmetic pads instead of cotton balls, I get the same functionality with increased space efficiency.

Travel-sized emery boards.

Walgreens has these in multi-packs wrapped in a paper band for sixty-nine cents at my last price check. No excess packaging, and you’re able to pick up enough for several trips for under a buck. A bargain in anyone’s book.

Compact pharmaceutical containers.

I found compact tubes of aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen at my local CVS. They are all clearly labeled with what’s inside, and can be refilled affordably from the economy sizes of generics that we purchase as a rule. They provide us with a supply of frequently needed pharmaceuticals on the road in a format that the airport security folks are comfortable with.

Pharmacy chains aren’t the only place you can shop for travel items affordably. For more ideas check out the following related posts:

• 9 Travel Items You Can Buy at the Hardware Store
• Dirt Cheap Travel Shopping at Dollar Tree
• Travel –Sized Items from Sally’s Beauty Supply

Do you have a favorite place to purchase travel related items inexpensively? Share your shopping secrets below.

Photo Credit: Klyphord

Whether strung loosely for resale or on a tribal necklace, beads are fantastic souvenir items to collect on your world travels. What’s more, the travel souvenirs you can make with beads provide a fair amount of creative diversity.

If either you or a friend design jewelry, you’ll come home with unique raw material to design with. If crafts and kiddy projects fit more into your lifestyle, purchasing inexpensive yet high quality beads will work for that too. Need some ideas?

TEN TRAVEL SOUVENIRS YOU CAN MAKE WITH BEADS:

Prayer or worry beads.

Whether your go with worry beads, branch off into Islamic or Baha’i prayer strands or string some rosaries, this is an excellent idea that turns a simple travel souvenir into something the recipient will enjoy for years to come.

Zipper pulls.

Small, simple and fun to make, zipper pulls are something that children and grownups alike will enjoy. Add zipper pulls to your jacket, day packs, briefcases or business luggage. Here are some additional instructions.

Safety pin friendship tokens.  

Believe it or not, those sneaker lace safety pin projects are still a hit after all these years. If you are needing something your children can make affordably to hand out to all their friends at school, this is a dirt cheap way to pull of something with some serious wow factor on the tween scene.

Beaded key chains.

Children who want to make grown up presents for the parents enjoy working on key chain projects. This is a great way to let them work independently on something with a low financial investment in art supplies.

Eyeglass neck chains.

Whether the person you want to give these to wears prescription glasses or sunglasses, beaded neck chains to keep them close make a useful and thoughtful gift. Having a set with interesting beadwork one can’t buy on any street corner back home makes them all the more meaningful.

Hair sticks.

Many women with shoulder length hair or longer enjoy using bead-adorned hair sticks as fashion accessories. The possibilities for creating these are endless, as there are many different looks from formal to tribal that can be accomplished.

Beaded napkin rings.

Love to entertain? Use a variety of unstrung travel beads to create your own unique beaded napkin rings. These also make a lovely hostess gift for someone who might traditionally be difficult to shop for.

Dangling bookmarks.

For book fans and avid readers, bookmarks are one of those gifts that it’s OK to have several of. Get the kids into the game and design a batch to tuck in with holiday gift packages.

Beaded stick pins for hats and lapels.

These are low on supply cost and high on wow factor, particularly with some of the more ornate beads you can find around the world. Having a nice beaded pin for your lapel or scarf, or even a nice hat pin can jazz up your wardrobe without breaking your budget.

Beaded hair combs.

Basic beaded hair combs make for a great mother-daughter craft activity. They can be adorned with a variety of bead work, resulting in numerous looks and styles.

Jewelry folks likely have an entire list of additional projects such as earrings, adornments for tatted pieces, necklace designs and more. Do you have a favorite beading project that would lend itself to a travel souvenir you can make with beads? Share the love in the comment section below.

Photo Credit: Lolly Knit – artist for bead picture.

Need a cheap place to buy some gear for your first adventure travel experience? Hit the hardware store. Box hardware stores offer great prices on numerous items suitable for adventure travel enthusiasts. Here are a few of my favorites:

 Door wedges.

Rubber door wedges provide extra security when staying in low budget accommodations. Use them for security in your room, a questionable public toilet or even the single shower room at the hostel, depending on the set up.

S-hooks.

For anyone who’s ever found themselves short on infrastructure to hang their purse or day pack while traveling, s-hooks are the perfect travel hack. Use them over the edge of a stall or door knob to provide the off-the-ground storage real estate you’re looking for.

Key tags.

These are a dirt cheap alternative to traditional luggage tags. Available in numerous colors for pennies a pop, these things are great for attaching to your zipper pulls. Suitable for rolling offices, checked baggage and even day packs. Be sure to practice appropriate luggage tag security measures.

Bead chain.

This stuff can also be picked up for pennies to cut to whatever length you need it. Pair it up with the same little clasps / findings you see on military dog tags and you have a dirt cheap DIY way to multiply the number of loops in your luggage. I use several in the inside of my day pack to attach things that don’t come with a key ring and aren’t suited to one. These little do it yourself loops are great for those items that are tough to store and clip on elsewhere, but that do have a slot or hole for the purpose. You can custom adjust the lengths so not all your items are bunched up in the same section of your pack, possibly making it difficult to close. Five or ten of these will do you on your average adventure trip. When I bought the supplies to do mine, both the clasps and the bead chain were in the same section of the aisle at Ace.

Rubber sink stopper.

 The thin, flat and flexible rubber disks with no hardware are the kind I recommend. If you get the ones that are supposed to fit down the drain and pull out with a chain, they either rarely fit properly from country to country or take up unnecessary space in your pack. Mine is one of the thinner flat disks that is larger than a regular sink drain. This makes it more than big enough for any sink I need to use internationally, and functional on most tub and shower drains as well.

Carabiners.

Obviously, if you’re planning on rappelling down the side of a major cliff you’ll want to spring for the expensive kind from a specialty store. Otherwise, the basic ones will do just fine. I like to have one extra large one on the top strap of my pack. Then I can clip it over the handle grip poles on tuk tuks and other similar modes of transportation, keeping my hands free for not falling out of the open sides. There are other travel uses for carabiners as well, including interior backpack organization.

Ear plugs.

A reasonable supply of the foam ones should come with you on any trip. They are great for protecting your ears on extremely loud city streets and having a prayer of getting any sleep on the plane.

Padlocks.

Using padlocks as travel gear is savvy move. The ones with the thin, long u-shaped tops are the most universal in my humble opinion. They fit the greatest variety of train station lockers and hostel doors. It’s nice to also have a handful of miniature ones for securing zipper pulls together on travel days when your pack will be bouncing around a fair bit.

These items are ones I have personally used, and can all be purchased for between one and five dollars. Do you have any hardware store items you like to use on the road? Don’t forget to sound off in the comment section below, and leave a link if you’ve posted about it online.

Electrical adapters.

While it’s a good idea to have a set of European ones (available at numerous department stores), what I’m talking about here is strategic combo purchase of three separate items. First, a three prong adapter to fit directly into the wall or floor socket that you find at the airport. If it has two separate sockets itself for both three and two pronged chords, all the better. Second, a two prong adapter to put on the end of that one if said available socket is for two pronged chords only. Third, a multi socket piece that allows for four separate chords to be plugged in. (One on each side, and one on the top edge.) It helps if that third piece allows for three pronged chords on all of its openings. This way, either two-pronged or three pronged chords will fit. My husband and I like to travel with one of these combos in case we are only able to find one outlet. That way, we only need to take up one chord socket and can leave the other one for fellow travelers. With 4-5 sockets available from adding our plugin combo to the single wall socket, we are both able to get grooving with email checks and work.

Related Readings: Ten Universal Travel Skills, Six Exercise Tips for Travelers, Extreme Travel: How to Go Light and Low Budget, High Tech and Homeless: My Life as a Cyber Nomad, Zero Waste Lunch Kits and Going Green on the Road.

Photo Credit: Net Efekt  

Been on the road for months? Finding out the “get all the exercise you need by walking” plan isn’t exactly cutting it? Nationally known fitness expert Kathy Kaehler has a few exercise tips for travelers and professional nomads alike.

One of the biggest precision fitness challenges for long term travelers doing the backpack circuit is the lack of equipment. That, and those of us in a hurry are often stuck with food choices we might not otherwise deem appropriate for staying in shape. I recently had the opportunity to chat with first lady of fitness, Kathy Kaehler about strategies travelers can use to keep things toned up during long term travel excursions. Wish I’d known these before I let everything backslide when we were on the road for six months. Oh well, next time I’ll have a shot at being prepared.

Grab a sturdy wall.

While reviewing your guide book book, map or travel brochure in the morning. Grab a sturdy wall and put your back flat against it while you slide down into a sit with your thighs parallel to the floor. This is great for strengthening your legs and tush, and doesn’t cut into your fun time at all. Since you have to set your agenda every day anyway, working in these wall sits is a seamless and equipment free way to multitask when it comes to fitness.

Use your own body as a weight.

Doing push ups on the floor, or against a wall or chair uses the natural weight of your body to maintain muscle tone while on the road without equipment.

Find a chair.

This one’s actually two tips in one. Chair are available in even the most humble of hostels. Simply squeezing in some stand up / sit down repetitions is a way to get some lower body work done with minimal gear. For those wanting to take it to the next level, using the chair to do tricep dips by gripping the edge of the seat and pushing your body weight up and down provides great intensity for travelers who are gym deprived, says Kaehler.

Don’t forget the stairs.

This tip is also a two-fer. The first (and simplest) tip is to simply take them whenever possible, avoiding elevators. The other is to use the stairs as a free piece of gym equipment while on the road. Alternate descending the steps as normal, with climbing up them sideways. Do two sets, and alternate the lead climbing leg each time to provide balance in your workout.

Do you have any tips or tricks to staying fit on the road? Let us know in the comment section!

Kathy Kaehler is a celebrity fitness trainer, busy mom of three and passionate about involving children in the process of healthy eating and cooking. You can find more of her tips and advice at KathyKaehlerFitness.Com.

Related Reading – Frugal Fitness: Twenty-Five and Half Ways to Make it Happen, Free Classroom Fitness Program for Teachers and Affordable Inside Tips from a Celebrity Personal Trainer.

Other Helpful Posts – Adventure Travel Items You Can Buy At the Hardware Store, Ten Universal Travel Skills.

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