TSA Security Locks for Luggage

I'll admit I've been skeptical from the start when it comes to those TSA-approved locks you put on your luggage. If any TSA person can open them at will, how hard can it be for anyone else? And will they really take the time to carefully open it up before inspecting your bag in a hurry?

If my last trip was any indication, they deliver as promised. I couldn't be bothered, but my wife bought a couple of them and they came through with flying colors. Upon unpacking, the little "we have inspected your bag" note was inside, but the lock was back on the zippers just as when we departed.

If you don't want to shell out money to buy locks that could get broken after being thrown around, there are cheap alternatives that will do almost as well. This article notes that you won't get reimbursed for items stolen in transit anyway, so use some cheap zip-ties instead. I've even met people that swear by the wire and paper twist tabs you get when you buy garbage bags. As any cop will tell you, it's the deterrent value that really matters. If your bag is a royal pain to get into, they'll move on to someone else's.

Then there is the obvious solution. If you're carrying something valuable, bring it in your carry-on. Yeah, I know that doesn't work for knives, firearms, or 5-ounce bottles of $100 goop to put on your face, but nearly anything else of value can be carried instead of checked.

Thinking Green with your Travel Gear

As you've probably seen in all the discussions about being carbon neutral and reducing energy independence, fixing one problem can often result in the creation of another. This is also true with travel gear, where something touted as organic may require more energy to make and ship than the item that's not so clearly good for the environment. And although "organic cotton" sounds all warm and fuzzy, genetically modified cotton requires less spraying of any kind and needs less water.

Conundrums aside, this Green Gearhead article from Backcountry.com has some great advice and guidelines. In looking at environmental impact, there are several factors to consider, one of the most important being, "Do you really need that item? Will you use it?" Product manufacturers have, for a long time, been making items more and more specialized, to the point where they'd love to convince you that you need 18 different jackets and 12 kinds of socks for different activities. Think before you succumb.

Here are a few other pieces of advice from the article:

1) Use renewable materials.
Not always easy, but hemp, cotton, and wool have a major advantage there. Patagonia and others are making things from recycled materials, giving garbage a second life. Heck, they'll even recycle your old parka.

2) Buy stuff that lasts and performs double duty.
I harp on this a lot here on the Practical Travel Gear blog because not only is this good for the environment, it's good for lightening your load.

3) Buy from gear companies that follow sustainable practices.
Again, not always easy, but the leaders in the travel gear world are miles ahead of most other kinds of companies in this regard. Their staffers spend a lot of time in the outdoors instead of just in cubicles, so they tend to care more about nature. If you're about to make a major purchase and this matters, peruse their websites and read the tags in the stores.

What Did Those Crocs Cost You?

We may live in a globalized economy, but prices for travel gear - or anything else - are certainly not uniform around the world. (Good thing, cause otherwise my World's Cheapest Destinations book would cease to exist.

Every once in a while the Wall Street Journal runs a column called Arbitrage where they look at retail prices around the world for various items. Last week it was a pair of Kids Cayman Crocs shoes, bright yellow. After prices were converted to U.S. dollars from the local currency, here is how much they were in various spots.

Tokyo - $24.46
Shanghai - $26.29
New York - $29.33
Manila - $32.75
Sydney - $36.17
Bangkok - $41.32
Seoul - $42.47
Frankfurt - $41.27
London - $41.93
Paris - $48.22

Several interesting ironies here. The Crocs are not cheapest in the place where the company is based (U.S.) or where they are made (China). Instead they're the cheapest in a country known for being god-awful expensive: Japan. Although they are certainly not fashionable, they are most expensive in the city of fashion: Paris.

A Party-to-go of Prosecco

OK, this isn't a travel gear item that you're going to take very far, but I have to admit I got pretty darn excited when this Mionetto IL Party to Go showed up at my house. It's basically two bottles of Prosecco in a plastic tub for ice, with a custom top for the tops of the bottles to poke through. It even comes with some plastic champagne flutes.

"Oooh, Prosecco!" said my party guests and the tub became the hit of the party. Prosecco is Italian sparkling white wine, with a metal beer tab kind of top rather than a cork. It's meant to be drunk young, soon after it's ready, as a refreshing beverage that you don't take too seriously. Perfect for a picnic, a concert on the lawn, or something to bring along to an outdoor bash.

The Mionetto IL party bucket is a bargain too, retailing for $19.99 (not including ice of course). See more about it at ILSparkling.com.

Say "Buzz Off" to Bugs

If you're going somewhere with lots of bugs, it's good to take an extra weapon or two.

For me it all started with a Buzz Off hat I picked up before a trip to Africa. Then I got a long-sleeve shirt and a short-sleeve shirt. I never used them alone - always in combination with DEET - but I can't remember getting a single bug bite while I was geared up with the Buzz Off clothes, so I believe they deliver.

How's it work? The fabric is impregnated with Permethrin, "a man-made form of a natural insect repellent found in the Chrysanthemum plant." There's apparently some kind of nanotech process at work here, because you can wash the items 25 times before they lose their power. (No dry cleaning though--that'll kill it.)

When I was heading off to Guatemala and the jungle around Tikal in June, I wanted to make sure my daughter was protected, so we set her up with a whole Buzz Off outfit for kids. (Pictured here.) She loved the clothes and was amused to watch an ant continually crawl toward her pants, turn around when he got close to the fabric, and keep repeating the process. This way we didn't have to cover much exposed skin to bug spray but she came away from the jungle bite-free.

These items aren't cheap, but they're well-made and I imagine they will easily hold up to the 25 washings. There's no odor we humanoids can smell and the fabric feels just like any other fabric that's not treated. Besides mosquitoes, the clothes are also good at keeping away pesky ticks and ants. You can find the best selection at the ExOfficio BUZZ OFF Clothing site, but you can also find some good sale deals no the items now and then at Sierra Trading Post.

How's it Hanging?

When it comes to practical travel gear, this Hangtimer Watch doesn't apply. But it's oddball and quirky enough that I thought somebody reading this might think it's the coolest thing ever.

Here's what it does: you snowboard, skateboard, or go flying off a ramp with your BMX bike and this watch will tell you what your hang time is in the air. As in how long you are up in the air. I'm no physicist and I haven't taken this out for a test, so we'll both have to take it on faith. But I can just imagine that if I were a hard-core snowboarder, this would be at the top of my gift list.

Check out all the options at the Hangtimer site.