ExOfficio Pants Keep the Bugs Away

It’s always great when summer arrives, but not so great when the mosquitoes arrive. If you travel to a tropical country, it’s always mosquito season, plus the bugs carry nasty diseases, so three months of annoyance turns into year-round danger.

Thankfully it’s easier to keep the bugs away than it used to be if you pack the right clothing. This pair of ExOfficio Altyn Insect Shield Pants is going with me to the coast of Mexico and the jungle of Belize this summer. They’re great travel pants on their own, but the kicker is built-in Insect Shield repellent that stays active for 70—yes 70—washings.


Continued after the jump - ExOfficio Altyn InsectShield pants

Lightweight ExOfficio Cruz'r Shirt for Men

For looking good during your travels and having a sink laundry option for packing light, this men's Cruz'r short-sleeve shirt from ExOfficio is a dream.

When I was a hard-core backpacker setting out on year-long travels through the world's cheapest destinations, clothes were a secondary thought. After all, you can revamp your wardrobe in Bangkok or Delhi for next to nothing when you get tired of your faded t-shirts. No way was I going to spend the equivalent of a few nights' lodging for a shirt just because it would make me look nice. The standard scruffy backpacker wardrobe was just fine.

Now I travel more on business or vacation and need to look, well, more presentable. I still want to travel with a carry-on whenever possible though, which means stepping up and packing quality lightweight clothing with extra benefits. This ExOfficio shirt is a real winner in that regard. It weighs just a few ounces, but feels expensive...

...continued on the new Practical Travel Gear blog

Be Seen at Night With Illuminite Clothing

I've been wandering the streets of my neighborhood at night this past week wearing black, but I have not been hard to see. No, it's not a tease from the Riddler, it's reflective clothing from IllumiNITE.

There's nothing new about reflective clothing of course. Highway workers have donned it for decades and every night I see someone jogging around with some kind of reflective orange vest on. This line of clothing is different though: it actually looks good. There are no random stripes of tape or big logos that might as well say "Look at me, I'm a runner!"

This clothing is cool because the designers looked at things from a different angle. The reflective parts are around the outside of your body instead of the middle of your chest and back, so everyone behind the wheel can recognize that you are a moving human and not a road sign. Plus the reflective part is built into the design instead of being an obvious add-on. There are solid sections that look normal by day but act like a collection of tiny mirrors at night, or dots that just appear to be normal design elements until the headlights hit them. You may feel like a superhero getting ready to save the world when you put on one of these pieces, but you won't feel like a dork.

I've been trying out a illumiNITE thermaGARD Early Riser fleece (pictured here). It performs as it should and then some. Nice locking zippers, a comfy fleece liner, a good fit, and a sleeve pocket for a (small) MP3 player. It's lightweight, breathable, wicking, and downright cozy.

When I've not been wondering what's wrong with the caps lock on the keyboards in their marketing department, I've been thinking of how useful this would be as the go-to fleece on a long trip. It may, for example, reduce the number of times you are almost run over by a tuk-tuk in Thailand or an auto rickshaw in India. It would be good for nighttime walking along the street in Latin American cities, where the sidewalks are only about as wide as your two shoes. It would be good for one of those "we will leave camp at 3 a.m." hiking trips where you're trying to keep track of each other with voices and flashlights.


So, while this stuff is mainly marketed to cyclists and runners, it might make you safer as you travel the world as well -- while still keeping you looking good. They make waterproof jackets, caps, t-shirts, and much more. You can get the background and specs on the illuminate.com website, but considering they have "See our 2007 collection" on the front page and it's mid-October of '08 as I write this, you should go elsewhere to buy the latest models.

Click on that women's jacket to the left or here to go to REI, where there's a big selection in lots of colors and styles.

Or you can find this line in a lot of good retail shops catering to cyclists.

Air Strip Lite Shirt from Ex-Officio

I'm kind of a cheapskate when it comes to travel clothes, constantly watching for sales to get great gear at a bargain price. Right before the trip through the Pacific Northwest I just finished up, I snagged this Ex-Officio Air Strip Lite shirt for $48 from Campmor. The normal price is $80 on the Ex-Officio site, though they do run good sales there as well fairly often.

No buyer's remorse with this item. I've been putting the Air Strip Lite through its paces and this is one impressive piece of clothing. It is amazingly lightweight considering the ventilation flaps, the pockets, and the long sleeves. It seems to weigh less than a cotton t-shirt. Plus it is really wrinkle-free. No matter how many times I've stuffed it in my bag or tucked/untucked it, a little while later it's looking fine.

I'm sure the wicking properties perform as advertised, though I haven't done enough sweating to find out. I did wash it twice though and it dried in a few hours on a hanger in a hotel bathroom.

The Air Strip Lite shirt is 80 percent nylon, 20 percent polyester, but it feels soft and supple.
Like everything else I've gotten from Ex-Officio, this is a well-made, quality product that exceeds expectations. A couple more versions of these shirts and my carry-on packing list is going to get much simpler. Highly recommended.

Get the Air Strip Lite for men or for women

Related posts:

Buzz-off hat

Buzz-off clothes for kids

Eagle Creek Packing Folder for Shirts

One of the toughest packing challenges is keeping your dress shirts or blouses looking decent after you have stuffed them into a suitcase for 8 to 24 hours. I've tried all kinds of bags and devices (and switched to mostly wrinkle-free shirts), but this Eagle Creek Pack-it-Folder delivers better than most.

It doesn't look all that different from many other similar items, but it comes with a secret weapon: a "packing board" inside that you fold your shirt over to make it fit perfectly. Then you slide the thin plastic piece out and do the same with the next shirt. This enables the shirts or blouses to fit into a smaller space than they would if you did it haphazardly. Also, it has a double-fold, double-velcro clasp system that keeps everything held down tightly. I'm not sure I'd stuff in the 8 to 12 items Eagle Creek says it will hold, but I've done fine with 6 dress shirts.

As with any flat shirt packing pocket, your collars will get crushed regardless, so you might want to wear that $200 Brooks Brothers French cuffs shirt with a starched collar onto the plane. Otherwise, stuff away.

The Pack-it-Folders come in three sizes and enough colors to match nearly any luggage ensemble, with a list price from $22 to $28. Order online at the following:

EagleCreek.com

Eagle Creek Pack-It Folder from Backcountry.com

Pack-it-folders at Magellan's

Traveling with One Hi-tech Shirt

In the latest issue of International Travel News, there's an article by a video producer who traveled around the world on assignment for a few weeks wearing just a t-shirt and one button up shirt over it. Here's the article: One Shirt, 40,000 Miles.

The shirt on top was an Air Strip Lite from ExOfficio. It's not cheap--at around $75 retail--but after reading this article I'm convinced it would be money well spent. The guy says it looks good as new after the trip. Since it dries in just a few hours, you can wash it at night at it's ready to go by the time you wake up.

I've gotten a few things from ExOfficio in the past. They've been well-made and the customer service at their own web site is quite good. This shirt is going on my list for the next long jaunt.

Packing for an African Safari

If you're heading over to Africa anytime soon, you might want to check out this article I wrote for Explore 64: Gearing up for an African Safari.

A light-hearted look at what you need to think about packing if you’re just popping over to Africa on vacation. Based on my safari in not-exactly-a-bargain Botswana. As you’d probably expect, the key is to travel light.

For a trip like this, it's important to get things that are lightweight, practical, and useful enough to take up some valuable space and weight. There are also some unique factors to this part of the world that influence what you need to bring along. My smart moves: indestructable shorts and a Buzz-off hat. My goof: no binoculars and not enough memory cards for the camera.

Wrinkle-free clothes

If you're just backpacking around and seldom need to look presentable, the crumpled look is fine. If you occasionally have to meet with someone at a nice place, however, or need to look presentable when you apply for that visa extension, wrinkle-free clothes can be a lifesaver.

I just flew all the way to South Africa from my home in Nashville--over a full day of flying before it was all said and done. I opened up my pack and pulled out a sportcoat, dress shirt, and slacks that looked almost as smooth as when I left. I can go to my meetings today looking quite composed. No iron, no fuss, no muss.

You can pick up wrinkle-free sportcoats and the like from a travel outfitter such as
Magellan's. Or you can just nose around the sale racks of your local department store and find something that works. The key is to get something with an ample amount of sythetic material, but not so much rayon that it's all shiny. With plenty of other clothes, including slacks, it's simple. Just look for "wrinkle free" or "wrinkle resistant." Then you can jam pack your bag and have no worries on arrival.