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indigo_rose99I packed a checked piece of luggage for this 3 week trip, so I got to bring Extra Stuff. Not all of the things I gloat about below are "extras." Many I typically bring with me. But I mention them because I am particularly enjoying them this trip.
* chocolate covered banana chips
* dried mango slices
* epsum salts, combined with the hotel bath tub
* Fruit
* refrigerator in hotel room
* travel purse
* Sunnyvale Sheraton soap, shampoo, and conditioner
* silk sleep sack
On the less awesome side...
* towel
* drying racks
* The shampoo and body wash are clear, in identical bottles
* Left thumbnail
* chocolate covered banana chips
* dried mango slices
* epsum salts, combined with the hotel bath tub
I have soaked in epsum salts for three nights running. Yay! Relaxing and fun...
* Fruit
When they make up my room every day, they leave me two packages of cookies or crackers and two pieces of fruit. On business days, I take the cookies in to work to give to my fellow travelers. But the fruit... Yum!
* refrigerator in hotel room
This is really rare for an Asian hotel. But my onigiri fits in it wonderfully!
* hotel water dispenser
All travel guides say not to drink the local tap water. They indicate that the hotel tap water is probably safe to brush my teeth, but to NOT drink it. The hotel gives me two bottles of water a day... which is still not enough to keep me hydrated. When wandering the hotel, I found that there is a filtered cold water dispenser two doors down from me. Yes! Refilling my water bottles!
* travel purse
When I stay someplace over the weekend, I find that I really want to be able to go out and take my wallet, PDA, camera, sunglasses and sometimes kleenex with me. In winter, I can pack these in pockets, though I look a bit lumpy. In the summer months (Yes, September in Taiwan still counts as "hot"), more layers is a bad idea. But I still want to carry these things. My solution previously has been a soft purse I picked up in China. It is ugly and not very secure, but it packs well in luggage.
I went shopping for a replacement that was sized better for my common-carry items, and made me feel more secure. I pick up a PacSafe purse. It EXACTLY fits my items of interest, and is of a size I can tuck it in my backpack when I go to work. It is easy to grab when I step out of the office for lunch or visiting manufacturing. And the fact that it is pick-pocket resistant? Bonus.
I went shopping for a replacement that was sized better for my common-carry items, and made me feel more secure. I pick up a PacSafe purse. It EXACTLY fits my items of interest, and is of a size I can tuck it in my backpack when I go to work. It is easy to grab when I step out of the office for lunch or visiting manufacturing. And the fact that it is pick-pocket resistant? Bonus.
* Sunnyvale Sheraton soap, shampoo, and conditioner
Another travel blog mentioned a while back that she does not bother packing soap, shampoo, and conditioner because hotels always have them. I have not found this to be true, even of US hotels. US hotels often skip the condtioner. Europe and Asian hotels skip the conditioner and the soap, often having a wall-mounted dispenser theoretically giving some nasty chemical stuff that they call "hair and body wash."
I always pack my Lush solid shampoo and conditioner, but hope that I will be able to rotate them out with something the hotel provides. The Sheraton I stayed at in Sunnyvale provided two bottles of everything. I packed them all in my checked luggage. And now that I am in Taiwan...
This hotel has shampoo and body wash and soap. All smell like chemicals. The Shine stuff from Sheraton is REALLY making a difference to me.
I always pack my Lush solid shampoo and conditioner, but hope that I will be able to rotate them out with something the hotel provides. The Sheraton I stayed at in Sunnyvale provided two bottles of everything. I packed them all in my checked luggage. And now that I am in Taiwan...
This hotel has shampoo and body wash and soap. All smell like chemicals. The Shine stuff from Sheraton is REALLY making a difference to me.
* silk sleep sack
As I have mentioned previously, many European and Asian holtels no longer provide sheets and blankets. They provide a single thick comforter, wtih a washable cover. It is thick and warm. It would be perfect if the temperature in my hotel room were a steady 55F. Since my hotel room temperature starts every evening at 79F (stupid thing goes off when I exit the room *grouse*) and sometimes gets down to 72F before I sleep, I don't want to sleep under it. But of course without ANYTHING, I am cold.
Also, I have been sleeping in this silk sack for a while. So no unfamiliar sheet feel. Perhaps I am the only one who hats feeling strange material beneath my cheek and hands.
I will leave to your imagination the health benefits, saying only that silk is resistent to many bugs. And contrary to the belief that all hotel sheets are carefully cleaned, there was that disgusting thing I caught from the 5 star hotel in India...
I am amused each day when I return to the hotel to find how the cleaning staff has chosen to deal with the sleep sack today. I never know where it will be! It is clearly not hotel property, but they never do the same thing twice.
Today, for instance.... (yes, it is the blue thing)
* fanAlso, I have been sleeping in this silk sack for a while. So no unfamiliar sheet feel. Perhaps I am the only one who hats feeling strange material beneath my cheek and hands.
I will leave to your imagination the health benefits, saying only that silk is resistent to many bugs. And contrary to the belief that all hotel sheets are carefully cleaned, there was that disgusting thing I caught from the 5 star hotel in India...
I am amused each day when I return to the hotel to find how the cleaning staff has chosen to deal with the sleep sack today. I never know where it will be! It is clearly not hotel property, but they never do the same thing twice.
Today, for instance.... (yes, it is the blue thing)
As usual when entering a new hotel, I asked for a fan. I got the typical response, "Your room has air conditioning." I did not realize how TERRIBLE the air conditioning was when I had this conversation, but this too is also typical.
"I understand. I want a fan."
The hotel staffer said, "We don't have any fans." Also typical, and in my jet lagged, sweaty, in-a-tearing-hurry state upon arrival, I was not going to accept this.
"That is fine. YOU go out and buy me a fan. I will expect it by tomorrow at the latest." If my eyes did not flash to demon red and my voice drop to booming YOU WILL OBEY ME, it was not for lack of trying. He nodded. It looked like sheer terror.
There was a fan waiting for me when I arrived back in my room Monday night. Totally, TOTALLY worth it.
"I understand. I want a fan."
The hotel staffer said, "We don't have any fans." Also typical, and in my jet lagged, sweaty, in-a-tearing-hurry state upon arrival, I was not going to accept this.
"That is fine. YOU go out and buy me a fan. I will expect it by tomorrow at the latest." If my eyes did not flash to demon red and my voice drop to booming YOU WILL OBEY ME, it was not for lack of trying. He nodded. It looked like sheer terror.
There was a fan waiting for me when I arrived back in my room Monday night. Totally, TOTALLY worth it.
On the less awesome side...
* towel
The hotel, while appearing luxurious... only provides me with one towel. One. I have to wonder what would happen if there were two people sleeping in my room. Would we have to share?
* drying racks
There are two small rods for hanging towels. There is no place to hang drying clothes. Yes, there is a free laundry room, but would YOU want to put your nice work clothes in a dryer you cannot even read the buttons?
* The shampoo and body wash are clear, in identical bottles
You would not think that this would be a problem. But now imagine that you are taking a shower. No glasses. You pick up a bottle and squint at the 5pt English type... Is it shampoo? Body wash? Argh!
* sun hat
I put the hat on my packing list. Well, the "add to the packing list" list. And forgot. *sigh*
* Left thumbnail
I didn't mean to pack it, but it came with me anyway.
In the San Fransisco airport I was fighting with my rolling backpack, trying to convince it to retract the handle in preparation for going through the security scanner. It bent back the nail on my left thumb. It was not a thin or flimsy nail. No, this does not happen all of the time. And it did not make the bend in the white. The bend was not at the transition from flesh to white. No, the bend was a quarter inch down into the pink of my nail.
I promptly started bleeding under my nail. And I don't mean a spreading red. I mean blood coming out all over my thumb. Which is just as freaky as it sounds.
It took 3 days for the stupid thing to stop hurting at even the smallest use of my thumb. *sigh* It wasn't that it hurt that much... It was just DISTRACTING.
In the San Fransisco airport I was fighting with my rolling backpack, trying to convince it to retract the handle in preparation for going through the security scanner. It bent back the nail on my left thumb. It was not a thin or flimsy nail. No, this does not happen all of the time. And it did not make the bend in the white. The bend was not at the transition from flesh to white. No, the bend was a quarter inch down into the pink of my nail.
I promptly started bleeding under my nail. And I don't mean a spreading red. I mean blood coming out all over my thumb. Which is just as freaky as it sounds.
It took 3 days for the stupid thing to stop hurting at even the smallest use of my thumb. *sigh* It wasn't that it hurt that much... It was just DISTRACTING.
