Abusing Best Buy

Other than butterflies and newborn babies, there is nothing more beautiful than a Best Buy service plan.  If you play your cards right, you can continually upgrade your electronics for only the cost of the service plan.  You are, in essence, leasing your gear from Best Buy.

Let me tell you a story:

In 2005, I bought both a $329 Mini-DV camcorder and its $79 service plan.  After almost four years of travel video and homemade porn, the camera was still it pretty good condition, which I considered a disappointment.  I wanted there to be a problem with the camera, for reasons that will soon be clear.  Finally, though, my wishes were answered when it fell off a table while the cord was plugged in.  The contacts became loose and now the camera would only charge if the cable was held in a certain position.

So, three years and 361 days after buying the camera--four days before the deadline--I went to my local Best Buy.  According to the policy, Best Buy will replace your damaged item with a new one (even if you caused the damage!).  Since four years is a cosmic epoch for electronics, they didn't have the same camera in stock, which was exactly what I wanted.

Since they couldn't replace it with an new one, the plan dictated that they give me a store credit for the original purchase price.  In 2005, $329 could get you a one-chip SD camera that took expensive Mini-DV tapes.  In 2009, $329 would get you a remarkably small HD camcorder with flash storage.

The price of this brand new camera to me in real terms? The $79 I paid for the plan four years ago. 

I essentially leased it for that price and then was given an upgrade. 

When I got the HD camcorder I also got the 4 year service plan to go with it.  Who knows?  Four years from now, $329 might by me a contact lens with a camera installed on it.  Either way, I've already paid for it, and will go get it as soon as I'm tired of my current camcorder.

How to Save Weight: You Need to Use Less Shaving Cream and Hair Care Than You Think

This was straight stolen from a Men's Health Article, but hopefully paraphrased beyond litigation.  Bring it, lawyers!

So, considering how much weight and space toiletries can take up in a travel pack, it was enlightening to read that, in general, we WAY OVERUSE our toiletry products.  Cutting back is not only healthier for your skin and hair, but means you can take less on your trip in the first place.

Here's the coin system of product measurement:

For shaving cream, you only need a quarter-sized portion of foamy face lube.  Of course, I recommend not using shaving cream at all.

For shampoo, you only need a nickle-sized portion of follicle soap,










For hair conditioner, you only need a penny-sized hunk of silky hair love

    For gel and other hair products, you only need a dime-sized dollop of tress bondage.






Travel light, travel far!

How to Save Weight: Two Things You Might Not Have Thought to Leave at Home

My travel pack's contents are a contradiction.  For example, I've cut out two feet of a power cable and spliced the ends together to save an ounce of weight and a bit of space, but I happily bring along a 1.5 pound netbook.  I suppose my philosophy is that there are some things that I want to have along, like the netbook and a digital camera, and to make up for it I get rid of almost everything else.
So here are two things I have realized that I don't need.  They may sound odd at first, but hear me out:

Underwear
 
Yes, underwear.  You don't need it.  Really, you don't.  In fact, ladies, this article from Queen's University actually recommends going without underwear when possible for "Vulvar Health".

Cotton absorbs moisture and drys slowly.  This keeps your nether regions warm and damp, which provides a great breeding ground for bacteria and fungus.  This is how you get jock itch and why it gets to smelling funky down there.  The more air you get down there, the drier and healthier it's going to be.  This is why soldiers in Vietnam stopped wearing underwear in that country's damp climate, and hence the term "going commando". 

Plus, while women's undearwear tends to be so flimsly that they can seemingly pack a week's worth into a film canister, men's underwear, particularly boxer shorts, tend to be thick and bulky, taking up space in your pack and adding to the weight.

So, ditch the underwear.  Trying going without for a week or two before traveling to get used to it, and maybe take along a pair just to remain modest in hostels (although in European hostels people seem to have no qualms with walking around in the buff.  Thank God for co-ed hostel rooms).

Shaving Cream

For the longest, shaving cream was my travel bane.  I couldn't leave home without it, but even the travel cansiters were bulky and heavy.  I tried different kinds of shaving strategies in order to not take the cream, including using glycerine bars and leaves of shaving foam, but they were expensive and almost as bulky.

Then, one sexy day, I watched a lover shave her legs.  And realized she was ONLY USING SOAP.  If a tiny, uber-feminie girl can shave twenty-times the area of my face with only soap, why am I--manly man that I aspire to be-- lathering up with specialized cream out of a big, expensive metal can?  Exactly.

I just use soap now.  That's it.  I take a hot shower beforehand to prepare my face and make sure to use a shark razor.  Otherwise, the soap provides all the lubrication I need.  And not having to take along a can of shaving cream saves a nice chunk of weight and space.  If my beard gets really out of control while traveling and I worry that soap won't cut it, I just pay a couple bucks to have it done professionally.

Here is a pic of me getting a shave in Thailand.  No, I'm not wearing underwear:

How to: Pack the Right Clothes for Cold Temperatures

In their guidebooks, Lonely Planet loves to say “take half the clothes and twice the money.”

Okay. Good advice. But from all the massive backpacks I've seen on the road, not a lot of people have figured out how to take half the clothes.  A bit of knowledge can lead to a clothing system (yes, system) that really does let you get rid of half the clothes while not sacrificing function.

This post is about the bulkiest part of any travel wardrobe: the cold temperature clothing. Even when going to a warm destination, I've found that having my cold temp system comes in handy. It's kept me warm atop a windy (and erupting) volcano in Guatemala, an ice cave while traveling in Slovakia and has even saved my ass in, of all places, Egypt in July, when a jet powered air conditioner on an overnight bus dropped the temperature to just above freezing.

[At Right: Staying warm on a windy volcano in Guatemala]

Now, if you have a lot of money, you can buy specialized gear that folds into a matchbox and makes you spontaneously combust while wearing it, but this blog is not only about having travel gear that's not only light, but cheap.  Which is why knowing how gear works can let you make smart choices instead of spending money for magical gear.

How Cold Weather Gear Works

The reason a sweater or fleece keeps you warm is because their fibers trap air, creating air pockets that your body heats up. It is these warm air pockets that keep you toasty. Their primary enemy is water (particularly sweat), which collapses them.

Actually, sweat period is a heat-killer. Not only does it collapse air pockets, but it conducts heat away from your body.  That's its purpose. But if you're active in a cold environment (say, climbing Mount Arat at night to watch the sunrise), then the sweat you're producing is actually going to kill your ability to keep warm once you stop moving.

So the goal is also to get your sweat away from your skin so it won't conduct your heat away.  Some fibers (like polyester) are fantastic about wicking sweat to the surface of the strand, letting it evaporate so that air pockets can reform. Other fabrics (like cotton) hold the water in their core, meaning they take forever to dry and the pockets stay collapsed. 

Additionally, one other enemy is attacking you at the same time: air. Wind hitting your sweater also collapses the air pockets and draws heat off your body, and even the air created by the bellows effect of walking destroys those pockets.

So in addition to trapping air and wicking sweat, you also need a fabric that will block wind and rain from getting to the air pockets. Ironically, the materials that do this best also keep water (your sweat) from getting out. So what you need is a fabric that is “breatheable”. What this means is that the fabric has microscopic holes that are big enough for water vapor to pass through but too small for water droplets to enter. This miracle fabric was once the patetented property of Gore-Tex, but that patent has expired and you can now get them cheaply from other companies.

So here we are. You need to wick sweat. You need to trap air. You need to block wind and rain. No fabric is good at doing all three, which is why you need a three piece system.

1. 
   
   
   Layer one: a short or long sleeve shirt that wicks sweat.
2. 
   
   
   Layer two: a fleece or sweater that traps air.
3. 
   
   
   Layer three: A waterproof/breatheable jacket.

Although many jackets are an air-trapping layer and a protection layer combined, I think it's better to buy a jacket that is just a thin shell.  That way it can serve as a light rain coat that you won't sweat to death in.  Buying three layers also lets you "layer up", putting on an additional layer the colder it gets.

Currently, my system is:

1.        Wicker's Softsilk Long Sleeve Crewneck
2.        Columbia Men's Fast Trek Full Zip Fleece    
3.        Redhead Thunderlite Jacket

Although I do like Wickers, I'm not really partial to any brand.  I suggest looking for sales and finding the cheapest that will do the job.

Some tips:

1. Since the wicking layer is often be worn as its own shirt, don't be afraid to get one that's stylish 
2. Get the tightest-fitting fleece you can find.  It does it's job better when there is no air between the layers, and the smaller size means less bulk in your pack.  I actually asked my grandmother to size my fleece to me by taking material out along the hems.
3. Make sure your jacket has a hood
4. I prefer my jacket to be only a thin shell so it can serve as either a rain jacket or the protection layer.
5. I also prefer my jacket to be able to zip into its own pocket so that it's easy to store in my pack.

Deals: Coupon for 20% off the FuelTank

Almost everyone and their mother (including my mother) has either a smart phone or an MP3 player these days, and it's hard to find a hostel that doesn't have half a dozen flashpackers bobbing their heads with their earbuds in.

Although I stopped taking my iPod on trips once I got my netbook, one of the biggest problems I remember was that I could only play one two hour movie before the battery was dead.  For an 8 hour bus trip where all the windows are drawn, chicken feathers are floating in the air and the karaoke is blaring, that's six hours too short.  I'd have brought along extra batteries except, well, Apple doesn't let you replace the battery.

So I'm assuming that's why Callpod came up with the FuelTank Uno Essentially it's an extra battery that plugs into an iPod or any one of "3,000+ devices" according to its website, but it happens to be a battery with four times the capacity of a normal battery, even though it only weights four ounces.  Technically, it'd even get me through a 10 hour bus ride.

If that sounds like it's for you, then now might be the time to get it, because Callpod is currently selling them for 20% off.  Use coupon LS2010.

How to: Get a Cheap International Mobile Phone

\Finding a quad-band international phone under $300 used to be impossible.  Now, though, Roam Mobility is offering them for as low as $99, (and they are even offering a 10% coupon off the Sightseer Package with Coupon Code B9FUS).

Why so cheap?  Because they want you to also use their calling plans, which are ridiculously expensive.  While it's true that their international rates are cheaper than other American cell phone companies, their in-country rates are damn near abusive.  I checked their rates for Ukraine (since I'm there once a year) and while it would cost me $0.10 a minute to call another Ukrainian mobile phone using a Ukrainian SIM card (available on almost every street corner), Roam Mobility charges $2.70 a minute to call another Ukrainian mobile phone using their SIM card!

And while some people might want to use the Roam Mobility plan to call internationally, it's still far cheaper to buy a calling card or use Skype while abroad.

So get their phones, but don't use their plans.  Since they they advertise that they have "No Contracts, No Minimums and No Activation Fee!" there is nothing to stop you from buying the phone, ditching their SIM (after you use the $10 credit that comes with purchase, of course) and replacing them with SIMs in the countries that you visit.  Because they are quad band, the phones will work in almost every single country that has cellular access. 

Roam Mobility offers three phones in three packages:

10% coupon off the Sightseer Package with Coupon Code B9FUS

 

$99 Sightseer Package:

 • Motorola V195 (Unlocked)

• Roam Mobility SIM Card

• $10 Calling Credit

$199 Adventurer Package:

• Motorola ROKR U9 (Unlocked)

• Motorola USB Cable

• Motorola Headphones

• Roam Mobility SIM Card

• $10 Calling Credit

$299 Voyage Package includes:

• Motorola ZINE ZN5 (Unlocked)

• Roam Mobility SIM Card

• $10 Calling Credit

Roam Mobility Website

Travel Gear: Chargepod

_
Okay flashpackers, let me know if this is worth having:

Chargepod Base Unit

When I travel, I take a netbook, a digital camera and (sometimes) an HD camcorder. In the past, I've been annoyed that I have to pack a separate power cable for each of these devices, and since I've also seen flashpackers with all those AND cell phones and iPods, then The Chargepod from Callpod might be worth having. 

Basically, you buy it and adapters for your devices and it allows you to charge everything off one plug.  It looks tiny, too; smaller than the size of a cellphone in the pictures and apparently it only weighs a few ounces.  So not only will you likely be saving space, but you also won't be fighting for outlets in hostels or the airport.

So, if you have a Chargepod, leave a comment and let me know if it's worth it.