Dental Mitts and Travel Wipes

by Iva Skoch on

The recent NY Times article about packing toiletries in your bags was interesting. In addition to laying out the ever-changing rules and hazards about carrying liquids onto planes, it noted some new products in the area of traveling personal hygiene. I mean, come on, we’ve all been hoarding hotel shampoos because of their convenient–and “legal”–travelsize. There are alternatives now.

La Fresh out of California has a line of travel wipes called Travel Lite on the Go. They’ve got everything from nail polish removing wipes to dental finder mitts.

Travelon, a bag maker, has branched out into Alka-Seltzer-like dried, tablet toothpastes, mouthwashes, and shaving “creams.” Just add water.

And, if you want travel sizes for just about anything, try minimus.biz. (Soy sauce, anyone?)

No more having to worry about baggies and surly security agents.

But, a little more dangerous is their pitch for refillable bottles called Pitotubes that you’re supposed to pack in checked bags, without fear of leaking. But these things look so slick, they resemble something carried by the villain in a James Bond movie.

Run Rabbit, Run!

by Iva Skoch on

I was just about to write a posting about those 80 rodents who escaped from a bag on board of Saudi Arabian Airlines, but Neil beat me to it. Not only that, he completely ruined it for me!

I first read the story in the Czech media and they reported it was actually 80 rabbits, not mice. (I guess translators from Arabic to Czech are hard to find these days. Either that or this is a good example of journalists creating news.)

Here I was, trying to figure out how a passenger could fit 80 rabbits into a carry-on bag, ready to vote for Saudi Airlines as having the most liberal policy for cabin baggage…and “fact-obsessed” American media report it is mice. Mice? Any schmuck could fit 80 mice into a convenient Samsonite roll-on. With all those handy compartments, they could even be quite comfortable. Now, pulling 80 rabbits from a bag, that’s a magic trick.

Makes me wonder, whether we can expect rodent detectors to be introduced at airport security in the near future.

London Airports Still Slow

by Iva Skoch on

Beware that London airport security is still very tight.

I was flying back from a weekend trip in London today and waited in line–or should I say “queue”–for almost 2 hours. (In a situation like this, one really appreciates the ability of the British to form lines and wait patiently). Flying into London was fine, but any flights from London are closely monitored.

In terms of the current security measures in the UK, people are now allowed to bring on one carry-on, but a very small one (e.g. one woman’s purse, computer bag or small backpack), definitely not the typical wheeled carry-on suitcase. I learned the hard way – they sent me back from security back to check-in, which meant…another line.

I saw a women cry because she really wanted to bring all her cosmetics on board, but the security personnel were less than understanding. They confiscated her perfume, her lipstick, her lip gloss and her hair gel. Which made me realize that this regulation could mean a lot more uglier, smellier, bad-hairdo women roaming around airports.

Thank goodness for those Duty Free shops! Now that travelers can’t really bring on board anything they buy there, at least they can use their make up samples for free. Too bad they don’t do the same with liquor.