Travel Essentials Blog

La Tour Eiffel

by Nancy Bestor

Sure, you chose an apartment over a hotel for the true Parisian experience. And soon after arrival you even convinced yourself that you’re just “one of the locals,” buying scrumptious fresh food and delicious yet inexpensive French wine at the neighborhood market and bread at the corner boulangerie. But when it registers that, in your jet-lag-induced haze, you’ve left the security code necessary to get in to your apartment building inside the apartment, you realize you’re just another tourist, probably an American, pretending to be cool, and failing miserably.

It was our first day in Paris. We’d dropped the bags at our new home in the Marais district (3rd arrondissement) and spent the day walking the neighborhood, eating and keeping active in an effort to stay awake and quickly acclimate to our new time zone. We returned to the apartment about 7 pm, exhausted, hungry and loaded down with shopping bags carrying the aforementioned food and wine. We were looking forward to a simple, satisfying meal and a good night’s sleep.

Approaching the huge and heavy doors that separated us from the lovely private courtyard of our apartment building, I pulled out the key given to us earlier in the day. Quickly, I realized that it was for the apartment itself. What we lacked was the five-digit code that allows passage through the outside doors and into the courtyard. The very same five-digit code that was neatly written on a crisp sheet of paper and sitting on our kitchen table…inside the apartment. All four of us took turns punching close but incorrect numbers into the keypad. All four of us took turns knocking (okay banging) on the doors, but to no avail. Our girls were starting to complain, it was beginning to drizzle, and a situation that was at first amusing had now become a bit worrisome. We looked at every Parisian who came by with hope. Hope that our building was theirs and that we could sneak in behind them as they arrived home.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anne McAlpin

Anne McAlpin is a world-renowned packing expert. She has been featured on Oprah, The View, The Today Show and many other programs. Anne’s packing philosophy is all about packing everything you need and packing it well – while leaving behind all those things that you just won’t use. Over-packing is a problem for a lot of people, and Anne’s simple tips and tricks will help every traveler hit the road with a lighter, more efficient bag. Anne’s book, Pack It Up, is a packing manual, filled with sage advice, humor and personal experiences. Plus, it comes with a packing DVD, giving you a personal tour of packing the perfect bag that you can watch before every trip.

Because Anne realized that the market was missing a few products she felt were necessary, she started designing her own bags and packing aids. The Coast and Cruise line of bags is especially designed to keep your possessions secure yet handy.

Coast & Cruise Handbag

They’re lightweight and packable bags, too, making them ideal for trips of any length. The Coast & Cruise Handbag, for example is a lightweight, organized and durable purse. It has a long shoulder strap that can also be adjusted, through the use of two extra rings on the bag, to turn into backpack straps for wearing the bag in that manner. The strap is completely adjustable, too.

Anne’s Packing Board is another favorite. A simple, effective idea, the packing board allows you to pack your suitcase in layers and quickly get to the bottom one by simply lifting the packing board. It comes in two sizes to accommodate various sized suitcases.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Nancy Bestor

Planning for a recent trip to France was in the works when we got to thinking it would be easy and fun to tack on a week in London. We were going to be so close to England that it seemed a shame to miss the opportunity to show the girls the sights. Bob and I had both visited a couple of times before, and it has always been one of our favorite cities, so we wanted to share it with our daughters, aged 12 and 10 at the time.

While researching lodging options and prices, it soon became apparent that our family of four would be spending at least $175 a night, and that was if we could find a great deal. Also, it is often more difficult to find hotel rooms for four in Europe, and we didn’t like the idea of splitting up. A chance reading of the travel section in the San Francisco Chronicle turned us on to the idea of a home stay. Several agencies serve as brokers for these types of rentals and as a bonus, the price of lodging includes breakfast which, like almost everything else, can be quite expensive in London.

We booked our home stay through www.happy-homes.com. Their agent, Erica Reynolds, worked diligently to find a home that would suit us, and we were not disappointed. For the price of 490 pounds (about $980), we spent six delightful nights in a comfortable Chiswick, London home. Our hosts were a good-natured, retired couple who a few times a year rent out the two bedrooms on the top floor of their home. We also had our own bathroom, and each morning we were treated to a delightful full breakfast. Some mornings it was muffi­ns, cereal and fruit, others it was waffles, or bacon and eggs.

Big Ben

Read the rest of this entry »

by Nancy Bestor

Seeing as how we own a travel store, we can’t travel to a foreign country like Vietnam and not take a bundle of great travel accessories to try out while on the road. Here are a few of the items I was delighted we brought with us.

Exo Officio Women's Full Cut Briefs

Ex Officio Travel Underwear—Bob and I each brought two pairs of travel underwear from Ex Officio and boy were we happy with them! The nylon/spandex fabric combination makes for a very comfortable fit, and even more important, a very quick drying time. We’d wash out our pair in the evening, and by morning both would be completely dry. Bob even washed a pair out once then wrung them dry in a towel and put them right back on. In fact, these undies are so comfortable, I wear them at home all the time now. They’re available in many different styles and colors for both women and men, including bikini brief, and are a great space saving travel purchase.

Woolite Soap Packs—To wash out our underwear (see above) and other quick drying clothes, it was great to have individual packs of liquid Woolite. These slim packages don’t take up much room and a burst proof-they won’t make a mess of your luggage. Travel Essentials offers a 10 pack of Woolite with a plug stopper, so you can easily wash some underwear and socks, and a shirt or dress, in the bathroom sink of your hotel.

Eagle Creek Tarmac 22

Eagle Creek 22 inch Tarmac ES Rolling Suitcase and Tarmac Flight Bag—We did quite a bit of moving about on planes, buses, taxis, and boats within Vietnam. Having our handy rolling suitcase with a tote bag conveniently slipped over the handle sure made things easier. In addition to the wheeled suitcase and flight bag, we also traveled with a backpack each (amazingly also from Eagle Creek) in which we stored our snacks, water and books. We always checked our bags, and kept the two backpacks for on plane items. It’s always funny to see people who are so surprised that our family can travel for so long in so few bags, and we in turn are astounded when we see one person traveling with huge suitcases that don’t roll well at all! To each their own I guess!

Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to Vietnam—I never take just one guidebook when I travel. I find that each line of guidebooks has it’s own style and opinions, and I prefer to compare them when looking for a restaurant or hotel recommendation. One might have better historical information than the other, and it was great when Bob would read one and I would read the other and we would compare notes and discuss the history or background of different cities or sites. I can’t tell you how many times these guidebooks led us to places, restaurants, hotels, sites, we would have never found on our own. Guidebooks save an incredible amount of time as well, and who wants to waste time trying to find somewhere to eat or sleep when on vacation? A couple of guidebooks are worth their weight in gold for any trip.

Eagle Creek Money Belts—Bob and I each took a different kind of security wallet/money belt on this trip to Vietnam, and that worked out great, because we were able to switch belts depending on what we were wearing or what our scheduled activities were for the day. I am surprised when I hear from customers who don’t carry their valuables in a money belt/security wallet. Keeping our passports, traveler’s checks and credit cards in these belts makes me comfortable and secure when I am out walking on the streets. If someone steals our backpack, they’ll find a water bottle, some snacks, and our guidebooks, all replaceable. They won’t get our passports, our digital camera (which Bob kept in a zippered pocket in his Ex Officio pants), or our travelers checks, which are replaceable, but who wants to waste time getting them replaced.

Steripen Adventurer

Steripen Water Sterilizer—There were times on this trip where bottled water was not readily available, and we DEFINITELY did not want to drink or use tap water at any time on this trip. We took The SteriPEN Traveler, which uses UV light to sterilize your water, exceeding the EPA’s highest standards in water purification performance. All you have to do is stir the Traveler in a bottle of water for about a minute, and you’ve got drinking water. We used the traveler when we drank water, and even when we brushed our teeth. We were taking no chances!

Here are a couple of items I wish we had brought on the trip but for some reason thought we didn’t have a need for.

A Watch—Yes a watch. Neither Bob nor I wear watches at home, and we forgot to bring one on this trip. It was an inconvenience to have to find the time when we were out and about, and we actually began taking our travel clock with us while we were seeing the sites!

A Compressible Pillow—Travel Essentials sells excellent compressible pillows from Thermarest, and I was disappointed we didn’t bring one, particularly for the girls. We had many days where we were up very, very early to catch a flight, or to take a three-hour bus ride, and a pillow would have been nice for their naps. Planes don’t seem to be giving out pillows like they used to, and the buses in Vietnam were not the most comfortable.

by Nancy Bestor

Our family enjoyed an amazing journey in Vietnam. While not the easiest trip we’ve ever taken, nor the most relaxing, it was certainly the most fascinating-an amazing look at a culture completely different from our own here in the good old US of A. To make the most of our journey we wanted to see as much of the country as possible.  But we also needed to balance that desire and spend ample time at each stop to get a good feel for each region we visited. Although it worked out great for Bob and I, it kept us on the move via bus, plane, boat and taxi, which was hard on at times on our daughters Emily and Sarah, who were 10 and 8 at the time.

Early in the trip a two-day tour of the Mekong Delta gave us a glimpse of how the Vietnamese live outside their major cities. The Delta covers quite a large portion of southern Vietnam. Formed by sediment deposited by the 2,600-mile Mekong River it teems with agricultural trade and produces enough rice to feed the entire country. Our tour included boating throughout the Delta and short hikes through some of the Delta countryside and small towns and cities. We saw barges full of sand for building and others full of rice for eating. We toured floating markets, visited a family who makes “pop-rice” and another who makes coconut candy, walked past many, many rice fields, and met up with a group of young children who were so thrilled when we said Xin Ciao (hello) to them in or fractured Vietnamese that they followed us for half a mile, laughing, marching and chanting Xin Ciao the whole way. Women passed by on boats with cut up meat or vegetables for sale, while others were cooking on board and selling meals. We bought a fresh and very tasty pineapple from a pineapple boat, served whole on its stem, peeled and trimmed, for 3,000 dong (20 cents). Tourism is still so new in this part of the country that children waved to us, but often adults looked at us like we were either crazy or from another planet. We encountered very few Americans during our stay in Vietnam, and virtually no children. So I’m certain that western children were not often seen, particularly in the Mekong Delta.

Read the rest of this entry »