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10Best items for your flight baggie
What should you put in your "flight baggie?"
No matter how often you're on the road, taking the right tools and putting only the necessary liquids, gels and potions into that TSA-approved, 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic bag can be a challenge. These cute and TSA-compliant travel-sized products save space and time and will help you avoid some travel hassles.
Save space. Don't smell.
Deodorant is (or should be...) an essential item in all travel kits. "Gel, roll-on and aerosol versions come in 3.4 ounce or less sizes that are TSA-compliant," says Paul Shrater of mimimus.biz, "but you can still smell great - and save space in your baggie - by packing a solid stick deodorant separately."
No washing machine needed
Doing laundry isn't always possible when you're traveling and sending clothes out to be dry-cleaned at a hotel can cost a fortune. These single-use packets of Tide laundry detergent are designed for travelers and for use when washing clothes in the sink. (Price: about $1 for 3 packets).
Be ready for emergencies large and small
Frequent travelers know duct tape can be handy for fixing everything from broken luggage handles and drooping hems to tears in mosquito nets and leaking shampoo bottles. Tucking these travel-sized rolls of duct tape into a back-up flight baggie can be an inexpensive form of travel insurance.
Space-saving shaver
Even small cans of shaving cream are space hoggers, but "this twin-blade razor has enough shaving cream stored in the handle for about 8 shaves", said Scott Strahler, owner of AllTravelSizes.com. "It's smart and one of the more popular and space-saving items items we sell to both men and women."
Remove wrinkles, rumples and static
Magic? Maybe. Downy Wrinkle Releaser comes in a 3 ounce travel-size and the spray somehow makes fibers in fabrics go limp so you can easily smooth out wrinkles in creased clothing from your suitcase. As a bonus, this spray also promises to eliminate odors and get rid of static cling. (About $3)
Photo courtesy of Courtesy Downy
Yes, there are travel-sized pet products
Millions of people take their pets with them when they travel and hundreds of pet products are now packaged in travel-sizes. Tuck a few of these hypo-allergenic grooming wipes into your travel kit so your cat or dog can stay neat and tidy while on the road too.
Mini-toothbrush with freshening bead needs no water
Sold in airport shops and drugstores, these Wisp mini-toothbrushes have a flavored bead of gel that means you can brush you teeth without water - or spitting. Designed as disposable, single-use items, Colgate offers a post-paid pouch that allows you to save used brushes and recycle in batches.
Photo courtesy of Harriet Baskas
Sanitize your trip
Surfaces on airplanes, trains, buses and hotel rooms are probably not cleaned as often as often as they should be - or as often as we'd like. Small bottles of sanitizing gel take up space in your flight baggie, but these single-use packets can be stashed in your pockets.
Bring your own, but make it travel-size
Commercially-packaged travel-sized items are certainly convenient, but not always economical. These soft, silicone, GoToobs each hold 3 fluid ounces and have a wide opening that makes them easy to fill with product from larger bottles. BPA and PC-free, they can also hold food. So no need to travel without hot sauce.
About Harriet Baskas
Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based freelance journalist who writes the At the Airport column for USATODAY.com and a blog called StuckAtTheAirport.com. She's the author of seven books, including Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't or Won't Show you. When not in an airport finding the coolest things to do, she's in a museum finding the coolest things they have.
Read more about Harriet Baskas here.