I'm still waiting on my guest article inputs and am quite busy earning a living this week so until I can provide something of more substance, here's Some more of my favorite travel gear.

Some of my favorite travel gear (in no particular order). 

Kiva Packable Tote:  One of the things I found out in Germany is that some stores don’t offer free plastic bags to put your purchases in or if they do, the bags can’t handle too much weight.  So I got a Kiva packable tote.  It weighs just four ounces, holds  about fifteen liters, is fairly rugged and waterproof,  and fits in your pocket. I got the plain 'ol black one--I was around during the hippie days but I never got into flowers as a design of choice.    It actually serves a good purpose when traveling and you find it necessary to make a purchase at the grocery shop.  Gearhead stuff……I suppose so, but it still has my recommendation.

Cocoon Pillow:  Nice inflatable pillow weighing four ounces and is a little smaller than a softball when compressed and placed in its bag.  So it takes up very little space.  Opens up to a nice sized pillow good for travel or camping.  Each side of the pillow has a different material:  one fleece-like, one nylon-like.  Very comfortable. This pillow is part of my travel sleeping kits.


SteriPen:  A great water treatment option when traveling in countries or areas with questionable water quality.  I have a chronic medical condition so I must be careful to get safe drinking water.  This does the trick and the weight of the pen with batteries is only seven and a half ounces (pen and case).  There are lots of youtube videos on use.  One downside is that it makes the water safe to drink. It doesn’t change the taste of the water so if your water tastes icky before making it safe, it will taste icky after you make it safe.  I use a two step method by making the water safe with the SteriPen and then filtering the safe water through a bottle with an integrated carbon filter.  Best of both worlds that way.