What quirky thing do you always pack when you go on vacation?

[AnnaS]

Don’t place it on carry on...

I can see the headlines now...

PEELER CAUGHT AT AIRPORT. CULPRIT CLAIMS ITS AN ACCIDENT.


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Long story, but I actually had a steak knife in my soft/collapsable cooler. Completely forgot it was in there

Another time a small pocket scissor - both taken away of course.

 

[mdurette]

Whenever we travel, Arthur the MothMan goes with me.

https://artringwald.smugmug.com/Travel/Arthur-the-Moth-Man/

Ok.....my vote for the quirkiest so far is the Moth Man.....sure it has a great story to go along with it.

My quirky one lately is this cheap foldable cloth box I bought at the dollar store. It is about the size of shoe box. I originally bought it for a cruise to put in the bathroom to put our toiletries into near the sink. But, I have found it very useful at many timeshares when there is no counter/draw space in a bathroom.

 

[Sea Six]

I always take an HDMI cable so I can stream video to the TV.

 

[clifffaith]

A very small strainer -- the size that would rest on top of a coffee cup. Got tired of dealing with coffee grounds in our cups from all the resort coffee pots. The upside of this is I discovered that the two-times larger (but still small) strainer I bought for home works well as a sifter for baking at this time of year. Mesh is too small for salt granules, but flour, baking soda and baking powder work just fine, and much easier to clean than a standard sifter.

The other weird thing we've had to pack the last six months is a "dog towel" to save the resort pillows from the skin cancer wound on Cliff's cheek. Hopefully his MOHs surgery on the 23rd will solve that issue.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I bring so many things with us that are absolute necessities, including spices, sharp knife, Pampered Chef pineapple corer (for Hawaii), Rick's multi-tool, folding laundry hamper, sun shade for the car, cooler, rolls of foil and saran wrap, my own pillow, and that is a sampling of the things we pack.

 

[artringwald]

Ok.....my vote for the quirkiest so far is the Moth Man.....sure it has a great story to go along with it.

Not much of a story really. Arthur the MothMan is a sidekick of the cartoon character The Tick. Since we share a name and physical resemblance, a coworker bought the action figure and gave it to me. I started taking pictures of all the places MothMan had been. He even has his own Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/arthur.mothman/photos_all

His most recent trip was a cruise through the Panama Canal.

 

[SandyPGravel]

My quirky one lately is this cheap foldable cloth box I bought at the dollar store. It is about the size of shoe box. I originally bought it for a cruise to put in the bathroom to put our toiletries into near the sink. But, I have found it very useful at many timeshares when there is no counter/draw space in a bathroom.

My SIL made us a change tray/key holder/ring holder whatever you want to call it out of denim and snaps. One half of a snap on each side of each corner. Snap together makes a "tray", unsnap and lays flat . Handy for car keys, room keys loose change when at a timeshare.

 

[SandyPGravel]

I bring a pirate flag for the car window to St. John because all the rental vehicles are identical new Jeeps! I get lots of waves and honks because of it. (Just have to remember it's in the window if we decide to roll the back windows down! (I have had to rescue the flag from the middle of the road at least once.)

 

[geekette]

On my latest trip, I packed something that I had never packed before and it is certainly quirky: 5 trays of succulent "offsets" or "plantlets" that I potted a month ago and which I'm trying to root. I was afraid that the plantlets would not survive a week at home with no water. Because this was a "drive to" vacation, I just put them in the back seat of the car to transport them.

I wonder if I could call these plants "service plants" or are they more of "emotional support" plants?

I vote Emotional Support Plants. You need to say it with a straight face because the reactions of others will be very interesting.

 

[SandyPGravel]

I vote Emotional Support Plants. You need to say it with a straight face because the reactions of others will be very interesting.

And use the acronym ESP, to make it sound blasé. (With a straight face of course.)

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Spices. I have a ziplock with a bunch of bottles which is set aside for travel: Montreal, Mesquite, Turmeric...

 

[silentg]

I bring a folder full of coupons or gift certificates for restaurants or attractions in the area where we stay. Put receipts and info in the folders and keep them for future reference.
Also if we drive we bring our pillows. Next trip bringing a mattress topper for bed because they are never comfortable.
Silentg

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Back about 5 to 8 years ago I used to pack a plug-in wifi modem that I equipped with a gain antenna. That allowed me to piggy-back on someone else's open wifi. In addition, I also packed a "Canary" wifi sniffer so that I could "map" the open wifi's on property. But it seems like open (non-password protected) wifi is now a thing of the past.

 

[mrsstats]

I bring so many things with us that are absolute necessities, including spices, sharp knife, Pampered Chef pineapple corer (for Hawaii), Rick's multi-tool, folding laundry hamper, sun shade for the car, cooler, rolls of foil and saran wrap, my own pillow, and that is a sampling of the things we pack.

Gee I thought I was the only one to bring a list of things. Ours include the hamper, shower heads, wrench, our soft blankets, HDMI cable, non stick frying pan, coffee mugs, small cooler bag, tote bag.

 

[jehb2]

Not quirky, but I bring disposable tupperware and a whole bunch of ziplock bags.

Lately I’ve started bringing car air freshener.

 

[Kel]

A small white noise machine. We have a white noise app on our phones, but the little machine has a better sound. We take a lot of the same items others posted too. Cheers!

 

[pedro47]

Here is my short list. Two (2) cans of Lysol spray, Trader Joe’s instant coffee, and my silver hander wine opener .

 

[dogfeet]

I always bring a yo-yo and often a spinning top. Small items and fit easily in the suitcase and I always like to have toys.

 

[twise625]

We started bringing a Britta pitcher with us to improve tap water quality and cut down on bottled water purchases.

 

[silentg]

We also bring coffee, tea, paper towels, coffee filters, laundry detergent

 

[Kuhlmd]

I take a few pieces of Tupperware and a measuring scoop for coffee. Someone here mentioned a knife sharpener, which I think I'll add to my packing list.

 

[vacationtime1]

Coffee (Peet's), coffee filters, wine pump (for those half finished bottles), parchment paper (for baking fish), olive oil, zip-lock bags

 

[charlja]

I bring my own can opener. And our percolator coffee pot. Life is too short for unreliable coffee. And organic popcorn from our local market and our microwave popper (Nordic brand from Target).

I also make a list of everything packed, including each clothing item. Then cross off the list while on vacation as they are used. Anything not crossed off doesn’t make the next trip.

I also use vacuum space bags. I get them cheap at Aldi when they are being sold there. Awesome. Especially for flying, when I check a bag. Liquids especially do well in the space bag. So much less room used in the suitcase.

 

[VacationForever]

My own spicy seasoning for roasting chicken.

 

[Jan M.]

Mine is a Swiss Army Knife. I have this romanticized idea that my car will break down driving to TS, but I used the Swiss Army Knife to save my life.

Grammarhero Christmas is coming you need to treat yourself to a good Leatherman tool or something similar.

geist1223: My Leatherman Tool has traveled around the World with me.

My husband brings his Leatherman multi-purpose tool. It has come in handy so many times on our stays. If there is a sharp carpet tack sticking up through the carpet or a staple anywhere in the carpet at the timeshares I can guarantee that my toes will find it. You'd be surprised at how often this happens. If there is something little that needs taken care of that he can do with his Leatherman tool he does it rather than having to call and wait on the maintenance people.

We both prefer not to have anyone coming into our unit when we aren't there if it can be avoided. What bothers us about having housekeeping or maintenance coming in when we aren't there is that all too often they will leave the door propped open while they are working. Anyone could walk right in. And the staff who come in are often working out of sight of the door or doing something that makes noise so they wouldn't hear if someone did come in. You would think this would be a huge personal safety issue for the female housekeeping staff.

My husband also brings his flashlight, a little smaller version of his big one at home that I dubbed "the light of the world". Me making fun of him about his flashlights is a long standing thing. I have a flashlight app on my phone but he doesn't. The apps I have on my phone are all of the practical sort. On his phone he has apps for games, locating constellations, identifying trees and plants and so on. He can add and use any fun app that catches his fancy but asks me to load the airline apps and show him how to find his boarding passes on his phone when we fly. At least 10 years ago he presented me with a small flashlight from his collection; a bigger deal than you might imagine. I keep it in my travel bag and put in on the nightstand next to my side of the bed when we travel. I have really good night vision so rarely use it but I do like knowing it's there if I need it.

Writing this has given me a great idea for something for Christmas for my husband. I'm going to buy a fancy sentimental Husband Christmas card to give my husband on Christmas morning. My husband loves getting cards like that. In the card I'm going to write a note that although I refuse to buy him another flashlight that I love him enough to load the flashlight app on his phone. He will love the joke and the thought. We stopped giving each other gifts after the first couple of years of having the timeshares. We always said that we could buy ourselves whatever we wanted and that our vacations were our Christmas, anniversary and birthday gifts. And thanks to the timeshares we took more vacations than any of the people we knew and stayed longer for those vacations.