<p>Books have been one of my issues historically, and one reason I got a Kindle. Then I discovered that many of the most useful books are not on the Kindle. For example, when I went to France a few years back, there was the Paris guidebook, the general France guidebook, the specific Brittany guidebook (where we’d be driving and exploring), the French phrasebook, the map. Not to mention recreational reading. I appreciate those old fashioned guidebooks, where each town is described in historic detail. Rough Guides do this very well, especially the older ones.</p>
<p>I spent a lot of time on line looking for detail, and while there is tons of consumer review on line, I have not found the sort of detail on where and how that are in guidebooks. Perhaps I’m not looking in the right place. With publishing in decline, I suppose budgets for detailed guidebooks are a thing of the past, though I haven’t looked in the last year. </p>
<p>Most places have pharmaceuticals, and sometimes dispense more liberally than in the USA. However I was in France, suffering a cold, and went to the pharmacy for pseudaphed. The pharmacist asked my symptoms, whether I had hypertension, and when I replied yes, refused to sell me the product. Yes, I know it is contraindicated, but know my BP is well controlled, and not much affected by a rare tab of a decongestant. Tough luck. </p>
<p>I may take a few loose bandaids- if you need more, you can always stop in and show the pharmacy staff. (Your last unused one, I mean, ha.)Some of this reminds me of when Joanie Caucus (Doonesbury) moved to Berkeley and worried whether they’d have Crest toothpaste. A lot of these products come from big multi-national companies. </p>
<p>Even in the fairly remote places I visited Crest toothpaste was easily obtainable. 
D has a section of her blog devoted to American products with a local twist that she discovered in the stores while living abroad. Some of it is quite hilarious. How did a block of Kirkland Signature cheddar cheese end up in a Central Asian supermarket? Lol. </p>
<p>The cats that D brought from her 2 yrs abroad are awesome (the best part is that they use scratch posts and the cat tree)! Our resident cat does not think so, but she will have to get over it. Pfft! :)</p>
<p>What was the weirdest or most unusual thing you brought from a trip? </p>
<p>That cheese- it’s a dry salty and no one here likes it- except D1’s new boyfriend who lived in Egypt for several years. He brought a cat in, too. Said they were more worried about why he had been in Egypt so long, than about the cat. </p>
<p>I was in a mountain town in the US. The lone drug store did not have regular Colgate toothpaste. I think they did have one type of Crest–but our local Target has probably 15 different types of Crest.</p>
<p>Also, books! Lol about the trunk of books, mathmom. But I brought three books with me, read one in its entirety, worked from the other two, and wished that I had brought two more to expand on the analysis in those two.</p>
<p>For the posters who advocate one pair of jeans: Do you hand wash them, or what? Do they dry overnight? They would not, in many of the locales where I have been. Also, do you have a shrinkage problem with hotel laundry, if you use it? The turn-around times for laundry at many of the hotels where I have been were prohibitive (2-3 days, if you got the laundry to them by 8 am).</p>
<p>In terms of things brought back: Perhaps one of my best memories is connected with something my younger brother brought back from an Atlantic coast beach. I was about 12 at the time. My brother and I were out in the water together, and I stepped on something hard and irregularly shaped. I screeched. I was afraid it was a horseshoe crab–there were enough around that it could well have been. My brother was braver, dove down, and picked up a really nice whelk shell, about 8" long.</p>
<p>In Colorado once, I picked out an unopened geode as a souvenir. The rock shop would open them for you after purchase. QMP insisted that the “geodes” were never any good. This one, however, was quite beautiful when opened.</p>
<p>One of the sadder aspects of travel is thinking about the places one can’t go now, or that were badly impacted by combat in the past. (I suppose this issue goes all the way back to the Parthenon, or further back.)</p>
<p>Unusual things we brought back? If you met my wife, you’d understand that we bring back weird stuff:</p>
<p>A gong that was maybe 3’ in diameter from Bali. Plus the stand
A sculpture of a high priest kind of guy from Peru, made of hardwood. Stands in our garden.
Heart-shaped stones – from many places, to slow me down when we do cycling trips.
Many large baskets – from China and probably South America.
A stool carved to looked like an animal – from South America.
Papier mache skeleton-like folks on chariots and with pitchforks (humorous) for El Dia de los Muertos from Mexico. They hang in our house for Halloween, near the 8 foot tall talking knight which was brought back from Toronto.</p>
<p>I don’t think we mean one pair of jeans. A rainstorm or bad spill can happen. No, if you actually hand wash them, they don’t dry overnight unless you’re in some place exceptionally dry (jeans require super effort to wring out well enough.) Two pair does it, at least one in black. Then a pair of nicer slacks for that fancy restaurant or, as we might hypothetically say, the opera. Maybe a second pair if you anticipate the need. (Sometimes, we travel low, only need one dressier outfit- maybe. Other times, we want to look more upscale, more days. So it depends.) My kids have used hotel laundry- no problems at all. Friends used the “old woman who scrubs at the village fountain,” no problem. (For that, durable travel clothes.) </p>
<p>I wish I could find the old staple, little travel packets of powdered Woolite. Maybe REI, I should check.</p>
<p>D2 brought home those horns you can drink out of, from a 2nd world country. Customs flagged them, but didn’t care.</p>
<p>Thanks, BB. Can order them now and then plan a trip where I can use them.<br>
QM, laundry times can depend on the hotel. My kids had theirs picked up by 5, back by 7am or so the next morning. It was a major hotel chain. </p>
<p>I saw earlier that someone is saying it’s easy to overpack large bags…</p>
<p>I think I had a 32" rolling duffle, it never got over 50 for my trip. Anything I acquired I kept in my travel backpack! If anything, it was lighter because of all the food that was eaten and the water bottles that were gone, :D</p>
<p>But I will be getting a smaller rolling duffle because I do not plan on going in another trip like that again!</p>
<p>We purposely chose an extended stay type hotel for a night mid-way though our recent trip so that we could do our own laundry. Other than the washers being rather small we had no problem. We bought the smallest size liquid detergent in our preferred brand and left it with the staff-they said someone always asks if there’s any laying around because they forgot theirs. When in REI recently we did see small bottles of biodegradable laundry soap intended for campers, but anyone could use it to do small sink-sized washes. </p>
<p>Well I’ll wear a pair of pants 3 or 4 days, so it depends on the length of the trip. I might also bring something like khakis that dry quicker. When we went to Jordan I didn’t bring any jeans, instead I had a couple of pairs of khakis and some longer skirts.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, do you see any of those Sophie the Giraffe teething toys for babies? Everyone I know who is having a baby has that on their baby registry and I hate paying $25 plus! </p>
<p>Maybe I’m disgusting, but when I travel, I don’t wash clothing after one wearing – especially pants. Packing light in the summer is easy because the clothing is lightweight and doesn’t take up much space. In the winter, I rely on rewearing clothes – sometimes I’ll wear one sweater several times, but layer a different T-shirt underneath it.</p>
<p>fireandrain, my European friends do not get the American obsession with washing everything after one wear. If it does not look or smell dirty, why wash it?! </p>
<p>I used to pack N shirts for Mr B if we were to spend N days in Hawaii. Not anymore! A couple will do. We spend so much time on the beach or in the pool and take showers so often that the shirts do not get dirty after several days of wear. I bring 2-3 sundresses for myself. Could be just one, but Mr likes to see me in different dresses. 
I bring way too much exercise clothing… Lulu makes such cute stuff. </p>
<p>I don’t find you disgusting, fireandrain. I do the same. I don’t wash my jeans or shorts after one wear. Jeans probably go two or three wearings before I get around to washing them. </p>
<p>Unless it’s very hot and I’m very sweaty I do not wash everything after a single wash. On our recent trip south I wore a clean shirt each day and 2 pair of capris twice each, then washed and started over. At home I wear the same work pants several times before washing. I am not in lulu’s demographic. The CEO believes I would insult the clothing if I wore it.</p>
<p>Sseamom, I cannot find any reference to LuLu’s CEO saying anything like that. Did you mean the old remarks of the <em>former</em> CEO? He got canned, let’s move on. Not to start a WW3, but I’m sick of skinny shaming. There is nothing wrong with market segmentation. Companies can pick and choose who to serve. For example, I cannot find a single item of clothing at certain (non-plus sizing) stores that would not be too big or too long for me, and I am not a stick. Not going to start a campaign demanding that they make something for me. I just shop elsewhere. I prefer Lulu running stuff because of its functionality in the first place. </p>
<p>Well, of course I meant the FORMER CEO, who is also a founder and no doubt still collecting plenty from his company. But hey, not skinny shaming from me-I used to be one. But I don’t have to like what someone says about their “baby”, a company they started. Saying people aren’t fit to wear the clothes goes a bit beyond niche marketing. THAT I get. If only I could find pants short enough now, I’d be happy.</p>