The Best Travel Tip
I Ever Received

The best travel tip I ever received came from an impossibly organised world traveler. At the time I wasn't that impressed but over the years it has turned out to be my favorite travel tip.

Head to the store and get yourself an extra toiletry bag. The kind that hang on the back of a bathroom door. Look for one that unzips or unfolds so you can lie it flat.

Stock it with all the grooming and bathroom items you use on a regular bases (along with your travel first aid kit).

Just begin collecting next time you go shopping. Buy 2 tubes of toothpaste instead of one (get a travel size if you can), buy a second tweezers and dental floss, another of your favorite hairbrushes.

Once you fill the case zip it closed and store it in the closet. Next time you take a trip just throw it in your suitcase and you're ready to go.

Collecting all the little knik-a-knak for a trip is what makes packing such a chore. If you have a pre-packed toiletry bag then all you have to worry about is finding a pair of shoes to go with those orange hot pants...I don't have a travel tip to help you with that.

Here is what I keep in mine:

• Body lotion
• Dental floss (my dentist has a business card with dental floss rolled up inside it. Coolest invention and a great space saver)
• Deodorant
• Duplicates of all my favorite makeup (Not the basket of trendy-impulse-buy stuff but the timeless classic 4 or 5 items)
• Emergency all purpose jewelry (the kind that go with everything)
• Eye drops (you never want to look like you really drank all that tequila)
• Face cleanser and moisturizer
• Hairbrush
• Headbands and hairclips (limit yourself to just a few small multipurpose bands and clips)
• Q-tips
• Liquid soap (great for washing clothes in the sink or if you have allergies to detergents and things, like I do.)
• Mini sewing kit
• Nail clippers with file
• Perfume (get the little sample tubes)
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Sunscreen
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• First Aid Travel Kit
• Tweezers and small scissors (I actually have a small Swiss army knife in my kit)
• Photocopies of my drivers license, passport, health insurance, credit card numbers (DO NOT write down the card numbers themselves in case your suitcase is stolen), emergency contacts. In my case I've written the numbers on a 3 x 5 card and had it laminated at Kinko's.

OK, if you're a guy you can probably forget the earrings but the other stuff could come in pretty handy.

Granted I don't use all of it on every trip I take. If I'm tramping through Tibet or the Australian outback I may never get past using the toothpaste and sunscreen. But when I've had those last minute business trips to New York or London I can be ready to go in under 10 minutes.

When you get home restock! Happy travels.

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