Traveling and especially multi-day hikes is a lot of smart travel hacking – making sure you pack the right stuff, that you shave off some grams and make sure that you re-use the same gear for different purposes. So these are my all-time favorite travel hacks.
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Hair clip as multi-purpose tool
I started carrying a hairclip during my Laugavegur hike as a way to keep my Adventure Food pouch closed when I added water and the freeze-dried food needs some time to get ready. When adding water, you’ll usually have to wait 5-10 minutes for it to be ready. Adding a clip after adding water and mixing the food a bit, will make sure the pouch stays closed and keeps the heat from exiting. That made me adopt hairclips as part of my cooking system.
Read more on how I use hair clips.
Sea-to-summit e-vent compression bags
Sea-to-summit e-vent compression bags (my review). I dedicated a whole separate post on these works of genius. Compression bags do not only keep your clothing, sleeping bag and tent dry but also compress its size to a minimum. Two hyper-super essential qualities for multi-day hikes in one.
IKEA plastic bag as liner
Until recently, I would just use one of the pockets of my pants to stow away small garbage (e.g. wrappers of my power gels or nut bars), but after one too many times my power gels would leak and cause a sticky mess in my pocket (yeah, that pretty much sounds as bad as it actually was), I decided to line my pocket with a simple IKEA bag. I would use the IKEA plastic bag as a liner for my pocket, pretty much like you would use a liner for your sleeping bag. So from now on, you’ll find one on my packing lists, like the one for the Jordan Trail.
Read more on IKEA plastic bags as liner.
Plastic hairnets for your shoes
The blessing of a plastic hairnet. You can usually find them at your hotel or hostel (I found them in my hostel in Iceland) or if you’re a real hardcore traveller, you can even buy them in bulk via Amazon or a local retailer. Use them to cover the soles of your shoes and you never have dirt or mud leaks into your clothes again.
Read more on plastic hairnets for your shoes.
