As I take a look at what I pack each time I take a trip, I realize that one item in particular is pretty weird. I figure if I take weird items when I travel, others must do the same thing. Grant isn’t very weird, so maybe I’m the weirdest member on the TWG team! The expression “misery loves company” doesn’t apply here, because after all, with the advantages we miles and points people have, what’s to feel miserable about? But it sure would help me feel better if I knew you all took some weird necessary items along with you when you travel :)
So I’ll start by telling you mine. For a while now, I’ve been mystified and frustrated by the bathroom designs I see in some hotels. It’s not one particular chain, and I even see this in boutique and one-off hotels. Why don’t they give us towel hooks in the bathrooms? Maybe even towel racks? Am I asking for too much here? What are they thinking I should do with my towels?
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- No hooks on the bathroom wall…
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- … and no hooks on the bathroom door.
In the hotel I’m writing this from, as you can see from the photos, not one hook or rack. It makes no sense to me. There’s room on the bathroom walls and on the back of the door. What’s really odd is that in this hotel, on the wall near the bed are these two hooks. What was the designer thinking? I’ve long thought people who design hotel rooms don’t stay in them :(
Oh look, I found the towel hooks… next to the bed.
So I’ve taken to traveling with towel hooks of my own. At first, I thought I’d use hooks and then leave them for the next guest, but that’s sorta like defacing property. I use hooks that attach with suction, and then take them with me when I leave. (HASKO Suction Cup Hook for Towel, Bathrobe and Loofah is ~$11 with Amazon Prime Shipping)
There are other quirky bathroom and room designs that I don’t get, but I can’t bring a drill with me to install a peephole in the door, or extra light bulbs or lamps so I have enough light to work by. But I can easily fit a few travel hooks with me on trips, now can’t I?
OK, your turn! What’s the weirdest item you bring with you that makes your travels more comfortable?
The towel hooks by the bed are for robes, not towels.
HI Chris, Yes, I figured for clothes. It’s odd to see hooks for robes or clothes when there’s a closet full of hooks and hangers, and then nothing in the bathroom for towels or anything else :))
I bring one of those flashlights you wear on your head. I keep it on the nightstand next to my phone. I like the added feeling of security it gives me. You never know if there will be a power failure or a fire and you’ll need to evacuate a dark or smoke filled hotel .
That’s a great one, Richard. I also bring two small flashlights :) The first time there’s a power failure and you don’t have a good light source, you’ll add one to your small-travel-items-that-come-in-handy list
I keep a little flashlight to take to the bathroom in middle of night so I don’t wake my hubby. I’ve also taken a nightlight but it’s too hard to find an outlet in Euro bathrooms.
The lack of hooks is a mystery, isn’t it? Thanks for the reminder to buy some hooks.
I take:
Wash cloths (many places abroad do not provide them)
A suction soap dish for the shower
A few dryer sheets for the rent car in case it smells funky
Hand wipes to clean the rent car steering wheel and console, they are rarely clean
A couple of clothes pins for hotel curtains that won’t close enough to block the light at dawn
Hi Mavis, Thanks so much for your “list” contributions. I particularly think the dryer sheets is a super creative idea. Funny enough, the next hotel I went to after the one in the photos had an amazing array of towel hooks and racks. No way did the same designer work on both hotels :)
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Ahhh! I feel more sane knowing that I’m not the only one who brings towel hooks & a suction cup soap dish! The hotels encourage you to reuse your towels but have nowhere to hang them?! Doesn’t make any sense to me why a room for 4 only has hooks for 2. I’m definitely gonna bring clothespins now (thanks for the tip). Anyway, I bring these when we travel:
* Large S-Hooks for the towels so that I can hang them on the outside of the shower curtain
* Suction cup hook to hang a loofah or puff in the shower
* Suction cup soap dish
HI Leslie, Great additions to the list! Thank you. I’m in a hotel as I reply to your comment and sure enough, only one hook for a towel in the bathroom. Strange!
Please tell me how we can make a difference and force hotels to put hooks up. They put those cards in the room saying they will wash towels only on the floor but provide now where to hang the towels. BUT weird also is when you come back and find that even ones with hooks will have fresh towels (or heaven forbid they folded my used towel but I suspect not) back on the shelf. This incenses me. The notes mean nothing.. they keep using water to wash unnecessarily .
ps bringing your own hook is nice but that is not changing the world or fixing the problem… lets think bigger
I understand your frustration, Beth. I don’t understand many of the towel/hotel bathroom “rules” either. Across all hotel chains towel policy and lack of hooks is weird. Thinking bigger……OK, I’ll do that if you will too. Then maybe when we voice our solutions the hotels will listen. Thanks for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts!
I bring cheap plastic over the door hooks, suction hooks, cheap mesh body scrubbers (which I toss at end of trip) cause some Euro hotels don’t provide face cloths, lightweight hangers, and those vacuum suction backs to save room for dirty clothes. Most of the stuff I get at the dollar store.
Good ideas, Patty. When we travel, we do get a sense of how the country and hotel cultures differ as far as what’s provided in hotels. Then we can fill in with items that we’ll need. Thanks for reading!