Memory foam pillows are well known for being some of the most comfortable pillows available.  Their combination of support with their ability to conform perfectly to your head and neck make them a great place to rest your head.  There are a wide variety of memory foam pillows available, including travel pillows, and while their density and weight don’t make them the ideal solution for lightweight adventure travel, they are a great pillow to come home to when you’ve finished your adventures.

The Memory Foam Travel Pillow

Whether you’re traveling by plane, train, automobile or foot, you’re going to need a comfortable place to rest your head.  Memory foam travel pillows come in a variety of sizes and shapes, the most recognizable being the memory foam neck pillow.  These neck pillows are the type you see that are shaped like a horseshoe and they allow you to sleep comfortably while sitting up.  Of course, neck pillows can also refer to those which are contoured to give extra support to your neck while sleeping, and travel pillows can mean any pillow small enough to pack and travel with.  This includes camping pillows.  They may weigh a bit more for the size, but they’ll certainly make your nights a bit more restful.

There are a couple of pillows available for campers and backpackers that are small enough to carry without adding to much bulk or weight.  Some, like the Big Agnes, incorporate directly with the associated sleeping bag for convenient set up, and a comfortable sleep.

What’s the Best Memory Foam Pillow?

Obviously determining the vest visco memory foam pillow is going to mostly depend on what you plan on using it for.  If you plan to use it for sleeping, they make pillows in standard shaped bed pillows as well as those used for anti-snoring and the relief of sleep apnea.  In addition, they also make speciality pillows like the memory foam wedge pillow, and the memory foam body pillow.  These specialty pillows are designed to improve sleeping posture by separating the legs slightly, or, in the case of certain wedge pillows, by elevating your legs.  The wedge pillow can also be used to elevate the torso into an inclined position which is said to help mediate and prevent some of the symptoms of GERD, or acid reflux disease.

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There are many situations, especially in adventure travel, where a pair of waterproof shoes are certainly very useful.  There are few things quite so miserable as having to trudge around in soggy squishy socks all day.  If you happen to be in a cold or even slightly chilly environment that misery increases exponentially, and can pose a frost bite risk if it gets cold enough.  Having cold wet feet will sap your heat and your energy.

Waterproof Running Shoes

If you do cross country training, or enjoy trail running, a pair of waterproof running shoes is great to have on hand for those rainy, or post-rainy days.  Running in wet shoes can really cause problems with your feet, because all that sloshing around irritates the skin causing blisters and hot spots.  Add some trail dirt in their and you’re essentially sanding your feet with 400 grit sandpaper as you run.  There are companies that provide waterproof sneakers like Puma, and Teva.  The key is that these shoes not only keep water out, but allow your feet to breathe so your sweat also has a chance to evaporate and any water that gets in can escape.  This is usually done with a combination of waterproof or resistant outer materials combined with materials that wick water away from your feet on the interior.

Waterproof Hiking Shoes

Waterproof hiking shoes are typically a bit tougher and heavier than running shoes.  They are usually made of some form of treated leather combined with synthetic materials like goretex to keep your feet warm and dry.  Goretex boots are generally some of the best you can get in this category and are made by companies known for making quality boots like Merrel, Timberland , North Face, and Columbia.

There are many styles of waterproof walking shoes, and running shoes to choose from.  This is true of both mens waterproof shoes, and waterproof shoes for women.  They even make sport-specific shoes, like waterproof golf shoes.  Nothing throws off your swing like heavy, wet, cold feet.  For many outdoor sports, like backpacking, and even cycling, foot care is absolutely essential.  Without your feet, you’re not going to get very far so you have to take great care with them.  This is why you should always have a pair of waterproof shoes in your arsenal of gear, because they will keep your feet happy, which will make your adventures that much better.  Breathability is crucial though, as locking moisture in is as bad as letting it in.  Ensure you do a bit of research online to see what people are saying about the various shoes out there to make sure you’re getting the best, most comfortable, breathable shoes that are indeed waterproof.

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These days everyone is doing it: travelling for business.  No longer reserved for the high-flying corporate leaders, travel for business is part of job descriptions in every field.  Along with the excitement of travel for business comes added stress, of course, which needs to be taken into consideration and your best efforts made to reduce potential stressors.

One of the biggest stress factors in relation to travel is Being On Time.  Who hasn’t had dreams leading up to the date of travel where a plane flight is missed or a train leaves without you?  Dreams like these are a reflection of your subconscious fears and thus they are playing at the back of your mind and taking up valuable energy that could be put to better use in your business life.  Better to set those fears aside by making sure that you can’t possibly be late.

When travelling, it’s best not to be reliant on the wall clock, bedside clock or alarm clock in your hotel room.  Don’t rely on your mobile phone alarm either; mobile phones have been known to automatically reset the time to the time zone you enter, thus making your alarm (which you cleverly set before your departure) useless.  Thus, having your own travel clock is an ideal way to make sure that you won’t miss your wake-up alarm.  Setting your own travel clock is easier than fumbling with the hotel room’s clock at some ungodly hour and risking the chance of it not working properly or not being loud enough.

Thankfully travel clocks are not hard to come by in this day and age and you can find one that suits you perfectly.  The lightweight travel alarm clock is the ideal companion for trips whereexcess baggage may end up unexpectedly costing you.  Even though most travel items these days are made to be lightweight for travel deliberately, it’s always worth checking for a weight designation on the box.

When you travel with your own clock, you will be sure of having an alarm that you know how to set, and whose alarm sound is familiar enough to cause your brain to say, “Hey, wakeup-wakeup-wakeup, it’s time to get to work!” and you will no longer have to worry about the horrible Fear of Being Late.

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Choosing the right travel pillow can mean the difference between a great vacation and a vacation plagued by sleep deprivation.  Something as simple as your pillow can make a big difference in how well you sleep, so making sure you’ve chosen the right one for whatever adventure you’re embarking on is crucial.

Travel pillows come in a wide variety of shapes, materials and sizes.  Memory foam neck pillows are popular for airline, car and train travel because they offer support and comfort, however they’re a bit heavier than other forms types of travel neck pillows.  That additional weight is the price you pay for that level of comfort, I suppose.  If you’re looking for something a little lighter, you might want to get a microbead pillow (also sometimes called a moshi pillow).  These are those squishy pillows you’ve felt that have tiny beads in them when you give them a squeeze.  These pillows are much lighter, in comparison to a memory foam travel pillow, and can usually be compressed to conserve space if necessary.

Of course, for backpacking and other forms of adventure travel, you’re going to have to take the transportability of your pillow a little more seriously.  Some people will merely improvise a pillow in these situations – a bunch of clothes stuffed in a waterproof bags works fairly well, but can be lumpy and uncomfortable.  You’re much better off with a camping pillow.  These pillows are often made of a light fill of cotton, fleece, or down, and have a soft cotton, flannel of fleece cover.  They are “packable;” meaning they can be compressed, the cover used to keep the pillow small, and tightly compacted.  The biggest negative of these camping pillows is that they are often a bit soft for many people, and often don’t provide the support that backpackers, and campers desire.  If you’re one of those who needs a more supportive rest, then you’re probably going to want to look into an inflatable travel pillow.  Inflatable travel pillows are generally self-inflating, and provide more support than standard camping pillows.  They are not made of the softest outer materials though, so you might want to purchase a small travel pillow case, or simply use a t-shirt or other piece of clothing to make it a bit more comfortable to sleep on.  Inflatable pillows are extremely lightweight, and packable, which really makes them the best choice for your outdoor sleeping gear.

The comfort of your sleeping arrangements can really make or break the success of your trip. Some people absolutely can’t sleep without the benefit of a comfortable pillow.  Me?  I’ve a rather hard head, so I prefer to use a small pile of rocks as a pillow, but most people prefer the comfort of a nice travel pillow.

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Travel kits are a necessary part of any traveler’s baggage.  Also called a toiletry kit, these kits are used to carry items like toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant, soaps, and other personal items.  They vary in shape in size, but they all share this same general purpose.

A very basic travel kit will consist of a small container, with a single zipper.  It may or may not have additional pockets, but not having those extra pockets and zippers and pockets makes the kit more lightweight.  Such lightweight travel kits are great for adventure travel, as you want to carry with you as little as possible.  If you’re on an outdoor excursion, you won’t be carrying much with you in the way of personal items anyhow, so these kits work just fine.  A great example of such a kit is the North Face Base Camp Travel Canister.

Travel kits for men will generally be made of leather and sometimes come with complete travel shaving kits.  A shaving kit made for traveling will have usually come with a small travel shaving mirror that is fog proof and can be used in the shower when shaving.  This is important when traveling for business, but if you’re going on outdoor adventures, the trees and bears certainly aren’t going to care how much stubble you have on your face.  Mens travel kits are tough, due to their leather construction, but this toughness comes at the expense of additional weight.  Again, if you’re going any sort of backpacking, or adventure traveling, this is not the type of kit you’re going to want to go with.  Use these kits for your business travel, and even leisure travel that is spent in hotels and timeshares, in other words, very boring and mundane travel.  If you’re doing any sort of real traveling, leave these bulky kits at home.

Same goes for travel kits for women.  Women’s kits have to be larger for the loads of cosmetics they carry.  They aren’t made of leather, usually, but they are often padded to protect the cases of those cosmetics.  This adds bulk and weight to your travel kit, and if you’re backpacking through Europe, every additional ounce is going to begin to weigh you down.  Sure, it’s great to look nice for that dinner in Paris, but keep the make-up, and other toiletries to a minimum.  These creature comforts are necessary for some women to function though, and this is understandable, but keeping it light will make the entire trip more enjoyable.  Trust me, no one likes a cranky travel companion. (Did that paragraph come across as sexist?  Yeah, probably.)

The best choice for outdoor travel, backpacking and other adventure travel is the generic travel kit.  These generic and unisex travel kits will provide you with a case for all your necessary toiletries, while physically limiting what you’re able to carry by their modest size.  At the most, your kit might have a flap with a hook for hanging off the back of your hostel’s bathroom door, or tree branch in the Adirondacks, but it shouldn’t have a hundred different pockets and flaps for each individual item.  This isn’t to say you shouldn’t have enough to be clean, comfortable and hygienic, but a minimalist kit will really help you be selective with what you really need, and what you don’t.

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Train vacations are a great way to adventure travel.  Trains often traverse mountains and areas either unaccessible by road.  Not only do they act as transportation, but you can actually spent an entire vacation on a train winding around scenic locations without having to worry about driving from site to site.  You’ll find train travel in just about every part of the world, on every continent (aside from Antartica, of course) and in most countries.

In Tibet, an area known for having the highest peaks in the world for climbers, you will find the Qingzang railway  (or Lhasa Express).  While some adventurers come to Tibet to scale Mount Everest, others might not want that extreme level of “vacation” but still want to see the land.  That’s where the Lhasa Express comes in.  On it you can travel Tibet by train.  It winds around the Tibetan Plateau at such altitudes, that oxygen is pumped into the cabins, and you’re given a personal oxygen tank just in case that isn’t enough for you.  You won’t quite venture into Everest’s territory, but the beauty of this region is undeniable, and it makes for a remarkable train vacation.

Another popular adventure railway vacation involves the PeruRail.  Many people take backpacking trips to Peru because of the many sites available.  One popular backpacking route is the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu which is considered one of the top trails to backpack in the world.  The Peru Rail system accomodates those who travel to these areas via backpack with a specific backpacking train.  It provides decent seating at at reasonable price, and spaces available for backpacks.  A train vacation package involving a backpacking trip to Machu Pichu is really one of the ultimate adventure trips available.

Popular destinations for train vacations in the USA and Canada include the Rockies and other mountain ranges, the Grand Canyon, and their many miles of coastal land.  These mountain ranges, canyons, and coasts offer a combination of views that you will find difficult to beat on any other continent.  Amtrak is a company that offers train vacations throughout the United States and parts of Canada.  Via Rail is another company that offers train travel options throughout Canada.

You can also find many luxury train vacation packages available.  Luxury train travel can offer anything from passage on the finest trains from one luxury hotel to the next, to an entire train car that you might mistake for a large room in one of those hotels.  With luxury trips, food and beverages are typically included, and the accommodations and service are top notch.  You can find these luxury vacations anywhere that you’ll find train travel.  Sometimes they might involve staying on the train the entire time, stopping at vistas and sleeping in the car, and sometimes, as stated above, it’s merely the transportation from one hotel to the next.  In the case of these hotel trips, they will be located in places with incredible views and with some exclusive train packages, might only be accessible via that train.

Wherever you decide to go, and whether you decide to go there via backpack or luxury train, train vacations are an often overlooked type of vacation.  Trains offer views of places you can never see while driving, and they allow you to forgo worrying about planning those drives from place to place.  It’s a leisurely way to vacation that everyone should try at least once in their life.

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If you plan on traveling internationally, then a travel document holder is a necessity.  Some people use their document holder to simply hold their passport, while others will get one that holds a myriad of related paperwork, IDs, card, and you can also find some that are concealable in case thievery and pick-pocketing is of concern.

Whether you’re going on adventure travel, or simple sight-seeing, you’re going to want something to carry and protect your passport, and other important documents.  If you are a minimalist, at the very least you’re going to need something like a Samsonite Leather Passport Case which is essentially a leather sleeve for your passport.  Though passports are made of high quality and tough materials, they can still get damaged unless protected.  If you want to maintain the slim profile of your passport, but also carry your credit cards, you can find some leather travel document holders that are little more than the leather passport carrier with 3 or 4 slots for credit cards.

If you’re the type who likes to keep everything organized and in one place, a full travel document organizer might be for you.  These are typically longer than your passport holders because they need to be long enough to accommodate your boarding passes.  This boarding pass pocket will usually be on the outside for easy accessibility.  Beyond that it’s going to have slots for your credit cards, usually a pen holder and pen, and various slots for additional notebooks, documentation and identification.  Many travel adventure trips take place in countries that require certain shots and immunizations, so your travel document holder should have a slot for your immunization records as well.

Secure travel document holders can range from the minimalist to the expansive organizer.  The one factor that differentiates this type of document holder is their ability to be concealed on the body.  Some places in the world have a relatively high crime rate and incidence of pick-pocketing, so hiding your documents in an inaccessible place may be necessary.  If you are traveling to a place with a high level of muggings, you may even want to get a fake travel document wallet to hand over, while your real documents are hidden away.  The method of hiding these document holders varies.  Some are wrapped around the upper leg, some are belted around the waist and under your shirt, while others are a one-shoulder sling type.  They also make some that go around your neck, but this type is probably most easily recognized  in a confrontational situation like a mugging.  It will still deter pick-pocketers.  The idea is to make things as inconspicuous and difficult to access as possible.  Thieves are looking for an easy mark, and if they have to put forth extra effort, they will simply move on to the next potential victim.

Your personal style combined with the type of travel you’re doing will ultimately determine which type of travel document holder you’re going to need.  If it’s a quick business trip, you might just need the passport protector, but if you’re backpacking through Guatemala, you might need a secure travel document organizer.  Let your potential surroundings, situation and needs dictate your purchase.

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I believe that lightweight travel is all about the minimalist approach.  The less you’re lugging around, the less stress that’s going to be involved when hopping from one destination to the next.  Now, some trips require a little more than a backpack or lightweight travel courier, and this is where lightweight suitcases come in.  A good lightweight suitcase should be light, obviously, but it should not compromise on quality just because it weighs less than a standard suitcase.
Lightweight suitcases can be either hardside of softside.  You’re going to find that hardside lightweight luggage is made of high-tech materials like ABS coated polycarbonate.  These materials are tough but flexible so they won’t break when stacked, thrown around, and crushed.  The frames are made of aluminum and aluminum alloys.  These alloys are very tough for their weight.  Despite all of this toughness, these suitcases are still quite light, and can weight as little as 6 lbs when empty.

Softsided lightweight suitcases are equally tough, though slightly less crush resistant.  This doesn’t mean they are easily crushed; they are actually quite rigid, but they’re obviously a little less strong than their hardsided cousin.  Cheap lightweight suitcases will often be made of a thin, single-weave nylon, while the best lightweight suitcases are made from heavier materials like Cordura, or ballistic nylon combined with ripstp nylon, or leather.  At the very least, even cheap luggage will use one of these tougher materials on the bottom to reduce wear-through due to their abrasion-resistant properties.

If you need a lightweight rolling suitcase, finding one shouldn’t be a problem.  It is rare for these suitcases to not have wheels.  As a matter of fact, their construction is all pretty similar in that they have wheels on one end, and a pull handle at the other, but also a handle on the side so it can be carried in the traditional manner.  Similarly, if you’re looking for a lightweight carry on suitcase, pretty much any lightweight luggage is going to fit the bill because part of being lightweight is being compact.

As with anything, you’re going to get what you pay for here.  If you spend a couple hundred bucks on a real quality luggage set, it’s going to last for quite sometime.  If you don’t want to spend the cash right away, you may find yourself replacing your luggage often, unless you don’t travel frequently.  On that note, there’s no point in spending a ton of money up front if you only travel once or twice a year.  You can find a solid lightweight suitcase for under a hundred bucks and it will probably last you plenty of trips.

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The Patagonia Lightweight Travel Courier is lightweight, compact, and much like everything Patagonia makes, it’s made in  way that’s as environmentally conscious as possible.  It makes a great carry-on for airline trips, and it’s perfect for carrying books around campus.  Those books are already heavy enough, why add weight with excessively thick layers of canvas, codura, or nylon?

This courier bag has 1281 cu. in. of storage space, measures 10.5″ high, 18″ wide and 6″ deep.  It’s quite sizable, yet it comes in at only 9 oz.  This means you can carry everything you need without worrying about the additional weight from the bag.  This bad is also the ultimate in simplicity; it only has one main compartment accessible by zipper, and adjustable draw string.  In addition, it has one full length side pocket.  This is unlike other bags that have a hundred pockets that make you feel like you need to put something in each one, and then forget where everything went later.  This construction also keeps the materials used, and the weight of the bag to a minimum.

Another cool feature of this bag is that it’s packable.  This means it can all be tucked into its own pocket.  Pull the drawstring tight, and this bag makes for a tiny and light package that can be stowed in a cargo pocket, or within another bag, just in case you feel you will need extra storage for the return home.

The fabric is a 50-denier triple ripstop nylon that is both lightweight and tough.  It is coated with polyurethane and uses a DWR (durable water resistent finish).  The bottom is reinforced with 150-denier made from 47% recycled polyester.  This reinforcement layer is a double-weave ShiftLayer, which means that instead of the bag rubbing between the the contents of your bag, and the abrasive ground, it is able to shift or slide against itself, making for less chance of tearing or wear-through.

It is available in a variety of colors, and, true to Patagonia’s form, the dyes used for the bag are environmentally friendly.  According to their website, they “eliminated colors from the line that required the use of toxic metals and sulfides” in the mid-1990′s [Source: Patagonia.com].  Being a person who greatly enjoys the outdoors and the environment, I think it’s pretty awesome when a company makes a commitment like this, let alone that they did it long before “going green” was the “cool” thing to do.

Overall the bag is a great piece of kit for your lightweight travels.  It is great by itself for short trips, or as a supplement to your lightweight luggage set.

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