Do you have an essential travel gadget?

Gilly Bob ,,Aldi sell Limoncello,

Yoga mat.

I always take wire coat hangers, and for Greece I take a shower holder, as they often are hand held showers. We also have luggage scales ( £1 from Poundland!)

The first time I bought limoncello it was for a cake that my daughter wanted me to make.

Have just found set of little plastic bags like toilet bags not kitchen ones and they were so good for packing. Think I read about them on here,

Builders' tea teabags and a packet of Digestives. Used to take a small teapot until the bagge allowances shrank.

Ear plugs, eye mask, and the most important of all and inflatable pillow.

its v light, made of plastic and folds into nothing. If you get a hole in it a wee dab of plastic glue does the trick.

Where to purchase? i'm afraid in India.

Apparently out can make your own limoncello - vodka, lemons, sugar. Haven't tried yet but sounds like a plan. Mind you my plum brandy last year wasn't an overwhelming success

Gadgets for holidays abroad always include an app where you can download road maps in advance and so use phone as Sat nav. Not got lost yet! Also one of those plastic gizmos that hold said phone in place on dashboard.
In the past my DH would have always had his trusty Swiss Army knife which has been used to fix/open many things, but these days we tend to travel with handluggage only (skinflints!) and it wouldn't make it through security.

does DH count as a gadget, he unpacks & repacks what ever I've done so now leave him
to it

If travelling with my snoring sister, I take a pack of Blutack to use as earplugs. Also necessary if I go swimming. This was a tip from my GP. Unlike wax it leaves no residue and is infinitely malleable.

annodomini thanks for that, I will have to try it. I use the yellow builders ones which work fine, but is blue-tack more insulating?

I do the rest of most of these, especially the mattress topper. If going to the US, I buy a cheap memory foam one. My hips and back need the protection! We also take our strong black Brit teabags, although I am finding Tetley English tea now at normal prices in US grocery stores.

Cheers all for these great ideas... already am a limoncello fan. Great stuff... great in sponge-cakes/cup-cakes

I also love Limoncello. Try it with Prosecco - lovely! ? I also take luggage scales and multi plug. As previously said never enough plugs!!

I expect lots of you have googled limoncello and found a great recipe on Tesco website. Must give it a try.

I always take a large old soft pashmina to combat air/con on the plane and as cover up in the evenings. Also plug adapters. And I'm off to get some limoncello - first had it as a complimentary drink after a huge meal in an Italian restaurant and I couldn't believe how much better and less over-full I felt after it. Thanks for reminding me about it! And the hand-held scale too, great idea. Does the mattress topper thing mean you dont feel the buttons on a mattress?

Hate limoncello

Mr M is a limoncello fan, outside Italy he says Carluccio's is the best (v expensive) but Sainsbury's is quite good too. Aldi is not on his list tried it once too sweet which is a shame because it is so much cheaper. We take a bottle opener and corkscrew with us still.

Gosh! I have quite a few.
Over the years we s/c. On a plane I have taken Plug changers, Travel DVD player and few DVD's. Suitcase scales, Travel washing line with clips on, tea, coffee and sugar. Sink plug. X1 toilet roll. All sorts.

Hummmm... This October we are going away for x5 nights to Spain with hand luggage only. A new challange!

My Kindle. So much better than packing all those books. Great on the plane & I can read it in the dark as it has a backlight too. Wonderful on the beach as it is anti-glare- I'd be lost wothout it now.
Also multi socket extension with foreign plug holes as mentioned by others. Invaluable when you want to dry your hair while charging phones, tablets, kindles etc. Brilliant.
Also I love the fact that I am in touch with family - if I want to be- while away with all these gadgets (DH has the lot!!) & it was so useful when we had a flood in house while we were away. The dreaded phone call said WHERE is your stopcock???!!! Luckily we knew.

We always self cater, so I take a couple of sharp knives with me, I can't bear trying to cook using semi blunt knives!
On the subject of Limoncello......a drop poured over really rich vanilla ice cream is wonderful!
I started making my own last year, really easy and delicious, I also make Blackcurrant Gin Liqueur, it's wonderful!

Adaptors are essential and limoncello is scrumptious!
We were introduced to it on our first trip to Italy where we were given free shots at the end of a meal. I had to drink both as DH was driving!!

granjura I am going to order that mattress topper (the one you recommended ) asap! I rent a furnished flat and the mattress is so awful that I frequently sleep on the sofa as I am small and it is so much more comfortable! Thanks for the tip!

As for a travel tip, I have not always taken the extension cord and been caught trying to dry/style my hair with no access to a mirror. So I have used my Kindle on self-camera mode as a mirror!

We always go to France by car and were amazed to discover the Citroen DS Sport we bought last year has no cd player. So now, before we go next month,we have to spend hours putting our favourite music and Radio 4 drama broadcasts, currently on cds, onto something called an MP3 player, whatever that is. Can't go on a long, long drive without music and plays. I can't believe the car has a usb port but no cd player.

The dealer tells us all the new cars are ditching the cd player but are keeping it quiet.

That's the problem when you go somewhere and hire a car. You don't know if to take your music on a USB stick, a CD, an SD card, or whether a connection socket will be there for your phone. First world problems!

I've taken a few good ideas from this thread - the wire coat hangers (there are never enough in hotel rooms) and the clothes pegs.

If we are are driving and staying in a rented villa/ cottage, my OH always takes sharp knives , and a bag of herbs and spices for the kitchen, and a complete tool kit which includes cordless drill! We often find things need fixing. One place we stayed in had a wonky bed which he fixed in minutes.