Lets hear your 'Travel Tricks'

[jp1]

OK Ladies and Gentleman, lets hear your 'Travel Tricks'.

How do you deal with drying equipment / clothing for the following day when traveling and staying in a motel seemingly NOT equipped for such activities

I always travel with my Homemade Boot Dryer that handles my boots and gloves, but what about everything else?

In the past I always carried a 1/8" nylon clothesline (and still do) to string across the motel room to hang clothes on to dry.

Problem lately seems to be no where to attach the line. Seems motels got it pretty well figured out so you don't have the ability to attach anything anywhere!

Last time out I had to use an Ironing Board that I unfolded and used as a clothes hanger, this time (same motel) NO Ironing Board .

A tiny 30" clothes rack (that you can NOT remove the hangers from) located far enough away from the heater to make it worthless to use for drying.

Procedure was: return to motel, Crank Up the Heat as high as it would go, push a table as close to the Heater (forced hot air, electric) as I could get it and put as much clothing and equipment on the table as close as possible to heater to dry.

Jump in shower or tub, get dressed and head out for dinner while everything cooks. When I return, rotate clothing / equipment that still needs to be dried and deal with the heat as long as possible. Turn down the heat so you can breathe and hope everything is dry in morning.

There has got to be a better way, lets hear your recommendations and what works for you !

[Galen]

Dont use the motel dryer. We had gloves melt onto Gortex pants with the dryer set on low.

[Rob Stevens]

Talk to the hotel before you get there and tell them what you need.

You're paying to stay, so ask them to take your clothes to some place suitable for drying it. Just about every hotel will have a furnace room, a laundry, or even a utility closet that would work.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I've never had an issue. All my base/mid layer clothing is polypro or similar, so long as I hang it up it will be dry in the morning. No cotton! Having gloves with removable liners is helpful also.

[snowboardworm]

Ive always traveled with a dehumidifier and a portable clothes rack that folds up nice and flat. I haven't had any complaints with the cleaning staff as I usually buy them drinks at the local watering hole.

As we usually have 5 to the room it can get pretty humid but with the dehumidifier it isn't. (yes there are 5 beds)

i travel with a full size truck so extra luggage isn't a problem

[bjvircks]

For things that I don't care about wrinkling... I lay down a bath towel, lay socks, base layer, whatever, onto the towel. Then I roll up the towel jelly-roll style and step on it thoroughly to squeeze water out of the clothing. I find this gets a lot more water out than just a strong wringing and does not over stretch things. Then I just remove the stuff and hang over the shower rod or on the edge of the bed or furniture if it won't damage it. This works for me in cold dry climes (ski trips)... but things would probably not dry fast enough or at all in humid areas.

EDIT: be very careful about doing this if towels are at a premium or you cannot bring yourself to take off your muddy shoes

[davekempmeister]

highest elevations - best snow, generally, and everything dries out in minutes. that includes oneself if not constantly hydrating.

[pow4ever]

JP!!

How was CO?

Newspaper in the bootliner and gloves help.

I also travel with cloth hangers. you can always find some place to hand the base layer.

I also have dryzone which works ok...

http://www.mountaingear.com/pages/product/product.asp?item=702032&N=0

--

David

[bjvircks]

check out http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28780 for boot dryer you leave behind!

[J0hn]

Most of my clothes dry easily in the dry climate of ski towns. The only thing I make sure of is to place my gloves near the heater/blower. Air flow makes more of a difference than heat. You know those little spring loaded plastic things that you can use to hold a drawstring tight on most jackets and gloves? Whatever they're called, on my last trip I wedged those things into the blower grate to hold my gloves in the airflow over night. They were always dry in the morning.

[Michelle]

push a table as close to the Heater (forced hot air, electric) as I could get it and put as much clothing and equipment on the table as close as possible to heater to dry.

If you come home from dinner one night and the hotel is on fire, I get to say I TOLD YA SO.

[bjvircks]

To keep fire hazard to a minimum at SES we'll just sprinkle JP1's stuff liberally with water every so often.

[Pat Donnelly]

Always find something at the Under Armour outlets. Cold gear compression fit is a great based layer and does not retain moisture as cotton does. Picked up 2nd and 3rd layers and all have dried overnight and are ready to go the next day after simpy hanging with no drying efforts required.

Get a FedEx account to ship gear in advance; SporTube's double ski tube works great. Check Home Depot or Lowe's for plastic totes with the two piece hinged tops. I use one or two of these to ship helmets, boots, goggles and spare parts in advance. The usually have two lock holes on either side and I use zip strips to secure in the closed position. Throw in a couple of plastic zip strips to secure for the return shipment home. I always pack an extra Intec heel cable the required tools one may need.

[queequeg]

for shipping boards ahead via fedex or sticking them under the plane: I like to wrap my edges in foam pipe insulation and then wrap lightly with clear shrinkwrap. Fast, easy, prevents airline handling people from destroying your equipment.