Travel Versions of Your Favorite Home Appliances (and one cool doo-hicky)

I'm a sucker for blog posts and books about travel tips and hacks. Mashable's recent "11 Travel 

versions of your favorite home appliances" offers a couple of good, and several goofy, ideas.

If you've read my e-book on the topic, you know I'm a fiend for 1-bag packing. Carry-on only, no checked luggage. But it would be cool to arrive at your beach destination with a suitcase that transforms into a bbq grill, right?

This tiny portable humidifier is so cool and so ingenious I almost want one. Even though I've never said to myself "gee I wish this hotel air were humidified."



But this one, this is a potentially useful thing:  a portable sonic toothbrush. I actually miss my electric toothbrush when I'm on the road even though my tiny collapsible travel brush gets the job done.



Finally there is this phone charger caddy. I don't see myself stashing one of these in my bag but seriously what a cute doo-hicky.

Even in the tightest of spots

Just arrived last night on a direct JetBlue flight from Savannah to Boston. Super easy on/off with my 1-bag.

However, last week I had a weird Lansing to Savannah flight with two connections (Detroit and Atlanta). That meant getting on and off 3 flights, and it's the only time I think seriously and fondly about checking luggage. But here's the thing:  if I had checked luggage and if there had been any delay or missed flights (both Detroit and Atlanta were super-tight running-to-the-gate connections), I might well have arrived without my stuff.

On 2 of those 3 flights, there was space in the overhead for my E-Bag Motherlode (which I heart). On the tiny plane I boarded in Lansing, however, the overhead was the size of a glove compartment. Remarkably, even on that small plane I was able to shove the bag beneath the seat in front of me. And because it's a black bag, it's not apparent that the bag is sticking out a bit. Just try to look comfortable and absorbed in your reading - so far this has worked for me.

tl;dr = one year into it, I'm still loving this 1-bag travel thing.  Get more tips and ideas in my e-book!