Way Too Small! Rick Steves Travelin Toiletries Kit
I read Rick Steves’ travel guide Europe Through The Back Door and was all fired up to pack light and be able to carry my suitcase up three flights of stairs, onto the boat, off the boat, into the taxi, out of the taxi, etc. From many past car trips I recall how heavy our toiletry bag was. So we bought three of these 7-inch kits and started to reduce what we packed to bare essentials. We even took a shorter practice trip before we went to Europe to see how it worked. And it was a good thing we did. Driving 400 miles to San Diego and back proved that it wouldn’t work. We had to abandon the attempt and go back to our big, bulky LL Bean family-size toiletry bag which we ended up carrying onto the Queen Mary 2 and off and into and out of every European hotel. The Rick Steves bag was big enough for only our toothbrush and toothpaste, a small shampoo, and a Menen speed stick. I might be able to zip up a comb or two in the side pockets, but there was no way I could pack everything I really, really needed, including the electric shaver and plug, the sunblocks, the Purell, the Cortaid, the acne cream, and everything else I used every day. I know Rick talks about going to pharmacies and grocery stores in Europe. We actually tried this once in Nuremberg when we stopped by a Lidl. They were much smaller than an American grocery store and didn’t have cosmetics or any of our brands of practically anything. The trip was so fast–paced that we didn’t have time to comb through other stores or even ask the concierge at the hotel. The autobahn stops in Germany didn’t carry these items either. Mostly they sold books, food, drinks, and souvenirs instead. We had to take what we needed with us from America. So, sorry, Rick, your advice didn’t work for us. You’ll need to make your travel bags bigger.
I read Rick Steves’ travel guide Europe Through The Back Door and was all fired up to pack light and be able to carry my suitcase up three flights of stairs, onto the boat, off the boat, into the taxi, out of the taxi, etc. From many past car trips I recall how heavy our toiletry bag was. So we bought three of these 7-inch kits and started to reduce what we packed to bare essentials. We even took a shorter practice trip before we went to Europe to see how it worked. And it was a good thing we did. Driving 400 miles to San Diego and back proved that it wouldn’t work. We had to abandon the attempt and go back to our big, bulky LL Bean family-size toiletry bag which we ended up carrying onto the Queen Mary 2 and off and into and out of every European hotel. The Rick Steves bag was big enough for only our toothbrush and toothpaste, a small shampoo, and a Menen speed stick. I might be able to zip up a comb or two in the side pockets, but there was no way I could pack everything I really, really needed, including the electric shaver and plug, the sunblocks, the Purell, the Cortaid, the acne cream, and everything else I used every day. I know Rick talks about going to pharmacies and grocery stores in Europe. We actually tried this once in Nuremberg when we stopped by a Lidl. They were much smaller than an American grocery store and didn’t have cosmetics or any of our brands of practically anything. The trip was so fast–paced that we didn’t have time to comb through other stores or even ask the concierge at the hotel. The autobahn stops in Germany didn’t carry these items either. Mostly they sold books, food, drinks, and souvenirs instead. We had to take what we needed with us from America. So, sorry, Rick, your advice didn’t work for us. You’ll need to make your travel bags bigger.