Month: March 2020

Basin Plug

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One thing that is always in my toilet bag is this rubber multi size basin plug.

After many years of travels its now comes as no surprise to me to either find the basin , or bath plug, is missing.

That makes it a problem to shave, wash your face, or launder your clothes ,unless you have got your own plug handy.

Use With Integrated Mixer and Basin Outlet

I have even found it useful when I have been faced with an integrated mixer and basin outlet with a leaking seal.

As you will see from the photograph below many of those fancy chrome units just lift out so you can use the rubber plug.

Additional Travel Hack

If you can’t lift out the basin outlet duct tape will provide a waterproof seal.

Drinking Water Safety

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Ever wondered how safe the water is in you hotel in developing countries?

Well most big hotels do have some sort of water filters so the water does normally look clean.

Problems

Two problems are

  • Does the water filtration system remove all bacteria?
  • Are the pipes and tanks between the filtration and your tap clean?

Some hotels have Ultrafiltration or Reverse Osmosis (RO) filters which should remove bacteria, as long as they are maintained and not by-passed.

Risk Free Approach

Avoid, Ice, mixed cordials and and washed salad

Drink bottled water, and check the suppliers seal on the bottle before you use it.

Use bottled water for brushing your teeth, and making ice in your mini bar fridge.

Additional Travel Hack

When cleaning your teeth don’t put the bottle down while you are brushing!

It’s easy to put the bottle down then habit takes over and you use the tap to rinse!

No Free Flights

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How often do you see a cruise or tour advertised as ‘Fly Free’?

That’s Bulldust! . . . It should really say just say ‘Flights included’

Stay Longer

If we are travelling long haul we would much rather stop longer than the packaged length of the holiday.

If you arrive the day before the tour starts you are probably in a trance for the first day.

If your luggage gets delayed will it ever catch up?

Going to Europe we typically want to visit friends and relatives in Britain before the tour starts.

We may also want to use our frequent flyer points to book business class travel.

Our Experience

We generally find that as soon as we ask for the package without the ‘Free Flights we get a significant discount.

The discount is likely to a little less than the cost of booking the flights yourself, but for us it’s still worthwhile.

Also

If you are booking a “free flight’ you might find the fare class you have been booked on:

  • Doesn’t include airline points!
  • Can’t be upgraded with either points of cash!