Friday, June 12, 2009

Travel Essentials: Here some cool stuff that makes life on the road a little nicer...

I can't take credit for all of these little doo-dads but they're worth sharing and I'll give credit where and when I can. That being said, here's some cool stuff I'm packing for my upcoming Mex trip:



Go to Home Depot
, drop twenty bucks and get yourself a roll of this stuff and some blue painters tape. Wrap the rails, tail and nose of your board in it- believe me, the Bloody Marys will taste much better in the airport bar once you know you've layered on a little more protection. This is what we call double bagging, it's an insurance policy.



These are the racks
you need for the rental car. Instead of fastening on the gutter these ones go all the way through the cab of the car- much more secure. These are double racks too so the straps are a little longer which makes loading up big stand ups do-able. You should also bring some extra webbing to extend the racks if you have to. You just tie the extra webbing onto the racks and feed it through the cam and voila! You're ready to rack multiple big boards. Yep Dave- those are yours, still got 'em from last time... just keeping them safe for you!



Extra leashes
- FCS makes the best, strongest ones I've used. Tropical wax for the 6'4", get an extra couple bars to give away to the locals- they'll be stoked. Bug spray, get the 100% Deet stuff like I have here (actually it's 98.9% Deet according to the fine print). Be careful with this stuff- it's gnarly. Specifically, don't get it on the plastic of your leash- it weakens it and be careful with it around your trunks too- it can make the nylon all weird. Most importantly, keep it off your balls... some types of pain don't leave your brain so easily.



These little Kool-Aid single serving packs rule! Got to thank Tucker for this one. The place we stay at supplies purified water but who wants to drink plain, luke warm water all day? Put a packet of this in the stuff and it goes down much nicer. Here's an even better one, buy a plastic, screw top Nalgene bottle- put the Kool Aid and water in it and screw it tight. Pop it in the freezer or fridge (our rooms come with small refrigerators) and you've got cold Kool-Aid for your after surf beverage. Unless you drink beer- if that's the case forget the Kool-Aid just buy more Pacificos.

8 comments:

Mike said...

I see you got the pepto. I never travel without them. I use the chew tabs so I don't have to worry about anything leaking on the road.

Not sure if you've heard but to cut down on the deet use, start taking vitamin b complex vitamins at least a couple days before the trip and during the trip. It will cut down mosquito bites by 75%. I've done it for trips to South America and Hawaii. It works.

John Ashley said...

Cool tips! I'm going to get some of the B vitamin goodness... since I'm there for two weeks it might be long enough for it to kick in.

Hate the mozzies... especially since I learned about the botfly... but that's a whole other story!

Mike said...

The botfly sounds nasty. I don't like any flying insects after I got dengue fever. Worst week in my life and even after losing 3 days of my memory. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Enjoy and take lots of pictures.

Kelly Kraus said...

An even easier "double bagging" tip is to have a daybag for each board and then put them in a bigger travel bag. Faster and easier then the tape and padding method, but either way, some sort of double padding is happy insurance.

k said...

HOME DEPOT? "shit" I will hook you up on the foam and the blue tape next time . Look's like a nice south swell headed are way. Hope you score
big fun left's. I'll miss all you guy's in the water next couple weeks
HA. right

k junk

John Ashley said...

Kraig Surplus Rules!

I'm sure that you'll "share" out there while I'm gone!!!!


Looking like some waves are coming!

For you and me....

John Ashley said...

Hey Kelly-

Thanks for the tip- you're coming down next time, right?

John Ashley said...

Hey-

Nobody wants to comment about keeping the deet, "off your balls"? What's wrong with you guys...

I'll be checking this down south...