For those who need an extra boost of conditioning power, be warned that Philosophy no longer touts its product as a combo body wash, shampoo and conditioner. I wrote them to inquire about the reason and they replied that it just wasn’t living up to the conditioning claim. So now it’s marketed as a body wash, shampoo and bubble bath. Clever. It’s still better than say, Prell (or dirt), but just know you need to bring a separate creamy rinse.

They’ve got a ton of other delicious, yet sadly inedible flavors as well. Feel free to travel around the world so you can try them all.

Hello, my name is Travel Betty and I am addicted to pork

Two weekends ago, I made Travel Boyfriend veer 10 miles off course from the Mapquest directions on our drive from Beaufort, NC to Raleigh in order to visit the Nahunta Pork Center. They “Offer The Country’s Largest Pork Retail Display, Stocking The Freshest Line Of Pork Products Anywhere.”

After following the big bright signs down many a deserted country sideroad, it ended up that the damn store was closed! I had TB document the occasion regardless. And as luck would have it, as soon as he put his camera to eye, the owner pulled up in his truck looking perplexed.

“She’s, um, a fan of pork,” was all Travel Boyfriend could think to say. Even that didn’t get us an invitation into the store. But if you’re ever driving near Pikeville, NC (just off of 70), and it’s not a Sunday, take the opportunity to stop in.

Hello, my name is Travel Betty and I’m addicted to pork-related travel products

Yesterday I was shopping at Cheap Thrills on Haight St. and I came across these savory little luggage tags (sadly unscented). Their uselessness notwithstanding, I had to purchase them to show my bacony ardor. Who knows, maybe these sizzling hot strips are just the thing your luggage needs to get you bumped up to first class. Stranger things have happened.

Travel Betty Basics

Nahunta Pork Center
200 Bertie Pierce Road
Pikeville, NC 27863
(919) 242-4735 (Main Office)

Nahunta Pork Center Outlet
At the North Carolina State
Farmers Market
Raleigh, NC 27603

Since college I’ve been on the lookout for the right pack. My first was purchased by my extremely generous, yet clueless parents. Equally clueless, I merely snipped off the price tag, loaded ‘er up and hiked around Italy hunched forward with my chest at a 45-degree angle to my legs. I had no idea the pack could be adjusted to put the weight on my hips as opposed to my spine. In addition, the bag lacked certain comforts like water bottle holders and a plentitude of pockets. And even though I eventually unearthed its strap adjustment secrets, it still wasn’t the most comfortable thing to carry around.

In 2004 with a big Southeast Asia trip on the horizon, I finally decided to upgrade to a better pack. One that daddy hadn’t purchased. One that fit my frame. And one that was easy to prep for airport check-ins. I hate fiddling with straps, holding up the line while trying desperately to tuck everything inside so as to avoid massive external pack injuries caused by the various baggage conveyance equipment. So with my modest list of backpack criteria in hand, I proudly walked into REI and instantly became overwhelmed. Are women-specific backpacks necessary or is it a cutesy marketing ploy? Do I need a detachable daypack? A hidden duffel bag? Wicking technology? What about a rain fly? And why are there so many golflangaggling straps on these things?

After an hour of pretending I knew what I was doing, I walked out with the Eagle Creek Explorer LT prepared to be impressed. But I didn’t end up impressed for two reasons. One, they didn’t have the Explorer LT Women’s Fit in the color I liked so I had purchased the non-women specific version. After 4 weeks in SE Asia, I had my answer about whether the women’s fit was a marketing ploy. It wasn’t. The bag was spacious enough for all my gear, but it hit my hips awkwardly and put pressure on my lower back. Damn my vanity!

The second reason the bag left me wanting was the most important: for check-in, the straps had to be unfastened and refastened in a very time-consuming way, no clips. It had been designed so that a hidden duffle could be used to cover the pack, thereby eliminating the need to deal with the straps at all. Genius. But problems arose when I actually needed to use that hidden duffle as a duffle instead of a backpack cover. Since I like to buy a lot of souvenirs, this simply didn’t work for me.

Unhappy with my purchase, but too stubborn and sulky to do anything about it, Travel Boyfriend stepped in and bought me a new pack so I could save face. Now I don’t remember what kind that one actually was because it turned out to be a hiker’s backpack instead of a traveler’s backpack (and YES, that makes a big difference). It was a top-loader, meaning you had to shove everything in from a small hole in the top instead of unzipping your pack in a U-shape so that you could see everything at once. No dice. Before I knew it, I was planning another trip to REI. But first I did a few hours worth of Internet research to make sure I went in knowing exactly what I wanted. And what I found I wanted was the Eagle Creek Maiden Voyage 70L. Finally, my perfect pack!

This bag is designed for the ladies. It’s super spacious. It’s lightweight. And it has a highly adaptable adjustment system for a comfortable fit. For added security, it has a day pack that zips to the main bag instead of just clipping to it. There’s extra compartments for water bottles on the day pack and an extra compartment for camel-poop-coated shoes on the main pack. The part I love best (no surprise) is that the back straps are contained behind their own zippered flap. It takes about .031 seconds to cover those puppies up for check-in.

This pack’s own Maiden Voyage proved that it’s worth the investment researching your travel gear thoroughly. I could have kept on roaming around with a subpar travel partner, but there’s no reason to settle even if you travel infrequently, or are on a strict budget. Just remember, designer suitcases are a luxury. Comfort is a right.

Travel Betty Banter

Have you found your own perfect pack? Let’s compare notes. Share your find with the rest of the group in the comments section.

In a surprising upset, The Rough Guide to Egypt beat out my usual go-to, Lonely Planet. Published in December 2005, I found that hardly any information was out of date. It offered a lot of background information and history and the cover alone will make you want to fly off to see Islamic Cairo right this instant.

A new updated version will be available at the end of July (sadly with a new, sightly less evocative cover as you’ll see below).

In comparison, I felt like Lonely Planet kind of phoned it in on this one. In this May 2006 edition, there wasn’t a lot of meat, especially in regards to lesser-known sights. I found their maps (especially in Aswan) to be lacking and their restaurant options countrywide to be ho-hum. In a few sections, like their description of Bir Wahed in Siwa, it seemed like they just pulled text straight from the Rough Guide! What gives, LP? Halfway though the trip, I ended up tearing out a few key pages and leaving the rest behind in my hotel room.

The hard part about picking travel guides is that you never really know how useful it will be until you get there. Obviously you can figure out pretty quickly if you’re more of a Lonely Planet / Rough Guides traveler rather than a Fodor’s kind of girl, but my best advice is to always start off with a couple of guides to reference against each other. You can never seem to have too many restaurant options. Then, if you notice you’re using one book more than the other, do what I did. Tear out the few sections that seem to complement your other book and leave the rest behind for someone else to enjoy.

I actually ended up bringing a third guidebook, Eyewitness Travel Guide’s Egypt. It mostly focuses on sightseeing in Cairo and Luxor (a lot of mosques and churches). I liked it for the pictures, but it was less of a reference while I was on the trip. In fact, it mostly sat at the bottom of my bag for the duration. I use it as more of a keepsake and mind jogger now that I have returned. The new 2007 edition should be available at the end of August.

It might seem sacrilegious to watch TV on the road, but you’d be surprised how often it comes in handy. When you’ve been sightseeing from 9-5 and your belly is full of dinner and maybe even a few drinks and you just feel like kicking back, but can’t stomach anymore Thai MTV, sometimes the only thing you want to do is watch something familiar from home.

When we went to South Africa and Namibia, we brought the entire first and second seasons of Deadwood. I’d never seen the show before, but I was instantly obsessed. It didn’t hurt that our room at the Cape Heritage Hotel was old and historic with lots of wood and charm. It made us feel like we were right there in Deadwood, swearing and fucking around with the hookers.

In Egypt, we stuck with the idea of bringing a series with us. And since they still haven’t written a show called Egypt, we decided on Rome. The best part was Caesar coming to Alexandria near the end of the first season. Not long after we finished watching Season One, we made a trip to Dendera where we saw the only known carvings of Cleopatra and her son Caesarian. Life imitating art imitating TV imitating life, perhaps?

For the long desert car rides, I actually spent a great deal of time just staring out the window watching the scenery go by and waving at children (they LOVE to wave in Egypt). It’s great because you never know what kinds of life snippets you might catch. Donkey carts piled high with sugar cane awaiting their turns outside of a sugar factory. A man swatting a little boy on the back of the head for no good reason. Women walking arm and arm wearing colorful hijabs on their way to the market. My most disturbing sight though was when we were on our way to the Dashur and Saqqara pyramid groupings and I found myself staring directly into the decaying anus of a horse left to rot in the canal running along the side of the road. Ew! And you know that not 30 seconds later, I saw someone sticking a bucket down in the very same canal for what I assume would soon be drinking water. That’s when it’s good to have something else to look at.

Right before my trip I splurged and bought a video iPod. I felt guilty at the time, but not for too long because it ended up really coming in handy. Besides being able to access music and shows, I was able to upload a bunch of my photographs to save space on my CF card. Mostly though, I used it to watch one of my favorite shows, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.

(Season One is now available for download)


I’m sorry, I love to travel and even when I’m traveling I can’t help dreaming about traveling some more. In fact, when Travel Boyfriend proposed in Luxor, my first thought was, “Awesome! Where are we going to honeymoon?!” Of course, he pointed out that we were already on vacation and maybe we could hold off on that decision until we at least got back home. I didn’t really see his point.

Travel Betty Banter

So what kind of entertainment do you bring when you travel? Are there certain places where you like watching certain things? Madagascarin Madagascar? Lostin the South Pacific? Clue us in to some of your favorites in the comments section.

For my Egypt trip I decided to create a Travel Betty comfort bag. It needed to be small enough to grab in a fit of panic while at the same time large enough to contain all I need to keep from drawing blood from my seatmate.

I used a soft, black, drawstring shoe bag that Travel Boyfriend got on his Upper-Class Virgin Atlantic flight a few months back (although, to be fair, even a Lower-Class shoe bag will do). We had nine flights total during our 5 weeks in Egypt and in the end I was more than pleased with the results.

Travel Betty Comfort Bag Contents

Lavender-scented eye pillow (breathe deeply during take-off)
Palm-sized massage roller (to avert pesky deep vein thrombosis)
iPod (loaded with Fear of Flying podcasts as well as my hypnotherapist’s personalized relaxation MP3)
Lip balm
Eye drops
Wet-naps
Ear plugs
Xanax (just in case!)
Burt’s Bees Hand Salve
Breath Mints
Carb Safe’s Low Effective Carb & Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Bar (a real mouthful)

A word to the wise when creating your own comfort bag, don’t forget to separate out any liquids into a clear zip bag for the asinine security procedures.

Travel Betty Banter

How do you stay comfortable on long flights? Share your tip in the comments section and help make air travel more tolerable for us all.

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Since buying my first Pac-Safe TravelSafe (I now proudly own two), I have been emancipated from my money belt and I don’t mind telling you that it feels fantastic. You just hook it around some permanent fixture in the hotel room (we often use the pipes under a sink) and go about your merry travel business belt-free.

Now I’m not saying that if somebody came along with wire clippers that your stuff wouldn’t be swiped. But let’s face it, if somebody is carrying wire clippers or takes the time to unfasten bathroom plumbing, your stuff was destined for the history books regardless.

The only thing I don’t like about this product as-is is the accompanying key-based lock. I’m sorry, but I’m not usually in the right state of mind on vacation to be fucking around with keys

“Where’s the key?”

“Do you have the key?”

“Was the key in your pocket while we were swimming? Great, then where are our wire clippers? What do you mean you didn’t pack wire clippers?”

To remedy the situation, I bought extra combo locks and now everybody’s happy. Just don’t forget to take it all with you upon check-out.

Travel Betty Banter

Do you have a good tip on how to stash valuables? Share with the group in the comments section.