Photo by flavouz. Cover image by Magalai Veldhuis

Bad gadgets are universally bad, however, the “most useful” plaudit is a contentious one: everyone has their favourite. A penknife you can use to remove stones from horses’ hooves or an MP3 player with a back catalogue of eighties disco classics; I can’t say they won’t find a use by somebody somewhere. The following are my humble suggestions.

1. Sarong

A sarong is not just for girl travellers. Trust me. If the idea of a large, extremely lightweight towel that dries in minutes costing next to nothing sounds like a mythical travel accessory, you’ve yet to discover the benefits of a sarong. And no, it needn’t be brightly coloured and flowery; mine is rainforest green with turtles on it. How manly can you get?

2. Combination Lock

photo by fattytuna

If you keep valuables in the pocket of a small rucksack, you can discourage the wandering hands of a pickpocket by locking the zips together. A lock and key will do the job, but it’s far too easy to lose the key (the logical conclusion being a date between the redundant lock and a hacksaw). A combination lock set with a memorable code is the answer. Just remember to change the code before you travel, I can assure you thieves will guess “0000” pretty quickly.

3. Earplugs

There are some sounds you really don’t want to hear while travelling: the rasping snores of a fellow passenger on a long haul flight; an all-night sex marathon in a hostel with paper-thin walls; cockerels at 4 am; Bollywood films at full volume on an overnight bus journey. Take a few pairs of earplugs and your auditory equipment will be saved from abuse and corruption.

4. Money Belt

At times you will be carrying more cash than you wish to. The only place to keep this is somewhere inaccessible to pickpockets. This usually means touching bare flesh and below the waist. If a thief is scrabbling around your nether regions, you’ll know. Rather than stuff everything into your underwear, a money belt is the practical approach to storing valuables on your person. Don’t ever be tempted to wear the belt outside your clothes (looking stupid would be the least of your worries).

5. Duvet Cover

This may seem an odd thing to take travelling and is not a suggestion to remake the bed linen upon checking into your room. This is invaluable if you need to sleep in a public place – Indian sleeper trains in particular – and want to have a cocoon where you can snooze, hide valuables and use as a physical barrier to the outside world. Whereas a sleeping bag would be impractical in a hot country, a thin duvet cover is perfect.

6. World Band Radio

No matter how much fun you are having on an extended trip away from home, you will inevitably feel homesick at least once. One way of keeping this in check is with a world band radio. The friendly voice of a world service announcer telling you how things are back home will help you through your melancholy until your next bungee jump or white water rafting trip.

7. Binoculars

photo by doeth

“Oh how I wish I’d brought binoculars” wasn’t what I thought I’d be saying on my last trip, until I was in a national park using the maximum zoom on my compact camera trying to see the vague shape of a tiger. Modern binoculars take up little space and you’ll be able to say “Oh, how glad I am to have brought my lovely binoculars. Is that rhino charging straight towards us?”

8. Multi-Tool

A good multi-tool will make life on the road a great deal easier. Aside from the equine-related stone-remover (which I can’t say I’ve ever used), the possibilities are endless. Not all beer bottles come with twist-off caps – the bottle opener attachment will save the heartache of sitting down to an al-fresco brew at sunset only to be thwarted by the cap. Sawing the top off a coconut to drink the milk inside will always appeal to your inner hunter-gatherer.

9. Flashlight

A little obvious, perhaps, but highly recommended. If you ever need to find your way to an outdoor toilet in the pitch dark, this is very difficult without a flashlight. Hazardous even. When your primary urge is to urinate, stumbling through the undergrowth of a rural village without seeing what you are stepping on is a recipe for disaster. As is doing all of the above while inebriated, but I’d rather not expand on that.

10. Photos From Home

It’s surprising the number of times local people ask to see photos of your family. There is an innate curiosity in everyone and people you meet want to know about a different way of life as much as you do. It doesn’t matter if you have a picture of your wedding day, your three year old nephew or Uncle Frank’s 60th birthday party, have some to hand just in case. A cultural exchange goes both ways.

I would never presume to call this list “the top ten greatest travel items of all time” as everyone will have their preferred can’t-leave-home-without something. I have also knowingly omitted life-saving items such as insect repellent, mosquito nets and water purifiers as these are essential rather than simply useful. These ten represent the things I find enhance my travels – whether I am drunkenly peeing in the dark or blocking out the coital cacophony of my fellow backpackers.

Check out Stephen’s round-up of: The 5 Worst Travel Gadgets.

Photo by Earthwise Valley

Visiting a rainforest can be one of the purest and most intense travel experiences possible. Stripped away are the comforts of air-conditioning, mosquito nets and antiperspirants that actually work. Enter the rainforest environment and you will face exhausting heat, extreme humidity and creatures that will consistently bite you in places least expected.

That said it is worth any discomfort when you’re experiencing the greatest nature show on earth.

Rainforests exist on the world’s equatorial continents – think of the Amazon jungle, tropical northern Australia or the wilds of Madagascar. It is believed that half the world’s species live in the rainforests.

These areas are dwindling at an alarming rate however. Eco-tourism, where the rainforest is a tourist attraction rather than a finite resource, is a key factor in their survival.

1. Mosquitoes – There’s Nowhere To Hide

The mosquitoes can be particularly persistent – ensure that you are protected by using effective repellents that contain DEET. It is also worth considering dabbing the stuff on your clothes as well as any exposed skin as I have even been bitten through my shirt on occasions.

Appropriate malaria medication is also a must and, as a course of tablets normally starts before your trip begins, you should consult a doctor at least three weeks before you leave.

2. Watch Out For Leeches

Another pest to look out for is the tenacious leech. On a night walk in Taman Negara (the rainforest national park of peninsular Malaysia), our guide made us spray our boots with an insecticide of some kind. Whatever it was, it certainly worked: my boots started to look like a leechy graveyard come the end of the walk.

If your defences are breached and you fall foul of a bloodsucking attack, don’t be concerned if you find a shocking amount of blood covering your sock. The most advisable method of removing them once attached is to use your fingernail to break the seal from the sucker. Squeezing the leech or burning it with a cigarette or lighter will cause the leech to disgorge the contents of its stomach into the wound. Definitely not advised.

3. Hire A Local Guide – Being Lost In The Jungle Is No Fun

For all but the easiest of jungle walks I would recommend the hiring of a guide. In doing so you will be supporting the local economy and you will also receive a much greater insight into life in the rainforest. Your guide will often make sure you have sturdy boots for walking in the rainforest, but will themselves wear only flip-flops.

You would be advised to listen to them – their feet are used to the jungle, yours are not. Don’t ever be tempted to wander through the undergrowth wearing a pair of sandals, as this would probably curtail any further expeditions you may be planning (painful blisters and twisted ankles don’t mix with forest floors covered in snaking tree roots and slippery wet leaves).

Capuchin Monkey. Photo by Flor de la Amazonía

4. Maximize your experience by searching for specific flora and fauna

Travel to Borneo to see the dwindling numbers of orangutans, uncannily human-like in behaviour. Venture to South America to see vivid tree frogs, poisonous yet beautiful.

I haven’t yet been fortunate enough to spot a hornbill, a large tropical bird native to both Africa and Asia, but the almost deafening noise of one taking off directly above us from the thick canopy was incredible in itself.

Searching for lemurs at night in Madagascar was great fun, especially the way their orange eyes would just appear in the torch beam of our guide, who seemed to instinctively know where to look.

It is incredible what you can learn from someone whose job it is to search for wildlife and the knowledgeable Julien was no exception (he was able to name around 50 possible types of lemur we could potentially see on our quest).

5. Staying Calm Is Often The Best Policy

On one trip we stayed with a friendly Dutchman named Rob who lived on the edge of the Australian rainforest in Queensland. He regaled us with tales of having to share his home with a large number of insects and animals and the time that he came face-to-face with a very large cassowary bird (upwards of 6ft in height) in his back garden.

He courageously did what he had been told to do in such a situation – stare directly at the very colourful but menacing-looking bird. After a nerve-wracking few moments where he tried desperately hard not to blink, the bird turned away and stamped off into the bush, Rob having successfully protected his territory.

6. The Rainforests Are Endangered – Appreciate Them While You Still Can

There isn’t a place in the world so far removed from the hustle and bustle of modern life as the rainforest. Taking a boat ride, walking across rope-bridge or stopping by a cascade – these are all things that are good for the spirit. After a day walking in the jungle, when you are sipping a cold beer listening to the cacophony of noise from the wildlife around you, there isn’t a better place to be.

The rainforests of the world are rewarding and enchanting places to visit but they are under threat from the onward march of the human race. The deforestation and subsequent loss of habitat for many species is occurring at a devastating rate.

Eco-tourism and volunteering are the key their preservation and continued survival and I urge you to consider making the journey to see one for yourself. Get there while you can!

Community Connection

Various members of the matador community have lived in the rainforest for extended periods of time. Check out Mei-Ling McNamara’s feature on one group doing incredible conservation work in Madagascar.

Ross Borden has recently returned from Colombia: check out his blog for a sweet account of hiking through coastal rainforest.

Most importantly, connect with these organizations doing conservation work in the rainforest:

Earthwise Valley

Amazon Conservation Association

Flor de la Amazonía Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Center

Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research & Conservation Center

When planning a trip for a number of weeks there is often the temptation to spend your hard-earned cash on gadgets and accessories that will supposedly enhance your travel experience.

There are some that undoubtedly have their benefits where you realise you can’t live without them and others that will languish unused at the bottom of your rucksack for the entire trip.

The following, however, will be about as useful as a chocolate teapot and should be avoided at all costs.

1. The Travel Clothesline

This is essentially a piece of twisted elastic rope with two small rubber suckers at each end. The typical experience with one of these is as follows:

You wash your clothes. You hang the line up from one end of your room to the other. Your clothes are wet and heavy. You quickly discover that the weight limit of two small rubber suckers is one very small handkerchief. Your freshly washed clothes inevitably end up on the dirty floor. After the first attempt of using the line, it usually ends up being thrown in the bin in a fit of rage.

The one I bought completely disappeared, possibly catapulted out the window in a bizarre case of clothesline suicide. I can’t say I blame it.

2. The Underwater Money Belt

Money belts are meant to be discrete. Once you’ve managed to cram all your valuables inside the belt and put it under your swimming costume, there seem to be bulges in all the wrong places.

Whether you are male or female, this is probably not the look you wish to go for on the beach of a faraway island. Added to this is the fact that they are uncomfortable, rub in inappropriate places and may even leak if not zipped up correctly.

My advice would be to leave your essentials locked away back at your accommodation – many places will have a safe you can use. You can then enjoy the water without fear of all your money getting soggy or your passport becoming illegible.

3. The Disposable Underwater Camera

Snorkelling can be hours of fun. However, if you try to capture anything of the experience with a disposable underwater camera, you will almost certainly be disappointed.

Unless you are very lucky, have the sunlight illuminating just the right spot and the subject manages to swim into the frame at exactly the right moment, the photographs you take will be grainy, dark blue, blurry shots that will not win any awards.

They will probably contain the fin of a fish in one corner of the picture and you will have to convince your friends and relatives that it really was a shark/barracuda/marlin that you saw on your trip.

Your memories of a place can be tarnished by these poor photographic souvenirs – leave them intact by using your eyes rather than a cheap camera lens, which is best employed on the beach or when splashing around above (rather than below) the water.

4. The Toiletry Organiser

You might think the idea of having your shaving foam, toothpaste and all the other things that will make you smell nice neatly arranged in one bag is the smart way to travel.

In reality, it will take up far too much of your valuable luggage space. You’ll also be itching to get out and see all the sights at your chosen destination rather than fastidiously unpacking every single item from your bag and inevitably you will end up living out of your rucksack.

This is not a bad thing; unpacking and repacking when you are moving from place to place every few days is rather tedious. Leave the toiletry organiser at home but do remember to wrap your shampoo and shower gel in several layers of plastic to ensure that you don’t end up with dodgy-looking stains on your clothes.

5. The Hessian Sack

I admit that this is not strictly a gadget or an accessory, however it was a terrible idea and one worth noting for its stupidity.

Before my round the world trip, I was rather paranoid and thought that camouflaging my rucksack with a tailor-made Hessian sack would stop it being stolen when I was in India. What I didn’t count on was the fact that Hessian is an incredibly itchy fabric, so much so that I wasn’t even able to go near it without feeling the need to scratch.

I then discovered that the in-built waterproof cowl was just as good for concealment of my baggage. Suffice to say, the sack never made it on my world trip.

This is by no means an exhaustive list and there are probably thousands of companies all over the world dreaming up ideas for new travel gadgets for the gullible consumer to purchase during their pre-trip excitement.

I am sure that in the not-too-distant future we’ll have jetpacks fitted to our rucksacks and use satellites and GPS to find our way through the jungle. Until then, remember there are some good gadgets and some truly awful ones.

Regardless of what you end up taking with you, it is important that you don’t let your possessions overshadow your travelling adventures.