Before You Go: Things to Bring
Things for the Hotel Room
Outside the U.S. hotel rooms may not have smoke detectors, so bring one with a fresh battery so everyone sleeps better.
A flashlight can allow a little one to get to the toilet at night without flipping on the room lights or waking you to help find the light switch in an unfamiliar place.
Our kids seem thrilled to have their own flashlight so we have a second one for safeties’ sake that stands by to help us find our way in a smoky hallway in the event of a fire. Having only one flashlight risks having no battery power left when the child leaves it on and an emergency happens.
Speaking of lights, a nightlight can make a strange room more familiar, and/or light the way to the toilet at night.
If you’re not sure if the usual nightlights will work where you are going (for example, in the U.S. the power is 110V, 60HZ while in the UK it is 220V), you can buy a few “chemical lightsticks” at a camping or military surplus store. You shake them the right way and they give off a green colored glow.
Boy Scout shops in the U.S. also have the light sticks, also, and just may be more accessible and less intimidating than a military supply store.
Leave the chemlight in the bathroom sink and it lights the way (the light is sealed and will not be harmed by water dripping out of the faucet). The lights burn out in a few hours and are only one-use, so you will not be joining us in forgetting nightlights in a zillion hotel rooms around the world (if you do find one we left behind, can you give me a call please?).
If you really want to do it right, or if like me you are easily amused, take a look at Johnny Light. This is a battery-powered light that somehow clips under the seat and turns on whenever someone lifts the toilet lid. It glows green. You can order it on-line, of course.
Related Things to Bring Articles
Reader Comments
commenting closed for this article
hotel thing to clean