What luxury item can you not be without?
 

We are all aware of the space and weight restrictions we have when bike traveling but what is that one item you just CAN NOT do without?

For me it is a fine bone china coffee mug. I just absolutely HAVE to have a fine bone china mug to drink my barely adequate coffee out of in the mornings.

When I am at work I attend a lot of meetings and training sessions and I am renown for brining my own coffee mug and plunger and coffee! :eek3:

What is it for you that you just must have and be damned the space and weight consequences?

I don't really have a can't do without luxury item but my travelling companion on our recent USA trip never travels without a proper frying pan for making breakfast.

I'm not really a fried breakfast sort of camper but it came in very useful as a work surface when I broke my glasses -

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...psublqyi3m.jpg

My waterproof heated jacket.

A good knife.

Four things I always carry with me during my bike adventure - Food, Water, First Aid Kit, and a Knife for self defense (just in case...) :scooter:

Head phones and some device to drive them.

When you are stuck in a train compartment or ferry cabin with Rajasthan’s least discrete kebab cook, an Italian couple intent of acting out the karma sutra and the Hyperactive Societies annual trip to the chocolate refinery and fizzy drink factory, plugging in and tuning out just works. There are also the nights when you are not camping in hole in the ground out of choice and the shipping forecast and desert island discs or the test match are relaxing compared to howling blizzards or mortar fire in the distance. I am not a fan of the Smashy and Nicey stations that fill the worlds airwaves, but these days there is the internet or at least a bit of local noise.

I regret I cannot count food as a luxury although I'm sure many in the world do.

Andy

Toilet roll, as you can't get that smell off your finger it doesn't mater how many times you wash it.....

I guess a decent camera could be considered "luxury" item? Although many use Phone cameras these days. :thumb down: I hate crap cameras, having "grown up" on Nikon film cameras in the 70's.

Don't consider Ear buds luxury items as most 12 year olds in 3rd world countries have phones and ear buds. But I like tunes traveling. Ear plugs also a MUST for riding and sleeping and tuning out. Restful.

How about a spare tire? To me, that is a "luxury" but also a necessity!

I don't really have any other "luxury" items. I don't cook and don't worry much about Coffee or Tea. When it comes your way ... it's nice, but would never carry that crap through remote Desert or mountains. Nor will I carry cans of Sardines, Herring or Sausages! :rofl: Eat local, learn something!

Luxury items would be a neat stack of $100 bills (well hidden), credit card and several ATM cards. I can buy LUXURY along the way ... no need to carry it on board.

I can relate to that very well! I remember this one time ........ :nuke::nuke::nuke:

Nail varnish and makeup, nail varnish can be used to mark bolts. It hides dirty fingernails. I also carry a small roll on perfume.

and a little hot water bottle. I have a dicky back, so it soothes it after a long riding day, and i'm nearly always cold.

You need more vodka in your diet :)

Clean skids and socks. When I was in the mob (pulls up sandbag)no matter how wet, cold or shite things got, if you changed these the world was suddenly a better place.
Move forward thirty five years and it's now ear plugs as all my mates snore for England :helpsmilie: never mind the eu.
Now if touratech could produce something small,and rechargeable that changes the smell in a small formula one room after said mates have been on the lash then I would buy it doh

They'd price it so high it would be cheaper to get another room :rofl:

I came across this by accident,,,,,About 18 years ago when I use to cycle camp across Europe with the ex and my son on the tandem, I carried a 20ltr water bag so we didn't have to keep fetching water from the tap,,,,,we were wild camping in Holland we went out cycling for the day my son left the water bag out in the sun, when we got back the water was very hot so we hung it on a tree we had a shower with it, how refreshing was that.
Now I Carrie one on the motorbike when we tour and it will defiantly be on my bike across Russia and USA.
Leave it in the sun about two or more hours you have a shower, better than a cold wash in a river, rolls upto nothing

http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/400959368459

It was so bad one time I slept in the kitchen, stereophonic effects of farting and snoring from both bedrooms :( this post could get moved to the alone or duo question when travelling ?c?

Tea bags - I cant get my head straight in the morning without at least one cup. Two is better and three better still.

My Helinox chair always goes when camping.

Same here. Everybody starts laughing when you tell them you carry a chair on a world trip - until you start camping together. We have one Helinox Chair One and a cheap fake one for a third of the price. So far their both doing well for almost a year.

Cafe press mug or areo press and a bag of good coffee.

lots of other things I like to take but can leave but not a method of making good coffee.

Oh probably a chair as well, I do have a kermit chair and it is fantastic to have a proper chair to sit on. I know its big and heavy compared to others but its worth it.

After a time in the military it would be clean skids (pants) socks and toothbrush /paste. Then no matter how wet / cold / hot it gets the world will turn.

Another Helinox One here :)

It's 1 additional kg to carry, but the ability to sit and even lean back in front of my tent after a long days ride is a 1-ton-comfort upgrade to me.

(... and in severe cases of wanderlust I even use it at home... ;D)

One, decent, 'not riding' blouse. It was nice after days of stinking in my kit to end up somewhere where I could take a hot shower and change and feel vaguely human again. I bought it in India and it doubled as satisfying modesty standards for Asia and generally helped me go slightly more incognito when on foot.

Second one was a picnic blanket. I didn't bring a camp chair so it was nice to sit and cook on when camping, or lounge around and read on, or roll myself into when it got extra cold at night.

I can not be without my knife.

I second the water bag or solar shower. You sleep so much better after having a bush splash and your sleeping bag doesn't get funky dirty.

Chair (treo by thermarest)
 

A chair for sure. I carry a Treo chair by Thermarest. Currently making my own smaller and lighter chair / tripod-thingy.

My electronics can be considered luxury, so there's that. It does not take up that much space but I also take my electric shaver with me, even though I have to charge it. Mine, a Panasonic, does not take up much time as also proven here. I also bring my favorite bag of coffee with me, really zaps me to life when I need to!

There's a few things to be honest,

A Smart Cafe, basically a french press in a coffee mug.
A 3x3m lightweight tarp, to cover the tent and bike in prolonged really wet conditions. Another vote for the Helinox chair. A pack of wet wipes!

More things to add besides my knife: my camera, a dashcam similar to the Crosstour on this page (although not always, and depending on how I'm traveling), a laptop and an external drive to store my photos. Non-electronics, also a cup and my favorite coffee. I admit I'm pretty dependent on caffeine to stir my mornings.