There are five easy steps:

  1. Stay at a hotel with your favorite brand of toiletries (Bulgari, Blaise Mautin, etc.).
  2. Call housekeeping and request an extra set of toiletries. After all, you have to get toiletries for your guest bedroom at home, and they might as well be good ones.
  3. Place said toiletries in your ziplock bag, but don’t seal it. This step is key.
  4. Arrive at your destination and remove the toiletries from all over your carry-on.
  5. Wipe down your laptop, computer cords, noise canceling headphones, bag etc., to make sure they’re not soapy anymore.

Karma is a bitch, I guess. On the plus side all my electronics smell awesome.

  1. February 2nd, 2013 at 12:21 pm

    Nat Arem said,

    Crap I’ve been missing Step 3 for all of these years. Thank you so much for the missing piece.

  2. February 2nd, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    AdamH said,

    Lol

  3. February 2nd, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    The Deal Mommy said,

    I lost a cell phone that way last year…Molton Brown.

  4. February 2nd, 2013 at 12:52 pm

    kneemuh said,

    When is Boarding Area going to add a ‘like’ button?

  5. February 2nd, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    JetAway said,

    You have a guest bedroom?

  6. February 2nd, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    lucky said,

    @ JetAway — That was part of the agreement of me moving out of Tampa. Momma’s gotta have a place to stay!

  7. February 2nd, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    Zach said,

    Haha I frequently enjoy your not-so-substantive posts, but this one might be my favorite.

  8. February 2nd, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    hulagrrl210 said,

    au the vert is the best! I picked some up at the Summit Suites @ Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

  9. February 2nd, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    Wendy said,

    Next time go to your favorite grocery store or drug store and buy the toiletries for Momma. Its cheaper than buying a new laptop after it gets fried by liquid.

  10. February 2nd, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    Linda K. T. said,

    I prefer the savory smell of the bottle of Jamaican Jerk Sauce that broke in my luggage a few years ago. (Love your blog, by the way.)

  11. February 2nd, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    Gizmosdad said,

    I view stories like this as a way of “earning your stripes.” As in, you aren’t a FF unless one of the following has happened to you:
    1. Toiletries explode in your luggage (this story)
    2. You’ve slept in an airport
    3. The airlines lost your luggage on the outbound part of your trip
    4. You’ve been mugged while travelling (bonus points if it was in a foreign country.)
    5. You’ve sat immediately in front of, or immediately behind, a screaming baby on a 2+hour flight.

  12. February 2nd, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    Scottrick said,

    Megan let a bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s all-purpose cleaner leak all over the car trunk. No amount of dirt and mud or smelly gym clothes will ever cover that up.

  13. February 2nd, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    Charles said,

    You have no status if you have not yet spilled a can of cola on th edesk your laptop was on. Luckily, the battery was fried but my laptop would still work if it was plugged in AND battery was removed. Same mentioned laptop was stolen from carry on while stored by same Hotel. Hotel paid but still bad karma.

  14. February 2nd, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    Voice of reason said,

    The mini-bottles are one of many “conveniences” that contribute to destroying our planet.

  15. February 2nd, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    Xavier said,

    Aaah I think all of us road warrior had to deal with something like that one day or another … I still remember the sunday evening I spent washing and then drying my shirt in an ibis hotel room in Nuremberg after my shaving cream can decided to empty itself in my luggage .. Since that day I go hardcore and just use whatever soap is in the hotel bathroom as a shaving cream ….

  16. February 2nd, 2013 at 8:17 pm

    dave said,

    @xavier….had similar experience, would recommend hotel conditioner instead of the soap..leave it on for a few seconds to lather up, your face will thank you

  17. February 2nd, 2013 at 8:22 pm

    beachfan said,

    Well, we know it wasn’t the bellman’s fault!

  18. February 2nd, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    Kris Ziel said,

    @Gizmosdad:
    Guess I’m not an FF. 200K+ miles in the last few years and 60K booked through June 4 of this year, but never had any of those happen.

  19. February 2nd, 2013 at 11:30 pm

    Jr said,

    Like it. One more Thing i would say that has to be completed is that a ff has to be arrested , Bonus for Outside your home Country. (An other Possible bonus points category is when you got arrested because the Police thought something cannot be right with someone carring so many cc cards …

  20. February 3rd, 2013 at 7:08 am

    R B said,

    A small bottle of YSL perfume once exploded in my toiletry bag. The bag still smells perfume.

  21. February 3rd, 2013 at 7:34 am

    hobo13 said,

    Gizmosdad: What if the screaming baby is yours?

  22. February 6th, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    Farhad said,

    On a serious note, if you do want your carryon to have some sort of scent, a bar of soap tucked into one of the interior pouches does the trick. I have an unopened bar of soap from the FS Denver and damn do I love how it makes my bag smell!

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