Your favorite non-essential/luxury piece of gear?

laughingman said:
I'm here for that little bidet. I carried something like it on the PCT that screwed onto a water bottle for about 400 miles but never actually used it. Now its shoved in a bag someplace thank you for reminding me about it ill have to dig it out for my next trip.

On that same note my piece of kit that is just silly for me to carry around is the simple shower.


Its a shower head that screws onto a water bottle. Yah... I know...but here me out. That little sucker will drain a 2L water bottle in about 25 seconds. It works shockingly well. That a bar of soap and a little microfiber towel I found on the side of the road I can literally have a shower anyplace for free. So long as I can get water... and be naked for a minute. Just DONT let if freeze with water inside. Ask me how I know.
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I have one of those, but I swapped it out for a Sea to Summit pocket shower. It's heavier but it replaced the dry bag I wash clothes in
 
Pocket shower looks interesting. I can't remember what they're called but we used to take this jug with us camping. It held about a gallon of water and would fold down into a small ball when not in use. It had a spigot that let you control the flow of water. We'd hang it from a tree and take showers under it. If you were conservative you could do the entire shower using just the 1 gallon. I usually filled it up twice though. One gallon for my hair (when I had it) and the other for my body. It worked surprisingly well.

If I'm near a body of clean water I just do my business there though. Key word is clean. Some lakes and rivers are really nasty. I bathed in a river once that smelled bad. I'm not sure what kind of chemical was in the water but it fucked me up bad for a couple of weeks. I broke out in horrible rashes all over my body. It didn't smell bad when I got in and hasn't smelled rank the other times I've visited. I think someone dumped something in the water upstream of where I was bathing or something.
 
Usagi said:
Pocket shower looks interesting. I can't remember what they're called but we used to take this jug with us camping. It held about a gallon of water and would fold down into a small ball when not in use. It had a spigot that let you control the flow of water. We'd hang it from a tree and take showers under it. If you were conservative you could do the entire shower using just the 1 gallon. I usually filled it up twice though. One gallon for my hair (when I had it) and the other for my body. It worked surprisingly well.

If I'm near a body of clean water I just do my business there though. Key word is clean. Some lakes and rivers are really nasty. I bathed in a river once that smelled bad. I'm not sure what kind of chemical was in the water but it fucked me up bad for a couple of weeks. I broke out in horrible rashes all over my body. It didn't smell bad when I got in and hasn't smelled rank the other times I've visited. I think someone dumped something in the water upstream of where I was bathing or something.
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Back in the 90s a train derailed in Dunsmuir by My Shasta. It was carrying chemicals-the main chemical in RoundUp dumped into the River. Just about the Headwaters. People down in Sacramento got rashes almost immediately Not to mention other problems Our Rivers are dumping grounds. However it is what it is
 
Lotus Shaped Potato said:
TONELIFE Portable Bidet for Toilet - Handheld Bidet Sprayer -450ml 15oz Travel Bidet - Childbirth Postpartum Bottle - with Storage Bag, Soft Material TONELIFE Portable Bidet for Toilet - Handheld Bidet Sprayer -450ml 15oz Travel Bidet - Childbirth Postpartum Bottle - with Storage Bag, Soft Material - - Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078TXWMFT/

you can also get ones that are little nozzles you put in a water bottle, which would probably be better for travel without a vehicle.
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Thank you! I never heard of this before either. I truly do learn something new every day. 😂😂👍👍
 
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I carry my spoon carving tools. Something to pass the time, i like to give them away. Ones shown are deepwoods ventures, just have the hook knife now.
 
I imagine it would be pretty straightforward to repurpose some kind of squirty bottle to use as a portable bidet, saving oneself the $17 outlay..

some of the greatest satisfaction I get in the drop out / traveller lifestyle is when I use my ingenuity to solve problems without any financial outlay...
 
roguetrader said:
I imagine it would be pretty straightforward to repurpose some kind of squirty bottle to use as a portable bidet, saving oneself the $17 outlay..

some of the greatest satisfaction I get in the drop out / traveller lifestyle is when I use my ingenuity to solve problems without any financial outlay...
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I use a smart water bottle in the woods- with the pull cap- label it with a sharpie "dirty water". Its light, free, easy to squeeze up.
 
You call it a luxury but you have everyone in here looking up traveling bidets. Keeping your butt clean is essential!

For as many people saying pillows and knives and battery Banks and GoPro I don't think those can be considered luxuries either, because it depends on your personal health and what kind of traveling you're doing. If you're documenting, something to record with is essential. If you have back and neck pain, something to hold your head in place while you're sleeping is essential. If you don't have a consistent place to stay, keeping your phone charged so you can communicate when you need help is essential. The things that you use to keep yourself healthy and safe are not luxuries.

With that being said...

I brought my pouch. I don't need it but it's stylish and easy to carry. I'm currently traveling through the Southwest, and a hemp pouch is especially stylish around here. And, I brought my pink "good juju" coin pouch. Little things that make me happy.
 
Lotus Shaped Potato said:
So I think we have a lot of talk about essentials

what’s your favorite thing that’s not essential, a quality of life or luxury thing?

I really like the squeeze bottle portable bidet I got for like $10. Keeps me feeling clean and keeps my toilet paper use low.
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I actualy just clicked on this subfourm about to post a thread asking about peoples experience with portable bidets. I just installed a bidet at my moms house and it works amazingly and I saw the company "tushy" also made a collapsible portable one and didn't known how useful it'd be lol. One think i personally like is the duke cannon "tactical scrubber". Its a cheesy name I know but its worked great. I've had the same bar of soap in it for about 4 months and its just now getting close to being replaces. And it doubles as a self cleaning washcloth if you use bar soap I'd say its a must have.
 
The Toecutter said:
Even a bicycle is a world of difference, versus being on foot.
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I would like to now change my answer to a bicycle. Though for me personally I feel like I don't know what I would do without mine. So is it realy a luxury? I suppose anything you cant eat or drink is a luxury for someone.
 
laughingman said:
I would like to now change my answer to a bicycle. Though for me personally I feel like I don't know what I would do without mine. So is it realy a luxury? I suppose anything you cant eat or drink is a luxury for someone.
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It's as much of a "luxury" as a car is to most people who own one and use it on a regular basis. I don't really consider a reliable bicycle as a luxury, but then I do consider that there are a lot of people who don't have a bicycle which who could certainly use one and would benefit greatly from it.

The amount of miles in a day that can be covered on a standard bicycle versus on foot will be somewhere between 3-4x for most people, more if you're extremely fit.

A cheaply-manufactured bicycle with delicate and/or unreliable components will be more of a burden than an asset, and far from a luxury. But a good quality bike in usable condition that is well-maintained, fitted with durable tires/tubes, and with the tools/parts to do basic maintenance will allow you to have individual transportation that is cheaper than any other means of individual transportation available, and in most cases will also be cheaper than most paid forms of public transportation(like the bus) on a cost per mile basis. Consider how much food calories per mile are needed to walk, along with the time cost of walking a given distance versus using a bicycle to travel that distance. Depending upon one's living arrangement and location, it could be absolutely necessary for survival.

I'd personally consider it essential, especially if you need to get around and cover distances within a given time constraint that would simply not be possible on foot. But a lot of people don't have a bicycle and do without just fine, so...
 
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rite in the rain pocketpad and a broken in half pencil in the back pocket, it is soo useful for remembering anything useful, hear a good quote, feel like drawing for a second, etc
 
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