Donate Your Travel-Size Toiletries

Last night, I cleaned out my somewhat embarrassing collection of travel-size toiletries. My office is having a donation drive for a local shelter. Though my cupboards are bare (I don't eat much canned food), I knew I could help out with a few toiletries.

Turns out that I had more than a few unused bars of soap and unopened containers of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion that I'd accumulated from hotel stays and press events over the past year. And then there were the tubes of travel-size toothpaste that came with my frequent Drugstore.com orders, and the travel-size contact lens solution sample from my eye doctor.

Thanks to Starwood, Wyndham, Hyatt, Hilton, Sedona's Enchantment Resort, New York City's Trump SoHo, and other hotels for providing me with these goodies. I fully intended to use everything, but there are only so many bars and bottles that I can get through. And these were just the toiletries that I found in the linen closet. I have to admit that I uncovered more when I opened the cabinet beneath the bathroom sink.

Many hotel chains already donate travel-size toiletries to charities or local shelters. Clean the World (www.cleantheworld.org) also accepts donations of soap.

Weeding through everything was a nice way to remember all the places that I've been lucky enough to visit. And it was totally worth lugging the heavy bag of toiletries to work this morning on the subway.

Photo by: Amy Chen

Video: How to Shuck an Oyster

It's not every day that you get to meet a Guinness World Record holder. I recently met up with Patrick McMurray, a Toronto restaurateur who currently holds the Guinness title for shucking the most oysters in a minute (38 to be precise).

He demonstrated his technique for me at Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City's Grand Central Terminal. Though he wasn't in competition mode, McMurray still made it seem effortless.



Want to be able to shuck like an expert? McMurray has developed an ergonomic oyster knife (www.shuckerpaddy.com, C$30). I tested out the knife, and even I managed to pop open an oyster (OK, so I received lots of help).

How Steve Jobs Improved the Way We Travel

Steve Jobs died yesterday, leaving behind a generation of travelers who can explore the world more easily -- thanks to much of the technology that he pioneered.

Pre-smartphone, I used to get hopelessly lost in New York City's SoHo and Lower East Side. Now the idea of not being able to map directions on my iPhone 4 seems so archaic.

Just a year ago, I was waiting for my T-Mobile contract to end so I could switch over to AT&T and finally get an iPhone. In the last few months before my T-Mobile contract ran out, I used an iPod Touch as a short-term solution.

I wrote about the experience of traveling overseas with an iPod Touch for AOL's Gadling. As a traveler who wanted to pack light, the first-generation iPad and fourth-generation iPod Touch revolutionized the way I could get around. No more netbook, which only the year before seemed like a lightweight solution. And as long as I could find a free Wi-Fi spot, I could skip the dodgy Internet cafes.

And remember calling cards? When I lived in London eight years ago, I had to use international calling cards with unwieldy PINs. Now there's Skype that works from my iPhone. True, roaming fees are still out of control but for the most part, the iPhone/iPad has improved the way I travel.

Who knows what else Steve Jobs would've come up with next?