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?

Hurricane Season: 5 Safer Bets for Island Vacations

Hurricane Irene made everyone a bit nervous, but the experts know which islands are statistically less likely to have a major hurricane strike within 100 miles.

The Atlantic hurricane season -- which lasts from June 1 until Nov. 30 -- coincides with when some Caribbean resorts drop rates by 20 to 40 percent or try to entice you with free nights, according to Hotels.com. But before you book that too-good-to-be-true deal, remember that a fast-moving tropical storm or hurricane could literally rain out your vacation.

How can you pick wisely? "Any place within about 7 degrees latitude of the equator is almost always safe from hurricanes," says Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Or if you want a tropical vacation with beachfront hotels but minus the iffy weather, look to these safer (and more affordable) bets instead.

Some interesting hurricane stats include:

Aruba: 4% chance of a hurricane hitting within 100 miles (v. 51% in the Bahamas)
St. Maarten: 5% chance

Other options: Contadora Island, Pearl Islands, Panama
"Panama is hardly ever directly hit by the core of a hurricane since it's so close to the equator," says Dr. Rick Knabb, tropical program manager for The Weather Channel.

Read the the full story in the October issue of Money magazine.

Other options that didn't make it into the final piece:

Mahé Island, Seychelles

Mahé Island, about 4 degrees south of the equator in the Indian Ocean, is part of an archipelago of 115 tropical islands that "aren’t affected by hurricanes, and they’re not that hard to reach from the U.S. as they are serviced by nonstop flights from London," Emanuel says. You also don’t need a royal budget to vacation here: Seven nights in early November at the four-star Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino come to $1,394 with taxes. Compared to $6,104 for a week in Anguilla at the famed Cap Juluca resort, spending a week here swimming in the calm seas more than compensates for the higher airfares. And in November, the average highs reach 86 degrees -- four degrees warmer than in Anguilla.

São Miguel, the Azores

The Azores, a group of nine Portuguese-speaking islands, "are occasionally hit by weak hurricanes, but strong ones are rare or nonexistent there," says Emanuel. On the largest island of São Miguel, the average November high of 66 degrees is ideal for hiking and exploring the island’s lake-filled calderas; locals even swim year-round at the dozen black-sand beaches. You'll also save on lodging at four-star waterfront hotels; seven nights in a sea-view room at the Caloura Hotel Resort is $842 for two people.

3 Affordable Wine Destinations: Willamette Valley, Finger Lakes, Mendoza

In the September issue of Money magazine, I talked to some wine experts to find out where you can enjoy the fall harvest season for less. (Napa Valley and Bordeaux, France, are naturally great destinations but not everyone can afford an expensive getaway right now.)

Seek out these three wine destinations instead, where the vintner could be pouring you a flight at the tasting room and you could save nearly 40 percent per night at a comparable B&B or hotel.

Fun Fact: Karl Storchmann, managing editor of the Journal of Wine Economics and an economics professor at NYU, averaged the five most affordable 2008/2009 vintages that scored 88 Wine Spectator points -- and found that Oregon's Willamette Valley wines cost 20 percent less than those from Napa Valley.

Photo Caption: The Damiani tasting room -- in a converted house -- overlooks Seneca Lake in New York's Finger Lakes region. Photo by Amy Chen