Most of you know you can create crazy clothing out of duct tape…
and if you read Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild you’d know she fashioned hiking boots out of duct tape when she lost her too-small boots. But Duct tape is a brilliant fix-all for all kinds of other problems on the road, too. You don’t need a big roll, just a few feet rolled around a short pencil or dowel…or even an old Tinker Toy –
Here’s what I’ve used it for over the last few years:
1. Suitcase repairs of all kinds, from sealing up rips and tears to securing wheels to the suitcase frame.
2. Babyproofing a hotel room– cover sharp table corners and electrical outlets
3. Blister protection – when you run out of moleskin
4. Creating padding for a sharp backpack strap
5. Patching a hole in a sleeping bag
6. Lint remover
7. Repairing glasses
8. Repairing my son’s headphone cord
9. Hemming pants
10. Plugging the hotel sink so I could do handwash
Here are some interesting other uses for it:
1. Bot fly infestation cure. If you’re ever bitten by a botfly, a nasty little larvae begins to grow under your skin. You don’t even know it’s there until a red bump begins to swell as the creature grows. Cover the bump with duct tape and the wicked maggot can’t stick its little nose through your skin to breathe. You suffocate it with duct tape.
2. Tape your passport to your belly and put your clothes over it. I suppose you could put some money in a plastic bag and tape that on, too.
3. Short term automobile hose fix