Let’s face it, trying to watch a good movie on your phone, iPad/tablet, or your computer is not the same experience as watching a movie on a large high definition TV.  Connect your laptop with an HDMI cable and turn the hotel TV into a second monitor.  It’s easy to do, does not require any software, and will greatly improve your movie watching experience and brings that comfort of home to your hotel room.  The trick in some hotels is figuring out how to use the universal remote to select the HDMI channel.  In some cases, hotels use a technology that disables any other spare HDMI ports.  What I end up doing is unplugging that HDMI cable from the TV plug my own cable in from my computer. I don’t watch cable TV anyways since I use online TV services like AT&T TV Now and YouTube TV.  Besides, if you are sitting in your hotel room on a visit to Rome flipping through the channels, the only English channel you may get is CNN. Over the years of hijacking hotel TVs made me so dependent on it that I ended up buying a flat screen to use in my office at home! It works and is a must have to help your quality of life on the road and experience the comforts of home. 

Pack for comfort

I lived in Japan for nearly a decade and married into the culture. Surprisingly, this made me more Japanese than I am American.  For example, we take our shoes off at home, are somewhat minimalists, and our diet is very much Japanese consisting of white rice and green tea.  When I travel it’s nice to bring my Japanese teas with me so I can enjoy the comforts of home.  I’ve even gone so far as purchasing a travel tea pot and travel mug that collapse and allow me to easily pack them in my suitcase.  I will say that in the flight crew community it is well known that many flight crew members make grilled cheese sandwiches with a hotel iron, use the blow dryer to heat up tortillas, and use the tea pot in the room to clean under garments.  That’s right, the tea pot you use in a hotel could be seriously contaminated!  Thus, if you are an avid tea drinker like me, spend a couple of dollars and buy a travel pot.  These also work great to boil water and poor on some oatmeal or make quick dishes in the room for those late-night snacks when everything is closed. 

I also pack comfortable sweatpants, cotton shirts, and slippers so when I am in the for the night I can slip into comfortable attire, make my Japanese green tea, and watch my favorite TV show on the hotel TV from my computer.  Doing these things greatly improve my quality of life on the road, brings the comforts of home to me, and makes being away from my family just a tad easier to handle. 

What tricks and tactics do you use to bring the comforts of home with you on the road?  I would love to hear from you so please shoot me a note!