Avoid Catalina Island if you are looking to complete the 100 things you must do before you die. No Starbucks or McDonalds on this place. A good thing you might say. Not after you realize that the whole place and I mean the WHOLE place is owned lock, stock and barrel by one old mean chewing gum magnate named Wrigley, of the chewing gum company.
This “company’” owns over 90% of all land on the island and all the residents pay rent to this one capitalist person. The definition of a one-horse town.
No character is how I see it. All the same little junk shops and a couple of pedestrian excusrions make up all the activity available on this little chunk of rock.
Now getting there, I highly recommend a Joey Tote at: http://www.joeytotes.com/
The good thing about these products is that you can keep all your junk in one secure place as you go through the new 100% naked (almost) strip search when flying. I use mine to put my wallet, shoes and pocket stuff in one bag. This also helps keep it more secure so it can’t be stolen as you are hung up going through the metal detector six times.
Joey Totes are the all-purpose, reusable bags that stow easily in one pouch so even a set of 3 can fit in a small purse. Use them as a travel bag, at the beach, as a gym bag, at the mall and, yes, even at the grocery store. The 2 sizes let you carry one over your shoulder and the other in your hand. You can carry 40 lbs. in each bag (wow!) and can even put them in your washing machine. Best of all, your Joey Totes will help replace thousands of disposable bags each year.
Where’s your Joey? … always with you.
If I ran the world, there would be no iPhone Styluses (spelling?). Or rather WHEN I rule the world, there will be no iPhone Stylus-ees. Unless of course I think of something other than MY personal needs.
AGAIN, I get a box of free travel-gadget stuff to review, sounds great huh? NO. First, I am busy LIVING my life and creating the things that make me happy and travelling aroud the world. Mexico, January 9-16 2010 for the markteterscruise.com on Carnival Cruise Lines, then to Vegas til the 23rd, for the Affiliate Summit West, then ANOTHER cruise on my high-school-buddy’s 40-foot sail boat to Catalina Island, then San Fran., then back to my Vemont ski house.
So all this stuff piles up, then Christmas, New Years, etc. etc.
My sister-in-law, for some reason got an iPod Touch for Christmas with the obnoxious and grating COWBELL application pre-installed. Why one would get an iPod Touch and not an iPhone is beyond me as you can get FREE phone calls and texting like I do on my iPhone by getting a free Google voice invite and a FREE TEXTING app and adding your Google voice number to your FRIENDS and FAMILY plan unlimited-calling-service and forwarding all of your calls out through the Goolge voice number and have your friends CALL the Google voice number and forward it to your iPhone for FREE UNLIMITED MINUTES.
I know, I didn’t believe it at first either….
So I get this BIG box of free stuff to review and take ONE item to Virginia with me to review and it is the Pogo Stylus and Pogo Sketch. http://tenonedesign.com/products.php I actually laugh when I open them up. They are simply a metal tube with a piece of sponge on the end. Maybe I can use it to put on my stage make-up the next time I perform my One Man Play ” Clinton and Me” at the Off -Broadway Theater, the Mint, where I did a six week run last June.
I try to be open when I review this stuff.
So the FIRST thing my sister-in-law says when she opens her iPod Touch, and I am NOT making this up is: “Does this come with a stylus?”
Hmmm… maybe some greater force is at work here?
SHE LOVED IT, loved them both. So there, maybe I am NOT the center and focal point of the universe. All things are not for all people. Although I would NEVER use a stylus and could never see the need for it for ME, seems there are a lot of people out there who need and want them.
We went to the Apple store there and they were doing a semi-brisk job of selling them as well–to women, the sales guy told me…
If you read the other LAME reviews of this product, you will notice they are ALL from a bunch of self centered MEN who only think of THEIR needs 
For navigating your iPhone Ten One Design has created the Pogo Stylus.
The stylus is made from an ultra-light aluminum alloy and sports a soft tip
for gliding over the surface of the iPhone’s display. It also comes with a travel
clip that secures around the iPhone, creating a holder for the stylus.
For drawing or navigating your MacBook, the company is offering the Pogo
Sketch. The Sketch is made from the same light-weight aluminum alloy as
the Stylus and also includes the same soft tip. It’s a bit longer than the
Stylus since it’s designed to be held for longer periods of time.
The stylus is made from an ultra-light aluminum alloy and has a soft tip
for going over the surface of the iPhone’s display. It also comes with a travel
clip that secures around the iPhone, creating a holder for the stylus.
For drawing , the company also offers the Pogo
Sketch. The Sketch is made from the same light-weight aluminum alloy as
the Stylus and also includes the same soft tip. It’s a bit longer than the
Stylus and it’s designed to be held for longer periods.
If you have long nails or like styluses in general, this one of the best in the business.
If James Bond can use it, then it is good enough for me…
He doesn’t appear to be too happy about being shot with product in hand. As they say, “To those whom much is given, much is expected”–Endorsements in this case, get free stuff, pay the price…
Why is it that people that make $10 million dollars a movie need to get free stuff anyway.
Wait, I get free stuff all the time to review, and I have to tell you it is TOUGH! Tough because these companies send me all this free stuff to review and I’m no Walter Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal. One bad review from me and poof, no more free stuff. And I don’t get $10 million a movie, though my next book will come close.
Okay, so I am a TRAVELER and WRITER who just happens to review travel gadgets because I LOVE gadgets and especially travel gadgets. That being said, as a traveller first., whenever I review a product, I make it work for ME. I open it, cut off parts of it, throw away the parts I don’t like or need, and modify it to make MY travel easier.
Reagrding the http://www.mysmartpac.com, I don’t know what half the stuff in the pack is… and this is the MEN’s Pack.
Body Wash, Moisterizer?? I use SOAP and that’s it. Anti-oxidant face cleanser?? Last I checked the oxidants were inside my body, now I have to worry about them on my cheeks as well?
The shampoo is high quality and the deodorant worked very well. Also, the shaving cream did a very good job. The idea here is that all this goes through the security checkpoint, so if you are doing all carry-on and ultra-light travel, (I do ultra-heavy travel, lot’s of emotional baggage…) you can skip the long wait at the baggage claim areas.
Okay, on to the good stuff. One of the best parts of this product is the line; “Perfect for sleep-overs.” My thoughts exactly. Having this product has helped increase my number of recent “sleep-overs” as it has helped me focus on them, and use the methods from the film, “The Secret” to manifest all these cool sleep-overs…
Bottom line this is a @20.00 travel gift you pick up at Macy’s when you need something for your cousin’s birthday. It is packaged really nice and comes with very high quality ingredients, of which the ones I used I REALLY liked.
Essentials
- Address list and list of important contacts or numbers
- Backpack, suitcase, sports bag (something to pack everything in)
- Paper or Notebook
- Passport (check validity!)
- Pencils, Pens
- Tickets and itinerary (airline, train, bus etc.)
- Visa
- Travel Insurance
Finances
Clothes
- Boots
- Bra (sports and regular)
- Dress shirts
- Dresses
- Jacket
- Jeans
- Jumper, sweater or fleece
- Light jacket
- Long or thermal underwear
- Long sleeve shirts
- Pants or trousers
- Pyjamas/Sleepwear (Member’s tip)
- Sandals, shower shoes, thongs or jandals
- Sarong or Lava lava
- Shoes
- Shorts
- Ski clothes
- Skirts
- Sneakers
- Socks
- Suits
- Swimming gear
- T-shirts, singlets
- Underwear
Clothes Accessories
- A good hat
- Bandana
- Belt
- Cotton handkerchief or tissues
- Eye-mask
- Gloves or mittens
- Jewelry
- Knitted (woollen) hat
- Raincoat or poncho
- Safety pins
- Scarf
- Sewing kit
- Ski glasses
- Suit bag
- Sunglasses
- Ties
Toiletries
- Anti-bacterial cream
- Comb or brush
- Condoms and/or contraceptive pills
- Contact lens equipment or glasses
- Cotton buds
- Q-tips
- Dental floss (also great for fixing things!)
- Deodorant
- Earplugs
- Fingernail clippers
- Hair products (gel, spray etc.)
- Lip balm
- Make-up
- Mirror
- Moisturiser (face and body)
- Nail file
- Razors
- Shampoo and conditioner
- Shaving cream
- Sleeping pills
- Soap
- Sunscreen and after sun cream
- Talcum/baby powder – Useful against prickley heat, in shoes, on sticky zippers and more (Member’s tip)
- Tampons and pads
- Toothbrush, toothpaste
