Live and Learn (Gear That Didn't Make the Cut)

They can’t all be winners. There were a few items we brought to Iceland that won’t be joining us on future trips.

1) Magnet balls. These little toys are sold as “oddly satisfying” and it’s really accurate. Every one of us has been entertained for long stretches with these guys. They’re fun to mold into shapes, jewelry, and patterns. They’re fun to separate by color, and then to mush back all together. No idea why they’re so fun, but everyone loves them. Except the TSA. TSA does not know what to think of them. They set off all the alerts. Sorry, magnet balls. You stay home.

2) My beloved collapsible water bottles. I do love these things. They hold a good amount of water and don’t take up a lot of space when they’re collapsed. I even get compliments on them when I bring them places. But they’re not good to carry when full. They don’t fit inside bottle pockets of luggage, and they don’t fit in any standard cup holders. Back to the drawing board on my hunt for the perfect travel bottle.

I’m still keeping these ones for yoga classes, since there’s always someone who says, “Ooh, that’s so cool!” when I pop them open.

3) Noise cancelling headphones (the kind that cover your whole ear). I was willing to accept the bulkiness of these bad boys in return for an easy-to-use plug-in set of headphones for the plane ride. (I usually use bluetooth ones that won’t work on airplanes’ video systems.) But - and maybe this is just me - wearing those things for a while made my ears hurt! Like, they squeezed too much, and it felt terrible. I don’t think they’re especially tight, and I also don’t think my head is especially wide. But these were no bueno for me. Looks like I’ll be going back to some simpler earbuds in the future.