The $10 item I’ll never travel without

It’s not an expensive gadget from a fancy travel store, but a small and basic item easily stashed in your suitcase — and solves all your travel woes.

There’s one small item that’s stashed in my suitcase every time I hit the road to destinations near or far.

It’s not an expensive gadget purchased from a fancy travel accessories store, but a $10 roll of adhesive sports tape collected from my local chemist.

Anyone that’s played tennis, football, netball or basketball will be familiar with the fabric skin-coloured tape athletic types use to support suspect joints during a game and I went through my fair share of the stuff as a teenager pounding around sports courts.

But since I started travelling regularly for work I now carry a roll of tape in my luggage to save the day in any number of mini travel emergencies.

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Sports tape is sold in chemists for about $10 a roll.

The most regular application is taping up feet to prevent blisters forming and, when I have a big day of strolling on the schedule, I secure a strip to the back of each heel to prevent shoes rubbing with sports tape staying stubbornly in place longer than a Band-Aid.

Sports tape fixed sandals when soles detached from straps on a Whitsundays’ island and reinforced hiking boots when laces snapped in the back blocks of Borneo.

It provided extra protection when a carry-on bag had to go in the hold during a short flight between African lodges, strengthened a suitcase when I wasn’t sure a damaged zip would stay strong on a hop home from Singapore, and prevented a wounded iPad disintegrating when one corner smashed upon colliding with the floor in my Hoi An hotel.

It fastens hotel curtains to create the darkness needed for daylight napping, holds a bulky electrical adaptor in place when shallow power points cause it to fall to the floor, and secures containers to prevent the toilet bag becoming awash in shampoo and conditioner.

I’m sure none of these applications were intended when the manufacturers made this magical binding, but sports tape has saved me so many times I never consider leaving home without it.

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