The first thing Wilbur Wright said when he touched down from humankind’s first powered flight in 1903 is said to have been “This is all well and good. But how are people going to carry cosmetics?” Of course this is not true. Everybody knows it was Orville who made the first flight.

There are all sorts of restrictions on what can and cannot be taken on board a plane as you jet off to the Med for a break or Thailand for a fortnight. First there are the self imposed limitations. You literally only have so much space in your suitcase and hand baggage, so people have always had to be selective about what they have taken away with them.

Second, there are the limits placed upon travellers by the airlines. We are restricted by the number, size and weight of items of luggage we can take with us. Sometimes it is for sound aeronautical reasons; others, you might suspect, it is to attract surcharges and fines from money-grubbing airlines (or as they put it, rewarding light travellers; take your pick).

And third, after a plot to mix liquids into an explosive cocktail on board planes in 2006, there have been strict (and much criticised) rules about what can and cannot be taken as hand luggage and the way it must be presented. At the time of writing, the limit is 100 ml per container up to a maximum of 1 litre, and it must all be carried in a transparent plastic re-sealable bag that’s no bigger than 20 cm square! These rules are, however, constantly under review and could change at any moment.

Now although it’s normal for perfumes to come in such small amounts, we don’t tend to buy cleansers, creams, shampoos, sun block and other such cosmetics in anything smaller than 200 ml bottles and tubes. There are two possible solutions: travel with no cosmetics at all and buy it all when you land; or simply transfer your existing liquids into smaller containers. As there is no guarantee that our favourite brands will be stocked in the destination country – or indeed that the shops will be open – most people prefer the second way.

You can get travel bottles from most supermarkets and chemists, and there are also companies such as Ickle Bockles who have taken the concept to a whole new level, making everything from simple containers with screw tops to pumps and sprays, and importantly they have a 100 ml range specifically designed for the current hand luggage laws. They also happen to be rather funky, unlike the somewhat bland bottles you can pick up from anywhere.

So now, as soon as you touch down you can moisturise and freshen up, slap on a bit of factor 30 and hit the beach in the time it takes for you to go through customs, wait for your bag to make it down the carousel, take a taxi journey to your hotel and for you to check in. No wonder the shops might be closed.

Author Bio: Craig writes about skin care topics, including new products, for various publications and developments such as travel bottles are just one of the innovations brought out by skin care providers to address a need.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
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