I remember seeing many many years ago, a tip in the travel section of  TNT Magazine in London, about a few great uses for dental floss when you go travelling.

So I decided to test it out and off I went to Egypt, India and Nepal with my pack of Dental Floss. Here are some travel tips and ways that you can use dental floss when you go travelling:

1.  Dental floss can be used to cut many food items from cheese to boiled eggs to fruit – ah so no need to carry a knife! (and with today’s airport security issues it is probably likely if you did take a knife you might forget to pack it into your main bag and it will end up in the mountainous pile of “hazardous” objects at airport security.)

2.  Keep your drinks and beers cool while travelling down the Nile River in a felucca boat (or for that matter, while on a river or lake in the heat of the day when you are in a small boat without refrigeration). Tie your bottle securely to the boat and let it trail in the water to keep cool.

3.  Use the floss as a makeshift washing line or emergency fishing line.

4.  Once you have all your washing hanging on the dental floss, you can use it as a badminton net (well you may tire of walking around the travel sites). You can use your shoes as bats and make a ball out of floss.

5.  Use the dental floss as sewing thread to sew up any holes in your bag or rucksack, sew a button back on OR to repair a hole in your mosquito net AND you can use the floss cutter on the container to cut of bits of random hanging threads from clothes and bags – therefore there is no need to carry scissors! (again avoiding extra luggage and airport security issues).

6.  Use it as a replacement for a broken shoelace – ok it is not going to look so cool but if you are REALLY worried about the look then temporarily replace the lace in the other shoe as well!

7.  Travelling with kids? Use the dental floss as a lead to tie yourself to your kids so that you don’t lose them!

8.  Use it as a replacement hair band to tie up or tie black your hair if it’s hot or windy or your hair is just annoying you and getting in your face – or you could just go and get your hair cut off..

9.  Get creative and use the floss to create jewellery or garlands (string a few beads, seeds, pods or flowers … use your imagination… and create a pretty anklet, bracelet, necklace and so forth – to add a bit of colour or fit in with the locals or to even give to someone as a gift!)

10.  Of course the most obvious use for dental floss .. you can actually use it for what it was intended to clean out the bits that get stuck between your teeth!

Ok I have not tested them ALL out but most of them… the rest I made up or read about!  As you can see though it is quite a useful piece of kit to have when travelling and by acting as a temporary or emergency replacement for many things, you can cut down on the amount of luggage you take with you …especially if you are backpacking or hiking and you are prone to taking everything but the kitchen sink when you go away!

Let me know if you have any other great innovative ways to use Dental Floss whilst travelling!

About the Author: Karen Black is the Co-founder and Director of Mamba Media – a Creative Agency that specialises in Websites, Design and Digital Marketing for the Travel and Tourism Industry.