You've been flying internationally for many hours. You have the customs and immigration forms in your hand, and all you want to do is land, get your luggage, clear customs and immigration, and go to your hotel to get some sleep. But you don't have a pen on board, and flight attendants do not have any to loan out, so your plan to have the forms already filled out, thus expediting your customs and immigration process, does not work. (On US airlines, pens are not provided in economy class. Some non-US airlines will offer pens, but most do not.) You finally get your bags, only to find that a zipper has broken, and half of your belongings are now poking cheekily out of your bag. And as you grab your bag off the conveyor belt, another suitcase hits your hand, cutting it and causing it to bleed. So far, the day's off to a lousy start.
But it doesn't have to be! The pen problem, the cut-on-the-hand problem, as well as the busted luggage problem can all be solved with one easy travel hack: the duct-taped pen. It's always a good idea to travel with a pen when flying internationally, because there will usually be forms to fill out, and you never know when you might need to write something down. And since you have a pen, anyway....wrap a long piece of duct tape around the pen. Now, you are traveling with your own fix-it kit: you can use the duct tape to fix your bag, create an emergency bandage, and do other repairs, and you also have a pen that is distinctive enough that you are unlikely to lose it.
I don't have to tell you how useful duct tape is! From first aid to fashion emergencies to holding broken things together, duct tape is pretty much an all-around miracle product. Having some with you when traveling is a great idea. But few of us want to waste luggage space on a big roll of it, so having a long strip on something you will be taking anyway (the pen) is a cheap and convenient way to travel with your own fix-it kit.
