Why exactly is it so important not to forget my towel when hitchhiking?
As everybody knows,
“A towel ... is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have.”
But what about us terrestrial travellers?
Personally I recently found these unprecedented uses for my towel:
- Since the design is an Australian flag, use it to indicate which tent that “hot Australian hitchhiker” is staying in at a Romanian beach.
- As custom fit pillow & insulation inside my sleeping bag hood that I could manipulate around to cover most of the face opening when the night got too cold, without sacrificing comfort.
- When pre-cooked Turkish truckstop food led to an embarassing situation and I didn't have a change of trousers, I could accept a ride offered by strangers without dirtying the car seat by sitting on my towel.
What indispensable uses have you discovered for your towel that wouldn't've been so easy to solve without it?
Best Answer
I once forgot a towel while backpacking. I was on a minimalist trip, so I didn't want to buy one and as I was traveling with only a schoolbag sized pack, I had very limited absorptive items (only 2 shirts, one pair of hiking cargos, one pair of board shorts total). So, every morning, I would shower, then use the shirt I wore the previous day as a towel, then I would wash it out with shampoo and hang it on the back of my pack to dry. It worked out okay, but I would have smelled significantly better and avoided some unnecessary rashes if I just remembered me camp towel.
Once in Greece, on Corfu, we were at a toga party (... I know) and my brother fell face first into some rocks. Used the towel as a bandage.
Also, towel = great pillow.
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Why is a towel so important to a hitchhiker?
The towel's importance is explained in the third chapter of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but to summarize: The towel is the number one thing a hitchhiker should bring with them on a trip around the universe. It can be used as protection from weather.Why should you always know where your towel is?
Knowing where one's towel is Within the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy universe, towels are regarded as indispensable equipment for experienced travelers, since they can be put to a wide variety of uses. Consequently, a person who can quickly adapt to virtually any new situation is said to know where their towel is.Why is a towel the most massively useful thing?
In day-to-day life, the towel has infinite uses. Dry off your dog, clean up spills, open a jar, keep it in your car to wipe the windshield, wrap ice in it to reduce swelling, hang it on the wall as art, sew the sides together to make a grocery bag, the list goes on.How did Towel Day start?
Towel day was first celebrated on May 25, 2001, two weeks after the death of Adams at the age of 49, when a group of fans decided to honour his memory by celebrating the humble - yet most essential - piece of cloth. Since then, Towel Day has become an annual tradition for his fans around the world.The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - No Ideas Imagination Theories
More answers regarding why exactly is it so important not to forget my towel when hitchhiking?
Answer 2
Towel? Air dry, if needed.
As for sleeping, I always went with the long johns, ski mask, coat and gloves approach. You can shed those items during the day and take up half the space as a bulky, "look at me I'm obviously a vagrant" sleeping bag.
But yes @Ginamin, towels make amazing pillows.
Answer 3
When I travel with a big towel, rare as it is, I will almost every night use it as an extra blanket.
Most of the time I travel a small towel, the size many people use as a tea towel, those I only use as an extra blanket when I feel extra cold or then the blankets are too light. (I sleep better with an heavy load of blankets.) It takes care to keep it on me but once I sleep it does not matter that much anymore.
But almost every night in a hostel, lower bunk, I have a towel as a kind of curtain. Allowing the towel to dry and making my bed a bit darker when I want to sleep.
Answer 4
The towel of course helps a lot if you sweat while hitch-hiking.
Secondly, in case of a small cut leading to bleeding, you will need to tie it around the wound to stop bleeding profusely.
Towels can be used to tie up stuff and carry easily which might be wet, or not fit to keep inside your bags directly because of other reasons.
In case of extremely hot weather conditions, a wet towel tied around your head would do wonders in keeping you cool.
While sleeping, it could act as an extra cushion for you head and save your precious night's sleep.
Answer 5
I find a towel to be useful only for drying. I've tried sleeping on it, but it seemed to absorb dirt from the ground with ease. Once it was dirty, I didn't want to dry myself with it.
I'm a living Macgyver, but the towel is a tool with only one use, in my opinion.
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