Posts Tagged travel pants
Horny Toad Checkov Pant
Your comfortably worn-in jeans are great for at home, but they can tend to weigh down your suitcase. For a pair of pants that are similar to jeans, yet lighter, try the Horny Toad Checkov Pant. With lines like sleek chinos or jeans, these pants can easily make the home-to-travel transition.
There’s no need to break these pants in. The organic cotton twill fabric (50 percent cotton/49 percent organic cotton/1 percent spandex) already feels well worn in and soft, and the subtle tonal check pattern gives the pants a look that’s better than basic, but not so far out there that you can’t find anything to match. The fabric has a little stretch to it, which is always welcome when you’re spending hours on a plane, trail, bus, or merely walking around a new city.
The Checkov Pant has four pockets: two slash pockets in front (with metal rivets) and two welt pockets in back (with metal buttons). The zip fly has a double-button closure, which can’t hurt when you overindulge in the local cuisine.
The straight-leg look goes with nearly everything—from boots to running shoes to flip-flops—and the pants are nice enough to dress up if you need something to wear to a last-minute party. They’re comfortable enough that you don’t feel like you’re dressing up, which is one of the best requirements for travel clothing.
The Horny Toad Checkov Pant lists for $80 on the Horny Toad website. It can also be found on Amazon for pennies less. You can also get Horny Toad Checkov Pants at REI.
Posted by Jill in General Gear on December 23rd, 2011
Thwart Pickpockets with P-Cubed Pants
Valid or not, many travelers worry far more about their valuables when they travel than they do in their home town, packing all sorts of special gadgets and bags designed to keep thieves away from their belongings. Some places are really safer than home in this respect, while others (hello Rome!) are known for separating wallets from pants faster than you can say “mustard trick.”
Getting robbed sucks no matter what, so we often cover theft-proof helpers on this travel gear blog and highlight when travel clothing has good security pockets that provide a layer of protection. All those are child’s play though when compared to these P-Cubed Pick-pocket Proof Pants I’ve been trying out lately.
Technically these are written as “PˆCubed” pants (as in P^3 – “Pick Pocket Proof”). But anything that makes me search for some obscure symbol in my word processing program is not going to keep that designation in the long run. Remove that silliness though and these pants are all business. An incredible amount of thought—from a designer who is obviously a real traveler—has gone into every detail of these.
I first met the head of this company at the Outdoor Retailer show in January and he gave me a full demo of how these pants work. Now normally a “pants demo” is not going to take very long, but this was like a piece of classical music: each time I thought it was over, another wave came. That’s because these pants are not your typical “wicking, with pockets” variations you see on most racks. They are built for hard-core travelers who carry a lot around without being bogged down and who are in dodgy places untouched by tour buses.
What’s in your pocket stays in your pocket
Let’s start with the pockets featured in these photos below because they’re at the core of keeping your valuables safe. Open, they function as regular pockets you can stick your hands into as you’re kicking back in a secure area, the tab buttoned to the back of them. Even then, your phone or money can be in a second hidden pocket inside. When you’re walking through a local market in Jaipur or Delhi, however, you can move the flap over the pocket and zip it up, giving you more layers of protection than even a dedicated robber-wallah can get through.
Beyond those, you’ve got rear pockets that snap closed, nice, but also have a hidden zipper pocket inside for stashing cash or valuables. When you don’t need them for that, the “cubed” pockets expand to hold a guidebook—a quite thick one at that! And then there are side cargo pockets for carrying whatever else you want to have on you. They button closed, so you can put a point-and-shoot camera in them with no worries.
I tried all this and was surprised at how easy it was to be a bag-less traveler when using these. In my pants I had keys, a phone, an iPod, a notebook, cash, credit cards, coins, sunglasses, lip balm, a pen, and a map—with room to spare. If I had really wanted to go nuts, I could have carried a water bottle with them too: the pants come with a bottle carrier that attaches to existing buttons on the pants.
Teflon-coated and tough
But wait, there’s more! These travel pants are treated with Teflon, so they’ll repel stains and a fair bit of water. (Misty rain yes, deluge no.) They’re wrinkle-resistant and so far that’s held up for me after three washings. They look good coming out of a scrunched bag. They are made from serious, thick fabric (75% cotton canvas, 25% nylon) that can’t easily be slashed by a kid with a razor blade. So they’re not as lightweight as pure nylon travel pants, but they’re stronger and more suited for travel in non-tropical climates.
There are belt loops, but also size adjustments that enable you to make them tighter without a belt—handy after you’ve been on the road for six months and have dropped 30 pounds.
All these extras don’t come cheap. You’ll pay more than a Ben Franklin for the Adventure Travel Pants version reviewed here. But these can replace a lot of under-clothing security accessories and they’re built to last you decades of solid use. I feel confident saying that when I’m 70 and fighting off the new generation of urchins in developing countries around the world, I’ll probably still be packing these.
See the full scoop on the P-cubed pants and order them direct at ClothingArts.com. They have some helpful videos there showing how all the features work.
So far they’re a bit hard to find elsewhere online, but they are available at Travelsmith. You can get a more sedate “business traveler” version (minus the cargo pockets) at Magellan’s. Search “pick pocket pants” and take advantage of this deal: Free Shipping for orders over $50.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on November 10th, 2011
Bug Shield Pants from Columbia Sportswear
Yeah, I know: as I write this review there are poor souls clearing limbs from a recent snowstorm, but since this is a travel gear blog and there are lots of mosquitoes still buzzing around the tropics as you read this, I’m reviewing some more travel pants with built-in insect repellent. (And for what it’s worth, the temperature outside my window in Tampa is 81 degrees Fahrenheit at this very moment.)
Columbia Sportswear products have a lot going for them: they use a lot of technological innovation, they’re trying hard (especially the past few years) to make clothes that look flattering, and they’re usually in the middle of the pack in terms of pricing. They’re also very easy to find, whether that’s in your local sporting goods store or at the usual online outlets. With a fashion-focused timeline, you can also often find their clothing on sale when it’s time to move out the old and bring in the new.
These Bug Shield Travel Pants are at the top of the usual range, with a list price of $75, but check the links at the bottom and you’ll probably find some season-end sales going on. These pants are double-duty too: they do all the usual things and keep the bugs away on top of that. They’re treated with odorless Permethrin, which lasts for 70 washings. You’ll get a lot of use out of them before you hit that level. Besides the mozzies, this Insect Blocker treatment is designed to keep away ticks, ants, flies, chiggers, and no-see-ums.
I wish I’d had these on at the right time when I was in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico a couple weeks ago. The one day I wore pants that didn’t have any treatment was the day some ants and possibly a few chigger friends decided to munch on my legs and ankles. The rest of the trip I was fine.
I brought three pairs of travel pants on that adventure and all three got soaked at some point, so I was able to see how quickly they dried. This pair did the best job of drying out in that humid climate and of course they are quite lightweight and easy to jam into a bag without taking up much room. My only complaint about the wispy-slick fabric is that it makes these next to impossible to roll up when they get wet. They were not well-suited to crossing streams when the time came. That’s the trade-off sometimes: you give up the cinch strings or buttons that would clasp the bottom—also keeping out more insects—to look more like normal pants when you’re not adventuring.
The weight is kept down by using mesh for the pockets and there are seven of those in all. Two have zippers and three have Velcro. There’s an included nylon matching belt, an idea I like a lot, and unlike on some other pants I’ve tried it can be removed if you want to put on a nicer one for dinner or use it on other pants. There’s elastic in the waistband too, so there’s some give. They come in three inseam lengths.
Otherwise, these are just want you’d expect and want for travels in warm places: wicking, sun-protective, and fast to dry after a washing.
You can get these for women, in a convertible version with zip-off legs, and in a kids’ version.
Check prices on the Columbia Bug Shield Pants at Backcountry.com and Amazon.
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Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on November 3rd, 2011
Craghoppers Travel Cargo Pants Have it All
I’ve got all kinds of travel pants in my drawer, from ones that are wispy light and dry in a couple hours to rugged cotton ones with lots of pockets. Some even have built-in insect repellent.
Apparently the Craghoppers brand wanted to be more of a Swiss Army knife than a specialist with these NosiLife Cargo Trousers because they’ve got it all. We’re talking NosiLife insect repellent that claims to be permanent, nine pockets of varying types, sun protection, quick-dry properties, and a lifetime warranty. All these attributes and then some performed as advertised except for one—more on that in a minute.
This pair of travel pants has vaulted to the top of my stack from adventure travel trips. They’re a little thicker than some of the wispy ExOfficio ones I like, so they take a tad longer to dry, but they also feel more suited to getting wet and dirty. I did plenty of that while trying them out on an off-the-grid adventure tour in Chiapas, Mexico last week. They got soaked, muddy, and whacked with thorn bushes but looked new again after a wash. They’re comfortable and look about as good as cargo pants can look.
I’ll give up the sleek lines to have more pockets and these Craghopper pants have plenty of those: cargo pockets, zippered security pockets, and back mesh pockets that button. You’re a hard person to pick-pocket while wearing these around, but everything you need is along for the ride. I also like that they have a bit of elastic in the waist. My pants don’t fall down when I remove my belt to go through security at the airport or if I want to lounge around without one. The buttons are attached to a wide piece of nylon—not just thread—so I don’t have to worry about unraveling.
One item I thought was a nice innovation though turned out to be a bust: the included dry-bag for your mobile phone or passport. Great idea in theory, but the Chinese factory cranking these out must have taken some quality control lessons from the country’s drywall makers, toy producers, and milk bottlers. The bag works, once, but as soon as you get it wet the glue under the Velcro starts running and it turns into a sticky mess. I had to toss it in the hotel trash can. (Thankfully, the glue being mistakenly water-soluble, it washed right off my hands with soap.)
One detail that I can’t quite figure out is that two belt loops have snaps on them, but are next to loops that don’t. There’s nothing in the product description explaining the purpose of this and I don’t have a clue as to how or why you’d every unsnap two loops out of ten. They kept unsnapping while moving through brush or just moving my butt in a van.
Besides a couple niggling details though, these pants deliver where it matters. They’re well-made and durable and I will probably still be hiking into jungles with them a decade from now. I can’t attest to the insect repellent properties lasting forever—most competitors claim 75 washes or so—but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. The Craghoppers name is a rather new one in the U.S., but the company was founded in England back in the 1960s and has outfitted mountain climbing expeditions. Now they’re sponsoring Bear Grylls, so they’re clothing a TV star trying to put himself in harm’s way each show.
The Craghoppers NosiLife Cargo Trousers come in multiple waist sizes, lengths, and muted colors. There’s also a version with zip-off legs, plus it’s one of many styles available for women. If anything fails you with these during normal wear, they’ll replace them for free. (If they rip when a jaguar bites your leg, that doesn’t count.) See the whole line they offer at Craghoppers.com’s U.S. site.
Unfortunately, for now that’s about the only place you can buy them in the U.S. unless your local outdoor retailer carries them. Amazon UK has them for the other side of the Atlantic. They retail for $65 though, so you won’t get reamed too badly by buying direct.
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Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on October 26th, 2011
Convertible Travel Pants from Mountain Khakis
We’ve checked out quite a few versions of convertible travel pants from multiple brands here on Practical Travel Gear. These double-duty items are a backpacker staple and you’ll see more than a few upscale adventure travelers wearing them too.
Sure, they’re a little dorky, even when they come from a rugged brand name like Mountain Khakis, but they come in handy in a whole lot of circumstances. For instance when you’re going on a hike that starts out at freezing in the morning and gets to a balmy, or downright hot, temperature by the afternoon. Zip off the legs, stuff them in your pack. Or in countries where it’s unheard of—or even downright rude—to wear shorts in public. Pants by day outside, shorts by night in your hotel/hostel/guesthouse. Or a place where mosquitoes don’t bite during the day, but they turn into voracious hunters when the sun goes down.
Whatever the reason, these also help you stay under that low weight limit on prop planes in Central America and Africa and on those European budget airlines with ease. Two clothing items in one.
Mountain Khakis has their own spin to the style with their Granite Creek Convertible Pant. It’s a departure from the heavy khaki roots of this Wyoming-based company since you’re obviously going to travel with these and they need to be light. They weigh in at 6.3 ounces, which is certainly not going to be much of a factor in your packing weight.
True to the brand, these feel strong and rugged, however, like they’re going to last you for a decade. They’re made of brushed nylon that’s quick drying, wicking, and provides UPF 50 sun protection. The tag and listing on their website say they’re treated with Scotchgard protection to make them water repellent, though my demo pair was apparently out sick the day that got applied. Mine dried super-quickly, but they soaked through from the start when I ran water tests. (If you get a pair of pants where something is not right though, the company has a one-year warranty.) These come with real metal zippers, a metal button to close the fly, and Velcro on one pocket. There are also 10-inch zippers on the leg flaps so you can get these off without removing your shoes. I’ve missed that on some other ones I’ve tried.
These being travel pants, there are pockets galore: two regular side pockets, one square pocket on the leg, a secret zippered pocket inside that, and another zippered pocket on the other side. Plus another one on the back. You can stash a lot of goodies in these. Note that these are regular pants secured with a belt—not drawstring or elastic ones. A lot of people prefer that, but be aware if you’re looking for ones without loops.
Follow this link for a full description and a look at the four color choices on the company website. A women’s version is coming next year, but you can get non-convertible Granite Creek travel pants for women now. They list for $90. Check prices on the Mountain Khakis Granite Creek Convertible Pant at Backcountry or at Altrec.com.
* Giveaway time! If you’re such a cool guy that you can get away with wearing green pants (or you’re a local rock star who needs stage attire), I’ve got some pants for you. MK sent me some nice Lake Lodge Twill Pants that don’t fit me. They’ve got a 32-inch waist and a 32-inch inseam. If that’s close to what you wear, click on that link and under color pick “Mint Julep.” If you can see those pants on your legs and live in the U.S., leave a comment below. On September 8, if there’s more than one reader who fits the description, I’ll pick a name at random and get in touch for a shipping address.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on August 25th, 2011
