Beware: This “brilliant” travel hack could end up costing you hundreds of dollars

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One thing I love about the internet is that it gives everyone a voice and if someone shares a great idea, it can spread like wildfire. Unfortunately, one bad thing about the internet is that misinformation and bad ideas can do the same thing.

I came across the tip below recently. The video shares an idea for creating travel blackout shades that I never would have thought of on my own.

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As you can see from the video, it costs very little. All you need is a roll of aluminum foil and a spray bottle filled with water. The mother who created the video appears to have done it in her kids’ room in a vacation rental as her captions read: “kids windows when you’re traveling. All it takes is a spray bottle of water and aluminum foil. It just adhered to itself to adheres to the window. It doesn’t fall down in middle of the night. No painters tape, no trash bags and look how amazing.”

I’m glad I didn’t see this video a couple of months ago because I definitely would have tried it at my mother-in-law’s place in Toronto or my brother’s summer house in Nantucket.

In Toronto, my mother-in-law’s guest room has sheer white blinds that do nothing to keep out the sunlight, especially in the summer since that room faces east and the sun starts shining through at an ungodly hour. In fact, I think the window coverings somehow magically magnify the sunlight because it feels like I’m in a dentist’s chair getting a root canal. My mother-in-law was kind enough, however, to buy me and my wife blackout sleep masks and while we’ve both used plenty of sleep masks in our time, the LitBear Sleep Mask turned out to be hands-down the best we’ve tried.

I also might have tried this hack at my brother’s house in Nantucket because in his guest cottage, the window on the glass door doesn’t have any blinds. I wasn’t worried about the sun but rather privacy. I created my own quick fix by using gaffer tape, which I always travel with, to tape up our suitcase dividers and create a makeshift window covering. Here’s more on why I always travel with gaffer tape.

But it turns out that this hack of using aluminum foil and water isn’t so brilliant, after all. According to the majority of the comments, it’s a terrible idea, especially if you leave it on for too long as many people warn that the foil will stick to the windows. I didn’t try it and probably won’t now after reading comments like this:

@wildfreelittle3: “So I used to do this when the kids were little. I did it one time at an AirBnb. One side of the house got extreme sun & the foil essentially cooked onto the glass. I had to pay $250 to professionally clean the windows. They had to scrape with a razor. Just a word of caution. I now use painters tape & trash bags because it leaves nothing behind.”

So if you rent an apartment or your hotel doesn’t have blackout shades, don’t use aluminum foil. Instead get creative with gaffer tape and newspaper or a plastic bag if you need privacy on a small window. But if you need total darkness, definitely invest in the LitBear Sleep Mask, which is a game-changer and has become the sleep mask my wife and I never travel without.

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