All around the world when I travel, I find hot pots in rooms.  The last time I  had a hot pot was in college and I didn’t realize how great they were.

But in hotels around the world, these are very useful items.  After using them in probably 5 countries, I went out and bought this one:

 

You can click the link for more info. I picked this one because it is glass (so no problems with BPA or other things leaching out of the plastic, is easy to clean, has multiple temperature options, and turns itself off (timer or when it runs dry). It heats water quite quickly and doesn’t take up much space on my counter. I put my coffee maker away and now make drip coffee instead, as well as an odd collection of teas and coffees I picked up (and found at home later in many cases at ethnic stores) that remind me of my travels. Smells can bring me back to the apple tea I had before getting in a hot air balloon ride in Turkey.