Many moons again we had the great pleasure of exploring western Canada, taking the inside passage from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. Having stayed with some wonderful Canadians the previous night, they gave us some steaming hot coffee to take away with us before we got on the ferry for a 5am departure. Sadly, having not looked at our flask properly to see if it could keep coffee warm, the coffee managed to become stone cold and rather undrinkable, making our early morning wake-up all the less welcome!

With this in mind, we were determined, especially with a toddler on board and jetlag to fight, that our trip to Japan wouldn’t be blighted by a lack of hot coffee in the day whilst exploring Tokyo and Kyoto. We also wanted accessible cool water whilst bathing in the sun of Okinawa, and so we turned to the good folk at Hydroflask, who provided us with a 16oz Coffee flask.

Arriving in Tokyo after a near 12 hour flight and leaving at 11am UK time before arriving around 7am Japanese time meant that our flask received an earlier workout than you would expect as we doused ourselves in coffee to help us survive the first day of jetlag.

Next morning, our flasks got their first real test as we made the most of the excellent facilities at the ANA Intercontinental hotel in Tokyo and made ourselves a coffee to help us get through the day (with our body clocks still adjusting!). Having made the coffee and decided to head off to Tsukiji fish market, we then fell foul of the informal rule that you mustn’t drink or eat on the subway in Tokyo, something we hadn’t banked on when making the coffee!

Fortunately, the flask keeps hot drinks warm for up to six hours, meaning that we were able to get off the subway and enjoy the coffee still piping hot after the short ride to the market.

A week later in Okinawa we were presented with the chance to try the other side of the flask: keeping drinks cool. With a 24 hour keep cool system and a good wash and rinse to get rid of any lurking coffee taste we were able to make the most of the free bottles of water at our hotel and decant them into the flask for our days out. In a climate that was hot and at times humid, the chance to have cold water easily accessible made a huge difference.

If you are travelling and need a flask that keeps your drinks hot or cold then the Hydroflask really worked for us.

Let us know if you’ve used one or your stories of being desperate for a drink on holiday!