Ordinary towels are heavy, bulky and difficult to dry.
A travelling towel is the opposite. It's lightweight, compact, quick to dry and despite its apparent lack of substance, very effective at drying the body.
To the touch it feels almost like velvet.
They're not cheap to buy - ours cost £18. But they proved an excellent addition to our equipment.
We would shower and dry ourselves with them in the evening, hang them up to dry in the dortoir and by the morning they would be dry.