If you're staying in a hotel room and need to heat water for your french press or just want to make a grilled cheese sandwich in your lab you can use most clothing irons as a hotplate. Simply find a way to secure the iron upside down, turn it on, and wait for the flat metal surface to heat up.
Science and mathematics weblog Topologic Oceans didn't have a hotplate in their lab but did have a clothing iron. The author clamped a piece of wood to a lab bench and is using that as a secure holder for the upside down iron. Just make sure that whatever you heat up won't be ruined by a hot metal surface.
haxor hijinx: a DIY hotplate | Topologic Oceans via WonderHowTo