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| CRBJ Home > April 2006 | |||||||
Go gadgety and make the traveling easierBy Betty Stark
The airlines have taken away meals, pillows and blankets. They rarely stock magazines or newspapers because they weigh too much and flight attendants are too busy dealing with cranky passengers to distribute them. Every seat on the aircraft is filled and the seat pitch -- that critical distance between the end of your knee-cap and the back of the seat in front to you -- continues its relentless creep into the crunch zone. The person seated to your right wants to talk (you don't) and the guy on your left (possibly an corporate spy) is sneaking peeks at the third-quarter sales projection charts displayed on your laptop screen. To make matters worse, your company has downgraded your hotel allowance and when your plane lands you'll head to one of those discount motels where the bathrooms are the size of telephone booths and the pillows feel like slabs of plywood. Maybe it's time to look for some travel gadgets and products to help ease the discomfort of grueling road trips. There are plenty of sources for locating quality gadgets, including local office supply stores, travel specialty shops and several Internet sites. One of my favorite places for gadget-browsing is the Gadgets-To-Go shops located at the Detroit Airport (look for them near gates A-35 and B-16) as well as at the Minneapolis/St. Paul and Austin, Texas, airports. According to Gary Hagen, district manager of the facilities for Buffalo, N.Y.-based Delaware North Companies, there are plans in the works to expand the gadget-packed shops to other major airport retail operations among the more than two dozen managed by Delaware North, which include operations in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Phoenix. "We go to all the consumer electronics and gift shows and hand-select inventory with the frequent traveler in mind," Hagen said. The company doesn't have a Web site yet, nor do they sell by direct mail. One place you'll find both a Web site and a catalog is Magellan's (www.magellans.com) where travel gadgets are big business. The direct mail company has been offering sometimes practical, sometimes obscure, sometimes over-the-top-indulgent travel gadgets since 1989. Magellan's Santa Barbara, Calif.-based staff is available to talk with you about your destination, specific gadgets, and the best product to meet your needs. Call them at 800-962-4943 or log on to "Live Help" on the Web site. The Magellan Web site is a great resource for destination-specific information too. If you're traveling to a foreign country, for example, and need to know what kind of connectors and converters you'll need for your electronic equipment, you'll find the answer on the Magellan Web site. Other online sites worth a visit include Brookstone (www.brookstone.com), TravelSmith (www.travelsmith.com), Sharper Image (www.sharperimage.com), Travel Essentials (www.travelessentials.com) and Sky Mall (www.skymall.com). As a frequent business traveler suffering the slings and arrows launched by airlines, hotels, marauding germs, pickpockets and airport thieves, disease-carrying insects, rancid water, not to mention other travelers, what products should you consider? Here are a few suggestions: For air travel comfort • Since they've taken away airline blankets, bring your own, a DreamSack Travel Blanket. It's made of 100 percent raw silk, weighs only 13 ounces, has a handy pocket to tuck your feet into and fits into a 12" by 4" pouch. You'll find it at Magellan's for around $40. Take along an inflatable pillow, too. Eagle Creek makes a Comfort Travel Pillow that requires only two puffs to inflate; look for details at www.eaglecreek.com. • If you find it impossible to relax on an airplane, try rubbing all-natural Badger Sleep Balm onto your temples, chin and pulse points. It contains a blend of balsam fir extracts with essential oils of bergamot, ginger, rosemary and lavender. Magellan's sells it on their site for about $8 for a 2-ounce tin. To protect your valuable data, luggage and gizmos • The Notebook/LCD Privacy Monitor Filter (about $70) will make your laptop screen invisible to snoopy seat mates, and it protects the LCD display from fingerprints, scratches and abrasions. Look for more information at www.brookstone.com, www.travelsmith.com, and www.magellans.com. • With ever-shrinking aircraft carry-on space, the prospect of having to check valuable luggage looms large. There's a UK-based company that will sell you a luggage (or other item) retrieval service and tags that use a tracking number to make bags traceable. Use the tags on your luggage, laptop case or briefcase, and the security labels on cell phones, PDAs, cameras, iPods and laptops. You can find more information at www.globalbagtag.com. Low-tech and just plain handy items • Duct tape can be used for just about any kind of temporary repair, but who wants to lug those big rolls? Magellan's exclusive Travel Duct Tape comes in compact rolls to tuck easily into the nooks and crannies of luggage. (Two eight-foot rolls, 2 inches wide, 2 ounces total weight cost about $6). Look for information at www.magellans.com. • Insect Repellent Towelettes eliminate the need to carry leaky bottles of lotions or bulky spray cans. The 15 percent DEET repels mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, biting flies, gnats and chiggers (24 towelettes cost about $10). Find out more at www.magellans.com. We all know that the life of the road warrior isn't going to get easier anytime soon. But with the vast selection of gadgets out there to help ease the nagging, irritating, annoying discomforts, life can be just a bit easier. And finding them is part of the fun! travelingwriter1@aol.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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