Travel Tech and Gadgets
Tiny seats, and getting smaller, plastic food, less and less baggage allowance, sleep deprivation — it’s not getting any easier to travel.
The good news is that there’s an endless amount of new tech and gadgetry designed to counter the trend — designed to bring you some level of physical comfort, isolation for the ambient noise as well as making every aspect of the process a little less frustrating.
VaVenturerers are totally prepared to drop reasonable $$ on stuff that might actually work — so check out our reviews and tips. We’re not gear heads, and find too many “solutions” pointless, frustrating and annoying. So we think if we like it, you will too.
VaVenturing Tips
Mobile Passport - a great alternative to Global Entry.
In theory, Global Entry is great — in practice, unless you’ve already been approved, the current wait is many months long and growing (the rumor is that significant numbers of customs agents have been moved to patrol the US/Mexico border) and may even require the intervention of your local Member of Congress.
So check out the Mobile Passport App. At $14 in the App Store, it’s Customs approved — and while it won’t get you TSA Pre, on reentering the US you simply send in your stored passport, along with flight info. and the customs questionnaire when you land and you get to bypass the immigration lines and use the Global Entry lanes.
Headphones — whatever you do, don’t fly with wireless pods — we’ve been on too many flights where passengers and crew are frantically ripping out seat cushions and looking under seats for lost buds. Bottom line — wireless buds and crowded economy cabins don’t mix well!
For those flights where you really need to get some quality shut eye — we’ve come up with a neat earphone trick that lets you continue to use your favorite wired buds (which we far prefer for sleeping over headphones) even if your new smartphone no longer has a headphone jack.
You can buy a $15.00 clip on bluetooth adapter that lets your buds operate wirelessly over a bluetooth connection with your phone and, in our tests, easily holds 6 — 8 hours juice. The sound is great, you get all the benefits of not having wires trailing around your seat — and you can continue to use your perfectly fine $20 earbuds.
Knives — The single most indispensable tool for any trip is a good folding knife. Go for quality — essentially, you want a knife and a corkscrew combo — 3 or 4 inches blade length. Remember, you can’t include in your carry on luggage! You’ll need to check it and don’t be surprised if there’s a TSA note saying they opened your bag. But, you’ll use it again and again — and knives are one of those things that can cost a lot more outside the US.
We love the French Opinel brand. Decent price, clever design and high quality.
Travel Pillows
Scouted and purchased at the New York Times Travel Show — The Dream Sling — a new kind of travel pillow that incorporates an arm sling to perfectly position the headrest portion and keep your arms in a sleeping position away from the armrests.
Seems like a really cool idea. Feels like a hammock. We’ll be testing and reviewing on our next flight!