4 travel accessories you might already have

by Chris Owen on

There never seems to be a shortage of gear to bring along when traveling. Those who travel frequently have gear set aside, bought especially for travel, ready to go at a moment’s notice. They know they have what they need to be on the road and it might be eternally packed, ready to go when needed. Those who don’t travel as much often find it hard to justify buying gear just for traveling. Some new products now available can work both at home and on the road. Buying well-made, quality products that serve you well both at home and on the road can add up to big savings quickly. Take a look at these 4 travel accessories you might already have.

Belkin Mini-Surge Protector with USB Charger– This one is a must-have for anyone who travels with electronics. Hotel rooms and airport terminals never seem to have enough power outlets to charge all the devices today’s traveler brings along. Now you can add outlets and peace of mind on business trips and vacations with the Belkin Mini Surge Protector. This new design features three AC outlets and two powered USB outlets, perfect to charge backup power supplies, cell phones and other electronic devices. $24.99

Downy Wrinkle-Releaser– No matter how carefully I pack, it seems that things come out of my luggage wrinkled. Well they did. Now, with Downy Wrinkle Releaser that is not a problem anymore. Just spray, tug, and smooth any time you need to quickly reduce wrinkles without the hassle of an iron. Downy Wrinkle Releaser is an easy-to-use spray that smoothes out wrinkles iand leaves clothes with a light fresh scent. Its formula relaxes fibers to help release wrinkles. At home, a spray then a quick run in the dryer works good too. $2.25

Eat Smart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale– If you have ever been on a real lifestyle/diet/health plan (as opposed to fad diet) you know how important weighing things you eat is. Going on the road almost always meant leaving the scales behind. Bulky, heavy kitchen scales took up a lot of space, were difficult to fit in luggage and a prime candidate for breakage. The new Eat Smart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale is the answer. The small size of the fully-functional digital scale fits in any luggage and is easy to use. $25.00

KIND Fruit and Nut Bars– KIND is a brand of all natural whole nut and fruit bars made from ingredients you can see and pronounce. I have become helplessly addicted to these things and often spend more at the grocery on them than anything else. But that’s a good thing. Each delicious (and I don’t throw that word around often) full-size bar is about 200 calories and serves well as a meal on the road or at home. $1.99

While we’re on the topic of stuff to take along with you there are a couple of good web sites that have just about every travel-size thing one could imagine, and then some. AllTravelSizes.com has everything from hair care products to a special stay-fresh condom case (doubles as handy way to tote breath mints) featuring durable hinges for heavy users. Budget-minded buyers will like the selection at CheapTravelSizes.com which includes the standard menu of TSA-sized liquids plus some one-of-a-kind items like an emergency travel poncho ($.99) or a who-cares-if-I-lose-it travel alarm clock ($1.96).

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Flickr photo by AlphaTangoBravo/Adam Baker

The product of communicating with subway patrons

by Grant Martin on

Fun fact: almost half of my good friends in my new home town of Chicago were randomly made on the subway. How did I meet them? By randomly striking up a conversation. I’m one of the few people on the planet that doesn’t think that it’s strange to communicate with people on the train, whether this is with a smile, some polite conversation or a shared laugh — as it turns out, there are a lot of interesting people out there. Perhaps that’s why I travel so much.

There’s an interesting youtube video making its way around the interwebs right now that well-illustrates my line of thought. A guy named Luke Rudkowski spent some time meeting and interviewing random passengers on the New York subway, and in the process pulled some pretty interesting stories and opinions out of everyday passengers. With so many commuters stacked so close to one another each day, it’s amazing that these stories don’t more often intersect.

Bronx Zoo cobra on the loose takes Manhattan…and Twitter

by Meg Nesterov on

On Friday, an adolescent Egyptian cobra escaped from New York’s Bronx Zoo.

The reptile house closed immediately after her escape, and zookeepers are saying she could take weeks to come out of hiding. While we can’t vouch for the authenticity of the snake taking Manhattan, you can follow her adventures on Twitter, where @bronxzooscobra has been chronicling the travels of the errant snake with over 25,000 followers and counting. So where does a young snakess on the town go?

She first mused over a Broadway show, then taunted followers with her location in front of “the original” Ray’s Pizza (good luck checking all 46 locations claiming to be the first). After taking in the other wildlife at American Museum of Natural His(s)tory, she went downtown for a workout at Equinox Gym and a slither atop the High Line park. The Bronx Zoo cobra then tweeted about getting tickets for Jimmy Fallon before spotting Tina Fey at Rockefeller Center and heading back downtown to Wall Street. Despite asking for a vegan restaurant near Union Square, she ended up way uptown at Tom’s Restaurant from Seinfeld, where she may have found a hiding spot for the night in an unsuspecting apartment. Where will she go today?

Any New York travel tips for the cobress? Have you spotted any snakes, tweeting or just taking in the sights? While she is just 20 inches long, she is venomous, so watch your ankles!

Air travel issues promote travel by rail and ship

by Chris Owen on

As security concerns, luggage problems, fuel surcharges, crowded airports and high prices for air travel continue, some travelers are choosing other ways to get where they want to go. Rather than stay home or cancel travel plans, many travelers are looking at train or bus transportation or cruise vacations at a port they can drive to rather than flying.

Amtrak reports business is good. February marked 16 consecutive months of ridership growth and was the best February on record with 1,099,010 passengers.

“The ridership increase shows the continued popularity of rail travel and the need for continued investment in passenger rail service” said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman.

Instead of booking a flight, standing in security lines at the airport, running to catch a connecting flight, then getting to the hotel at their destination, a growing number of travelers are choosing a cruise vacation.

The all-inclusive nature of a cruise combined with easy access by car, rail or bus to local home-ports spread around the U.S. is allowing travelers to skip the airport, hotel and/or rental car altogether.”Even as economies around the world are experiencing financial woes, industry statistics indicate just under 11 million people enjoyed a vacation at sea last year. It could be because one price covers just about everything compared to land vacations where travelers are faced with added expenses such as hotel rooms, valet parking, transportation, buying tickets for entertainment and restaurant expenses.” says Rebecca Kelley from Huliq.com.

She has a point. Once paid, the price of a cruise booking represents is an average of between 70 and 85% of the total vacation cost, that price when vacation is over and you are back home paying the bills.

Variables such as cash to spend in the ship’s casino or ashore, on-board services like spa treatments, shore excursions, alcoholic beverages or gift shop purchases make up the difference. But with $0 for airfare, $0 for hotels and $0 for food, those three items alone can add up fast and make a cruise vacation a bargain. If not a bargain, at least you know how much the total price will be before vacation, not after when the credit card bills come tumbling in.

On the ease-of-travel scale, air travel issues have travelers scrambling for flights when increasingly more frequent schedule disruptions occur, while cruise passengers who can drive to the port could care less. Even with the high price of gas, driving is often the most economical way to go. Still, it is hard to drive from New York to London so flying may be inevitable. One way, anyway. Many travelers are flying to or from Europe from the U.S. then sailing back.

Called either TransAtlantic sailings like those done on Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 or Repositioning Cruises that many lines do, a ship sails one-way to or from Europe. Queen Mary 2 does it all the time, others make the crossing seasonally and often include ports of call along the way.

If you have the time to take 6 to 14 days on a ship instead of 6 or 14 hours (with disruptions) in the air, sailing can be a great way to go.

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Travel and Jewish ceremonies a great match, who knew?

by Chris Owen on
In the days of old, like a few years ago, traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies were held in traditional ways. Study the Torah. Read the Torah. Give a report about the Torah. Something along those lines. Kinda boring but part of the deal. It was the after-party that got all the press. Now, things are changing as families look for new ways to celebrate one of the Jewish faith’s most treasured events, the Bar Mitzvah.

First, quick, loose lesson on the Jewish faith.

When a boy “comes of age” at 13 he has become a “bar mitzvah” and Jewish tradition holds that he now has the same rights and responsibilities as a full grown man. The people that give out drivers licenses, voter registration cards and the like (including the sellers of beer, believe me) disagree but as Jews we’re used to the whole opression thing so we move along. Bar mitzvah also refers to the religious ceremony that goes along with a boy becoming a Bar Mitzvah and the party will follow the ceremony and that party is also called a bar mitzvah. Bat Mitzvah is the girl version which is basically the same deal but for girls it’s age 12 (because “girls are better than boys” as my mother told me countless times)

Got it? Ok let’s move along then.

Now, families are taking turning the traditional “rent a hall and have a party” part into a travel opportunity that involves everything from all-inclusive resorts to cruise vacations. And why not? People travel from all over the world to attend these things, why not make it convenient for everyone?

When Jodi and Alan Katz of Marietta, Ga., began talking about plans for a bar mitzvah for their son, Zach, the idea of reading the Torah in front of 300 strangers wasn’t so appealing to him reports MSNBC. This family did it differently and went on a cruise with 35 friends and relatives.

“It was the best thing we ever did,” said Jodi Katz. “It took away that pressure and anxiety. I could see in his eyes he was happy.”

Indeed, cruise lines, travel agencies and the like are seeing more of this type of business every year as bar mitzvah’s become family vacations.

A match made in heaven? “Not so fast” say traditionalists.

Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin sees these vacation-like events as a big problem for Judaism because it removes the child from their local Jewish community which he told MSNBC was the glue that holds the religion together.

“The beauty of the setting doesn’t come from the beach and sunset,” said Salkin, author of the book, “Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah.” “It comes from knowing the people in the pews.”

Still, the move to join travel and Jewish ceremonies makes economic sense, gathers important family members to witness the event and joins a movement to make religion relevant.

Rabbi Jamie S. Korngolds nonprofit company, Adventure Rabbi, focuses on teaching about God in nature. Based in Colorado, the group teaches kids traditional lessons using Skype. They also organize ceremonies, as well as hikes and horseback rides in Boulder and skiing at Copper Mountain for guests.

“People are trying to get away from big parties, and they want to focus on the spiritual rite of passage,” Korngold said.

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Flickr photo by Justin Jackson