9 innovative products to make your business trip better
Part of our series on how to be a better business traveler
One of the easiest ways to cut hassle from air travel is to avoid checking luggage. But not all of us can cram a trip's worth of clothes, comfort, and hygiene into a single backpack. The Weekender, a carry-on with extendable shelves, is designed for travelers who need to maximize space and convenience. At 12 inches by 24 inches, The Weekender can hold everything you need for your trip, from sweaters to cell phone chargers, and can be hung from a coat rack. It's so much better than fishing clothes out of a crammed backpack.
2. Portable Security Door Device
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The Portable Security Door Device can be used to wedge hotel doors into place, or any other door you might wish to secure in your travels. Reviews thus far are mixed — but the designers are updating their product to work well with a larger variety of doors.
Even though most hotel rooms anticipate the fashion needs of their business clients and provide an iron in your room, it isn't always the best choice for expensive businesswear. Steaming can refresh clothes too delicate to subject to a strange iron. Joy Mango's Mini Steamer, costing around $20 and weighing just a pound, fits compactly into carry-ons and comes in a variety of cheery colors.
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Pocket Wi-Fi by tep allows you to wirelessly connect multiple devices to secure, private internet service throughout Europe. It's a rental product that you can pick up upon landing and mail back in a pre-paid envelope. There are no data roaming charges and plans are prepaid and surprise-free. All data is guaranteed to be secure and encrypted.
Yoga is an excellent way to take the sting out of a hard day doing business in a foreign city. And for the Om-seeking business traveler, Manduka Yoga Gear offers the eKO SuperLite® Travel Mat. Forty bucks gets you a 68-inch mat made of biodegradable, super-grip rubber. It's just two pounds and easy to fold — meaning the relaxation this mat can provide is more than worth the space and strength it takes to transport.
FDA regulations forbid drinking alcohol you brought yourself, but you can usually buy booze off the in-flight menu. What's missing, according to the designers of this attractive cocktail kit, is class. The kit provides the ingredients for an Old Fashioned, including a recipe card, bitters, cane sugar, and a linen coaster. That's some stylish traveling.
7. Slim Universal Travel Adapter
This adapter is able to convert multiple styles of outlets to fit American electrics, as well as providing a USB port. At 3 inches wide and about 2 ounces in weight, this will definitely fit in your carry-on.
Once you've landed and picked up your rental car, you now face the challenge of piloting a strange car through a strange city. The Garmin Head-Up Display can cut the incomparable stress of navigating foreign roads without sacrificing safety. Compatible with Bluetooth, the HUD device projects vital driving information, such as routes, traffic warnings, and ETAs onto the driver's window.
Business travel is usually a hurried circuit of airports, hotels, meetings and the like, and it is an incomparable breeding ground for sickness. Although Sani-Squares can't do much for the airborne viruses that swarm in crowds, it can provide peace of mind for just about any surface your body contacts. From countertops to remote controls, a Sani-Square is a clean barrier between you and heaven only knows what came before you.
Therese O'Neill lives in Oregon and writes for The Atlantic, Mental Floss, Jezebel, and more. She is the author of New York Times bestseller Unmentionable: The Victorian Ladies Guide to Sex, Marriage and Manners. Meet her at writerthereseoneill.com.
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