The Gadget Guru: Nifty Travel Products for Those on the Go

Looking for cool, new travel accessories? The travel gadget guru is here to share discoveries. Let's start with some that help you stay healthy and get charged up.

Watch for more on Great Day Washington on WUSA-TV and upcoming blog posts.

Weego

How about a battery pack that not only charges your mobile devices, but your car as well? Weego is a pocket-size jump starter battery pack that can do it all. You can give juice to the main power pack at home or in your car (cables included), and then throw Weego in your glove compartment for those times when something in your car is in need of a charge. There's even a built-in flashlight. There are three Weego models, ranging in price from $99.99 to $289 (depending on type of engine you need to charge). Easy-to-follow-instruction are included, as are jumper cables. For the holidays, Weego is including an extra compact rechargeable battery pack with all purchases, a $19.99 value.

Where to Buy: www.myweego.com for a store locator.

HumanCharger

The quickest way to alleviate jet lag is... through the ear. That's the claim of HumanCharger's Finnish inventors, who say their device cuts typical jet lag recovery time in half by emitting light into the ear. The operating principle of the HumanCharger: The headset beams UV-free, blue-enriched white light through ear canal for 12 minutes at a time to the light sensitive regions of the brain that keep circadian rhythms in sync.

 

The HumanCharger comes with a smartphone app that tells you when to take the needed 12-minute bursts of light (after you enter details of your trip). I haven’t tried it myself, but the HumanCharger has been certified to meet the EU Medical Device Directive.

Where to Buy: Amazon $269.00

Clean Wave Sanitizing Wand

Germs are everywhere when you travel. Airplanes and hotel rooms can be cesspools of microscopic bugs and bacteria. But the Verilux Clean Wave Sanitizing Wand can zap your these worries away. The wand uses powerful ultraviolet-C light to significantly reduce microscopic germs, mold and dust mites. Take the 10" battery-operated wand and wave it over doorknobs, light switches, bathroom fixtures and the remote control in your hotel room. On the airplane, you might want to zap the tray table and the seat back pocket, two of the dirtiest places around. Frankly, I might be tempted to zap my seatmate as well, particularly if he's hogging the armrest. But the instructions do not sanction that usage.

Where to Buy: Sharper Image   $69.99

T

CNN Coverage of Silent Airports

Below is a copy of a recent story for CNN. To see the original, complete with images, click on the headline.

Silence, please. This is an airport

By Laura Powell, for CNN

(CNN) Think airports have been giving you the silent treatment recently?

You aren't being paranoid.

Increasing numbers of airports, especially in Europe, are taking on a "silent airport" philosophy.

This doesn't mean they'll be entirely noise-free.

Nor will Marcel Marceau-style mimes roam the terminals offering directions and gate information to wayward passengers via hand gestures and sad faces.

Instead, the idea is to reduce noise pollution, such as airport-wide announcements, without sacrificing timely and helpful updates of information.

International airports were once characterized by their cacophony of sounds, competing gate announcements and indistinguishable intercom messages, along with the Babel of languages being spoken within their confines.

This is all changing.

While the silent airport concept is not entirely new, advances in technology are allowing airports to more easily adopt the practice.

Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International (ACI), says there's a growing desire among airports and the airlines they serve to "create a calm, relaxed ambiance" without being disrupted by announcements.

"Passengers can wind down while they wait for their flight to board in the common airside lounges, commercial, and food and beverage areas," she says.



In June, Helsinki Airport in Finland -- a country where the tourism slogan is, aptly, "Silence, Please" -- became the most recent airport to adopt the silent concept.

As part of its commitment to quieting things down, announcements for flights are made only in boarding gate areas.

Lost track of time in the duty-free shop?

Too bad.

Nobody's going to call you to your flight, as announcements in all terminals will be made only in exceptional emergency circumstances.

Heikki Koski, vice president of Helsinki Airport at Finavia Corporation, says that improved flight information display systems and interactive kiosks, together with advances in mobile technology, including the ability to develop comprehensive apps, are changing the way airports communicate with passengers.

Munich, Germany-based InfoGate Information Systems is one company developing such technology.

Its multimedia, multi-function systems are designed to provide efficient information services and indoor navigation.

For example, at Munich Airport, InfoGate kiosks allow for face-to-face, albeit video-based, conversation with a live customer service representative in the traveler's language of choice. Additionally, documents can be scanned, printed and exchanged between the two parties.

Interactive signs, on the other hand, give directions at the touch of a finger. Passengers can tap a "you are here" display to get directions and estimated walking times to their destinations.

The highly-anticipated new airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will open with the way-guiding InfoGate Interactive system in place, according to Manfred Zotl, the company's managing director.

Thanks to Bluetooth technology, passengers can also get information as they are going from Point A to Point B.

"Bluetooth Low Energy and beacon technology can improve way-finding, and location-based messaging to passengers... keeping passengers informed depending on their (specific) location and the time they are supposed to be at the gate," says ACI's Gittens.

Of course, an airport will never be as silent as a monastery.

There will continue to be a need for airport-wide emergency announcements, along with boarding calls.

But at silent airports, the latter can be confined to specific gates, as has been adopted in Helsinki.

Another issue In this day and age of wide-ranging international travel is language.

It may well be that the language of the airport is not that of the traveler. Oftentimes, the default second language is English.

However, according to the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands, of the world population of 7.2 billion people, only 1 billion speak English, and only 400 million are native speakers.

And even if travelers know the language being spoken, local accents and fuzzy intercom systems may make the announcements unintelligible.

In an attempt to ensure that announcements are easier to understand, Amsterdam-based AviaVox has developed phoneme technology.

AviaVox managing director Johan Godin describes the technology as "digital speech fragments that can build words and these words then can build sentences."

"These sentences are being generated by system software in which strict rules on grammar and pronunciation are programmed in order to make a computer speak as if it was a native human being," he says.

Moreover, if an Air China flight, say, is being moved to a different gate, the system can incorporate Chinese in its messaging.

AviaVox is already installed in several European airports, including, Bristol, Cardiff, Eindhoven, Lodz, Poznan and Genoa.

Finally,  in more and more cases, there's an app for that airport.

Most apps for international airports provide flight status updates, interactive terminal maps, weather information, and security guides, along with other airport-specific features.

So, as long as passengers have a (charged) device, all the information they need should be in the palm of their hands.




Journalist Laura Powell was one of CNN's original travel reporters. Her focus is on international travel news and trends. 

A Millennial Hotel for The Ages

After having spent the last year writing about the phenomenon of so-called Millennial hotels, I finally got the opportunity to stay in one this month in, of all places, Baltimore.

Hotel RL Baltimore

Spokane, Washington-based Red Lion Hotels, which previously only had outlets west of the Mississippi River, is roaring east with its next gen brand. The first Hotel RL opened in Baltimore this summer. The second opens in Washington, DC in October.

Despite voluminous research, I admit to being a bit flummoxed upon entering the Hotel RL Baltimore. Nowhere did there appear to be anyone resembling a front desk clerk, perhaps because there was no front desk. Instead, I stumbled into a lobby resembling a Pacific Northwest coffeehouse, complete with a stage for guitar-carrying troubadours. The lobby was populated by a number of 20-somethings sporting denim, tattoos, and hair colored in neon hues. I soon realized that the more hipster the person looked, the more likely it was that he or she was a hotel employee.

A Happy Hour performance featuring
the musical stylings of one of Hotel RL's baristas

I was assisted with check-in by a magenta-coiffed young lady in a black T-shirt holding a mobile device (although I could have checked in by the lobby kiosk as well).

While I was a bit baffled by the check-in process, the room was incredibly easy to figure out. A plush bed, a large Hi-Def TV with a multitude of channels, and a huge walk-in shower were highlights. Surprises included the easiest hotel alarm clock I have ever encountered, and a spare bed surreptitiously hidden in what looked, at first glance, to be a dresser. 

To paraphrase Magritte, ceci n'est pas une dresser

While that is an extremely smart feature, the room does lack anything resembling an actual dresser. There are no drawers, nor a closet in which to put your drawers. But there are a series of hooks upon which to hang clothing.

But hey, why hang, like your clothing, in your room when the lobby is a hotbed of activity? Grab a cup of joe from the barista, listen to live music, or hit the rec room for a round of retro board games. If you want to be more active, white cruiser bikes are available for guests to borrow.

Talking Airports on Twitter and on CNN

We are getting ready to discuss airports on #TravelToppers on Twitter Thursday at noon in New York/5:00 PM London. Below are the chat questions and a bit of background for your reading pleasure. 

Questions for #TravelToppers

1.  Airport with the Best Food

2.  Most Unusual Airport Amenity (examples: indoor swimming pool, aquarium) 

3.  Cleanest Airport 

4.  What Drives You Nuts About Airports?

5.  Best European Airport/Best US Airport 

6.  Best Airport Worldwide 

7.  Most Impressive Airport Architecture

8.  Airport with the Best Shopping 

9.  If you were building an airport, what feature would you add outside the norm?

10. What's your strategy for minimizing airport hassles?

New airport openings and upgrades for 2015

By Laura Powell, for CNN

Updated 0206 GMT (1006 HKT) January 6, 2015

Story highlights

• China said to be increasing its operational airports to 230 in 2015
• Tokyo and Munich to open new terminal facilities, Amsterdam and Rio will get upgrades
• Beijing, Mexico City and Singapore press ahead with impressive new projects
• More delays for Berlin's long overdue new Brandenburg airport, originally slated for 2012

(CNN) Futuristic superstructures, shimmering glass facades and fuzzier lines between indoor and outdoor spaces.

These are some of the major trends expected in the coming year as the global aviation industry strives to meet ever-increasing demands.

With few major projects scheduled for completion in 2015, it's likely to be seen as a transition year as many airports upgrade facilities or begin new building projects to cope with a forecast 3.6 billion global air passengers in 2016.

Here's what to expect over the next 12 months.

China

China's efforts to rapidly expand its airport infrastructure are expected to reach a peak in 2015 with scores of regional airstrips scheduled for opening.

Official government plans have previously claimed that the number of airports will expand from 175 in 2010 to 230 in 2015 as the country ramps up its aviation industry in step with economic expansion. While many of these are smaller facilities have yet to be officially announced, several larger projects have been widely publicized.

In Beijing, work gets underway in earnest this year on a $14 billion international airport in the city's southern Daxing district.

The facility is scheduled to come online in 2017 and is reportedly expected to handle up to 72 million passengers annually by 2025.

Every airport should have a waterfall: Singapore Changi Jewel.

Meanwhile, at Chongqing Jianbei International Airport, serving the largest city in southwestern China, a new terminal three is expected to become operational this year.

It's claimed the facility, designed for further expansion to meet expected growing demand, will be able to handle up to 55 million people annually, the largest capacity of any single terminal.

In the same Chinese province, the city of Wulong is expected to get to work on its own airport scheduled for completion in 2017.

Japan

With low-cost carriers on the rise in Japan, Tokyo's Narita International Airport is adding a new terminal dedicated to exclusively to no-frills flights. Terminal 3, designed to handle 50 million passengers a year, is expected to open in March or April. It'll contain plenty of places where those budget passengers can spend their savings, including a vast duty free shopping area and Japan's largest airport food court.

Singapore

Once again Changi Airport Singapore, considered by many to be the world's best, appears to be raising the bar with a futuristic new complex that's likely to revolutionize terminal design.

After breaking ground in December, work begins in earnest this year on Jewel Changi Airport, an impressive-looking palace of glass that will shroud retail, entertainment and leisure outlets as well as a multi-level gardens and walking trails. The centerpiece will be the Rain Vortex, a 40-meter-tall waterfall cascading from the roof of the glass dome.

Mexico

Construction on another eagerly anticipated international airport gets underway in 2015 in Mexico City. Mexico City International Airport, a collaboration between world-renowned architects, Briton Norman Foster and Mexico's Fernando Romero, is designed to be the world's most sustainable when it opens in 2018. Foster and Partners says that because the structure will be one massive terminal housed under vast canopies of glass, it'll require fewer materials and less energy than the standard multi-building airport.

Brazil

New management is taking over and re-branding Rio Galeao -- Tom Jobim International Airport.

The country's second-busiest airport after Sao Paolo is undergoing a long overdue facelift in anticipation of the 2016 Olympics. About $2 billion is going into infrastructure construction, which covers everything from restrooms to runways. The upgrade to four decades-old facilities should allow the airport to increase annual capacity from 18 million passengers to 30 million without the need for an extra runway.

The Netherlands

Mainly aimed at increasing retail opportunities, a revamp of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol's Terminal 2 departure lounge is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2015. Without going into detail, information from the airport trumpets the renovated area's six themed sections, titled "luxury," "family," "travel and culture," "modern Dutch," "see buy fly," "fashion and lifestyle" and "care and wellness." On a more boozy note, it'll get Europe's first Johnnie Walker House luxury retail concept store and, naturally, a Heineken bar.

Germany

Munich Airport's new satellite facility to expand its Terminal 2 should be complete by the third quarter of 2015, potentially increasing annual capacity to 17 million passengers.

After work is complete, there'll be an operational test phase to make sure everything's working.

If it is, Star Alliance member airlines (including Lufthansa, Air China, Singapore Airlines and United) will move some flights over to the new building. During similar test phases, safety concerns emerged at Berlin's Brandenburg International Airport, originally slated to open around 2011 or 2012.

Despite appearances of having been completed, it's still not open. A string of management and engineering setbacks have dogged the project and doubled its initial projected cost. Brandenburg will not open in 2015, and latest reports say it may be 2017 before it's fully up and running.

Saudi Arabia

Also not opening in 2015 is an expansion project at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport, now slated for completion early in 2016 after originally being scheduled for a 2014 delivery.

The expansion is part of a project to up Saudi Arabia's passenger capacity to 100 million passengers annually by 2020.

Berlin's Brandenburg Airport: Still no opening date.

Trends

As these facilities come on line, passengers may begin to notice new trends emerging in airport design -- chiefly a greater sense of space and place. Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International, says the changes are all about meeting passenger demands, with surveys indicating they're looking for a greater sense of orientation, control, safety, visibility and openness. In real terms this means bringing the outdoors into the picture.

Changi Airport Singapore has been a leader in this area, with its butterfly garden and rooftop green spaces, while passengers with a stopover at Munich Airport can wander through an outdoor plaza hosting exhibits and performances, or visit an outdoor terrace. Updated facilities are also incorporating glass facades to bring natural light inside.

This strategy, says Gittens, also improves energy efficiency. "Not only do these new windows allow for the use of natural light," she adds "but they are made with energy efficient materials that can repel heat and insulate against cold."

'A sense of place'

David Stewart, head of airport development for the International Air Transport Association, says airport authorities are increasingly understanding that passengers want to get a feel of what's local.

"They're craving a sense of place," he says. Gittens says fashioning an airport to better represent the city it serves is becoming an important point of differentiation. One of the easiest ways to do this is with food and big name chefs. While McDonald's and Starbucks outlets will continue to exist, more airports are dishing out regional cuisine made by local chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food at London Heathrow and Carles Gaig's Catalan-inspired Porta Gaig in Barcelona. It's not just high-end eateries bringing local to the airport. Hung's Delicacies in Hong Kong International favors braised meats and regional dishes. Airbrau in Munich Airport Plaza is a Bavarian brewery that serves its own beer, along with time-honored dishes like schnitzel, suckling pig and sauerkraut.

New Music, Old Masters

National culture is also making its way into airports. While many international airports have at least a little space devoted to displays of art, some are taking it up a notch. At the Traditional Korean Cultural Experience Zone at Seoul's Incheon Airport, passengers can learn about calligraphy or fan-making, or check out handicrafts while listening to live musicians.Workshops, demonstrations and performances are scheduled on a regular basis. Amsterdam's Schiphol was the first airport to house its own art museum beyond passport control. Currently under renovation, the pioneering Schiphol outpost of the Rijksmuseum provides a glimpse into local life through special exhibitions and the artworks of Dutch masters.

Airports are also literally being connected to the cities they serve by modern mass transit.

Airports as far flung from the cities they serve, including Washington Dulles and Xian Xianyang (among the 10 busiest airports in China), are developing linking train lines in order to accommodate travelers looking to make local connections.

The link to the original CNN Business story is here.

Traveling in Russia: Images of Moscow

Just revisited Moscow in July thanks to Viking River Cruises. Here are nine images taken there. Check them out while listening to this radio segment updating the tourism situation in Russia.

Vintage Portrait of a Young Pioneer
at Izmailovsky Market.

Cyrillic 101: Mockba=Moscow

I spy the Kremlin.

The famous GUM department store has transitioned
into a luxury mall featuring Louis Vuitton and
Manoli Blahnik.

Leaving Moscow on the Viking Truvor.

It's the Experience, Dude

Based on information supplied by yours truly during a radio interview for Washington, DC's WTOP,  Rachel Nania did a write-up. **

Travel Trends for Adventure Seekers: It's About the Experience

WASHINGTON — Gone are the days when windsurfing, parasailing or zip-lining qualified as a unique vacation adventure. Today’s travelers are upping the ante and redefining what it means to live it up.

Laura Powell, travel expert and writer for The Daily Suitcase, says the latest craze doesn’t involve jetting off to the most exotic locations — it’s all about collecting experiences.


Riding around Saigon, Vietnam on a scooter is a hair-raising
experience, even with a helmet on. Only attempt it
as the passenger of an experienced driver.
(Courtesy Laura Powell)

“The world is pretty much open to all, so in order to have that different kind of adventure, you need to have a unique experience, as opposed to solely going to an offbeat place,” she says.**

And throughout that experience, collecting the best photos, composing the best tweets and checking in at the most interesting locations is imperative. “Now that everyone is trying to outdo each other on social media, the more unusual the experience, the better,” Powell says.

Ready to plan your next trip?  Here’s how you can make sure your Instagram account gets more likes.

In 2016, AmaWaterways and Backroads will team up for
bicycling-focused cruises to Vietnam and Cambodia, along with
several European destinations.
Above: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Travel with your taste buds

While some prefer to soak up a city’s culture by visiting museums and historic sites, others prefer to slurp it up with authentic bowls of ramen and heaping servings of pasta. Food tourism is a booming industry, and there are more options available for tourists looking to get a taste — or a sip — of foreign destinations.

“Whereas it used to be you [could go] to a cooking school, now you can do even more,” Powell says.
In Italy, travelers can tour a pasta factory or have Sunday dinner with grandma; Switzerland offers a variety of cheese and chocolate tours; and tourists in Bangkok can ride a boat through a traditional floating market. Plus, there are companies such as Home Food and Bookalokal that make it possible for travelers to attend dinner parties hosted by locals.

Cruise the water by night and bike paths by day

AmaWaterways recently launched a partnership with the adventure company Backroads to create a journey that combines cruising, biking and hiking. (Courtesy Backroads)

One cruise company is rocking the boat with its nontraditional tours.
AmaWaterways is teaming up with the adventure company Backroads to create a journey combining cruising, biking and hiking.

By night, guests who sign up for the Backroads adventure cruise can dine and sleep on the boat as it travels up river. During the day, they’re led on biking and/or hiking adventures with Backroads tour guides. Powell notes that the bike and cruise adventure is currently limited to the Danube River route. But, the itineraries will expand to other rivers throughout Europe and Asia in 2016.

A new degree of adventure

From Canada to Copenhagen, ice bars and ice hotels were once the rage. “All of the sudden, everywhere that had a cold winter had an ice hotel,” Powell says. But a chilling new destination is taking the excitement over ice structures to a whole new level. In June, travelers will be able to walk into the ice tunnels and caves of Langjökull, Europe’s second largest glacier. “They’ve burrowed out a tunnel within the glacier, so that people can actually go ice tunneling in the middle of a glacier," Powell says.

Peek inside the tunnels of Langjökull:


Experience nothing

In a constantly connected world where it’s hard to escape work, no matter how many miles are between you and the office, it’s no surprise that some travelers are in need of a little peace and quiet on vacation. And the travel industry is taking notice.

“Another thing people are interested in experiencing these days is nothing,” Powell says. She adds: “Silence tourism is kind of the next big thing.  There’s growing demand for places where people can get away, walk in nature, and not necessarily have access to Wi-Fi and cell service.”

In fact, “Silence, please,” is the slogan on Finland's official travel site. The slogan is accompanied by recommended escapes to remote lakeside cottages, igloo huts in the middle of the forest and foraging tours through the Finnish forest.


For original article, follow this link: http://wtop.com/travel/2015/05/travel-trends-for-adventure-seekers-its-about-experience/  © 2015 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.

**Note: I modified quotes and copy in order to clarify and/or add information to the story. I also added the Vietnam images and captions.

New Spa Treatments and Wellness Trends

Interested in innovations in spa treatments? Watch me chat on Let's Talk Live in Washington, DC.  Click this link and take a look.

http://www.wjla.com/blogs/lets-talk-live/2015/06/wellness-travel-trends-25527.html




The Umstead Spa in
Cary, North Carolina
offers forest bathing, which
involves neither getting wet
nor getting naked.

The Spa Nalai at Park Hyatt in New York City
is one of the first places in the
United States where you can
indulge in a sand massage.

SpaFinderWellness named Cannabis, Forest Bathing and Islamic Treatments top wellness trends for 2015.

The Quirky Museums of St. Petersburg, Russia

After leaving the oh-so-chic Faberge, my next mission is finding the Museum of Hygiene, a Soviet-era relic that would appeal to my taste for the quirky. I head to Italyanskaya Street, which is right around the corner from the Faberge Museum. I stumble upon the sign below  and assume I have accomplished my mission.

It's a natural mistake to make. One sees a microscope, and understands the Cyrillic to read "Museum Russia Levsha".  I don't know what Levsha means, so I'm thinking maybe he's a famous Soviet doctor.  Thus, I go in, pay my admission (300 rubles--same as

the entry fee to the Hermitage), and come upon a caboodle of microscopic masterpieces.

A wee Winnie the Pooh, Piglet
and Eeyore sitting on a walnut shell

I'm talking teeny-tiny works of art--all less than 1 millimeter in size, and all viewable only through a microscope. Clearly, this is not the Museum of Hygiene. No, I have discovered the Russian Levsha, founded by the International Craft Guild of Masters.

Microscopes lined up inside
the  Russian Levsha

Aside from Winnie the Pooh and friends hanging on a walnut shell, you see things like the world's smallest matryoshka doll balanced on the top of a strand of hair and camels carved into the eye of a needle. 

A miniature masterwork by Vladimir Aniskin

In case you are wondering, it turns out that "Levsha" ( Левше) is a Russian folk hero, a left-handed artisan who is able to craft shoes for a flea.   

After peering through dozens of microscopes, it's time to continue my quest for the Museum of Hygiene. And there it is, located just down the block. Housed in yet another St. Petersburg palace (circa 1755), the interior definitely hearkens back to Soviet days. 

I translate this as
"Profane the Nature"
Russian speakers, please correct me.

The museum was founded in 1919, shortly after the Russian Revolution. It was part of the plan by the new Soviet of the People's Commissars to drive home the importance of health and hygiene. 

Aside from numerous posters depicting warnings against all sorts of evil, there's Pavlov's Dog. I kid you not. An encased Pavlov's Dog, which should ring a bell to my intelligent audience, is the centerpiece of an exhibit covering conditioned reflexes. I must admit, looking at the caged beast inspired a gag reflex in me.*

Unconditionally, this is Pavlov's Dog.

Speaking of KG-beasts, another offbeat St. Petersburg museum is Gorokhovaya 2: The History of the Political Police and State Security. The  locals call it the KGB Museum. Sadly, I stumble upon it during the weekend, when it is closed (it's open from 10-6 weekdays). So, I cannot provide a first-hand report. I can say that it is located in an Art Nouveau building that housed the  bodies of political control from pre-Revolution days through the Soviet era. According to the website, inside are expositions covering the "activities of secret services that ensured the political security in the Russian Empire and the USSR, the suppression of dissent, and the role of secret services in political society." 



*More on Pavlov's dogs here.