10 Quirkiest Travel Gear

07/27/08  Print This Post Print This Post    11 Comments   Popular   Written by Kelly Saunders
  • Stumble It
Bottle-opening sandals? GPS rings for your fingers? Check out these bizarre travel items.

Here are ten odd, even downright outlandish travel items that are amusing yet surprisingly functional and easy to pack.

1) Built-In Bottle Cap Opener Sandals

If you are heading to a sunny, tropical destination, you must bring along these fashionable Reef sandals with a built in bottle opener. They are great to have should you find yourself craving an ice cold brew while sunning on the beach.

Lightweight and comfortable, you can easily slip them on and off while passing through airport security.

Find these and many other great beach products at www.reef.com

2) Passchal handbags

Designed using old, recycled truck and tractor tires and stitched with faux leather trim, each Passchal bag is unique.

Different markings and thread lines which originate from specific tire brands add to the flair of each bag.

The Passchal line mixes fashion with recycling.

If you’d like one, prepare for a 90 day wait as they are in high demand!.

You can find these great bags at www.passchal.com.

3) Binoculars with built-in digital camera

If you are a travel enthusiast, adventurer, or explorer, you’ll probably love this gadget.

The Barska Point N’ View 5-Megapixel Camera Binoculars is a high quality pair of binoculars with a digital zoom lens and a built-in digital camera.

Does it get any better than this?!

4) MP3 Dancing Speaker Set

This handy dancing speaker connects to any iPod® or MP3 player and dances to the rhythm of the music.

It moves its legs and arms, turns around, and is the ultimate entertainment you need during your travels.

It has built-in melodies, supports sound activation, and produces quality sound through its 1.5-in speaker.

Comes with an audio cable and AAA batteries.

5) GPS Finger Rings

Ever find yourself lost in a strange city?. Well never again!.

These vibrating GPS rings will guide you through your trip.

Maps get lost, torn, or wet. But these sturdy, fashionable travel rings, though odd, are very durable and useful.

Rings come in a three piece set..

6) Gorillapod Compact Camera Tripod

Peculiar yet functional, the Gorillapod Compact Camera Tripod folds up nicely and takes up very little space within your luggage while traveling.

It can twist and coil to fit any small spot, and is very lightweight.

It supports most compact, powershot, and point & shoot cameras.

7) Lightload Towels

These cool space savers have to be the smallest thing you can pack when heading to the beach.

Dump a handful of these towels in your pocket, saving tons of room for everything else.

These multipurpose towels are great accessories to take with you while going scuba diving, camping, hunting, fishing, swimming, boating and sailing.

Stick them in your glove compartment for emergency automobile maintenance needs such as cleaning up after checking your washer fluid, cleaning up engine oil spills, etc.

They are also washing machine safe so you can either keep them or toss ‘em.

8 ) Waterproof Digital Camera Swim Mask

This is the only snorkeling mask with a built-in waterproof digital camera, abolishing the need to carry a separate underwater camera. This five megapixel camera works in a depth of up to 15ft.

Built-in functionality inside the mask lets you know if you are in “still picture” or “video” mode. You can download pictures onto your PC via a USB cable (included).

The mask has a built-in 16MB memory card which can store up to 30 photographs.

9) Milan Street Map Fly Swatter

This crazy fly swapper is a great way to keep away pesky critters while trying to find your way through Milan.

It can also be used as a small hand-held fan on those hot summer days if you’re so inclined.

This durable street map/fly swatter is made by Pandora Designs, and is a great little way of finding your bearings around the city.

10) Violight Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer

The Violight Sanitizer uses germicidal light to destroy 99% of germs on your toothbrush.

It uses two AA batteries, and shuts off automatically once it’s done eradicating those little bad microbes that may be prowling around on your toothbrush.

You can find this toothbrush sanitizer and other related products at www.violight.com


  • Stumble It

About the Author

Kelly Saunders

Kelly N. Saunders is a freelance photographer currently living in Richmond, Virginia, USA. Her next destination is Mykonos and Corfu, Greece. As an advanced diver as well, her work has previously been published in www.diveglobalmagazine.com

11 Comments... join the discussion!

  • daleremote replied on August 10, 2008

    In the pic of the gorillapod…what is the blue thing to the right? I'm wondering if it's a small panning device that attaches to the gorillapod.

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
  • Joel replied on January 1, 2009

    That little blue thing looks like another type of "tripod" I've seen. The top screws onto the camera like normal, but the bottom screws onto a standard plastic bottle. So you can take a full water bottle, soda bottle, etc, and turn it into a base for your camera. It doesn't seem particularly stable to me, but I suppose it would work with the super tiny digicams around now.

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
  • Hugging the Coast replied on May 19, 2009

    Those lightload towels have to be softer than those chamois towels I took with me years ago when I was backpacking through Europe!

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
  • Wow what a list of geek toys. Even the pickiest Flashpacker wouldn’t need them all. But some funky (and even useful ones) there. Love the bottle opener sandals. No more beer opening with lighters, yeah!

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
  • Motorbike Helmets replied on June 2, 2009

    Sandals with bottle opening cap? Are you sure I can get thru security with that?

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
    • Somegirlcalledro replied to Motorbike Helmets on September 1, 2009

      I think those are a little gross, my friend had a pair and opened a beer for me after climbing a hill for sunset…after taking a few sips I realized there was grit in my brew. Luckily it was cheap.

      (Report comment)

      ↵ Reply
  • Dan replied on June 14, 2009

    Gorrilapods are fantastic.

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
  • Hugging the Coast replied on July 30, 2009

    I’m really interested in trying those lightload towels. On my last backpacking trip I carried a chamois and a small microfiber towel.

    Wonder how thirty these Lightload towels are in comparison?

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply
  • Violight replied on October 12, 2009

    Can you please fix the link.
    it’s http://violight.com
    not violights.com

    thanks for the shout out!

    - Lee

    (Report comment)

    ↵ Reply

Leave a Comment

Get Matador in your inbox and around the web.

Sign up for our FREE weekly newsletter.


View full list of RSS feeds

Jump To Category:





Popular Stories on Matador

Monday Mashup - Human Journalism

This week we look at a new way of engaging people and p... 

First Person Dispatch: Why I wake up early on Saturdays

Why a memory of a woman in Togo compels Linda Golden to... 

"Effective Charity": Begging for Problems?

... 

Chile inaugurates Museum of Memory & Human Rights

Eileen Smith reports on Chile's newly opened Museum of ... 

World Cup Preview: North Korea vs. South Korea

2010 will be the first time that North and South Korea ... 

7 Ancient Exercises You Can Do Anywhere

Clear your mind, and feel better by giving just a few m... 

An Open Letter To William Bradley: May I Soothe Your Twitter Troubles

Why I don't believe Twitter to be any trouble at all. I... 

Tim and Tom's Excellent Adventure Part 1: Cashews

"Disposing of my boxers in the bathroom garbage can, I ... 

How To Enjoy London on $100 a Day

When half of London's best attractions are free of char... 

5 Mega-Hard Sport Climbs From Around the World

Ranging from classic challenges to recent first ascents... 



Focus



Editor Blogs