Posts Tagged travel alarm
5 Things I Always Pack: Maya Northern
Personal travel planner, blogger and e-zine editor Maya Northern has visited six continents and dozens of countries, but still has a number of destinations on her list, including India and Egypt. Here’s are some basic items she always packs when she hits the road:
1. Travel-sized Wrinkle Eraser
I’ve found it’s easier and less time consuming to spray a little wrinkle releaser on slightly rumpled clothing than setting up an iron and ironing board in a hotel room. With this product, you just spray and smooth out your clothes. Remember, wrinkle erasers in 3.4-oz-or-less pump or aerosol sprays can be carried on the plane, per the TSA; anything larger, be sure to check it.
2. Trash Bag
There’s nothing like sorting through socks and underwear to determine which you’ve worn, and I don’t particularly like just shoving “dirty” clothes into a different section of my bag and letting them sit there for the rest of the trip. I bring a trash bag to put all of my dirty clothes in, so that then if I have the opportunity to do laundry (or when I get home), I can put them right into the wash.
3. Travel Alarm Clock
Especially in Europe, it seems clocks in the room aren’t always a given. I don’t necessarily like to rely on a wake up call to make my flight or train, as they don’t always pull through. Peace of mind is worth well more than the price of a travel alarm clock.
4. Tissues
The stagnant air on the plane seems to cause congestion, and these make it way more convenient than getting up to get tissues from the airplane bathroom repeatedly. I also find they come in handy in many other forms when traveling, for instance doubling as toilet paper if you are in a country that doesn’t keep it in the bathrooms as readily (which is more common than one might think).
5. Anti-bacterial Hand Gel
At some point during a trip, you may encounter places that you might not feel the cleanest, including bathrooms where the sink makes you feel it’s actually dirtier to try to wash your hands! You’re also often in situations where others in close proximity you might be sick (planes, trains, buses). In these cases, antibacterial hand gel (aka hand sanitizer) can be your best friend. Just make sure it’s under 3.4 ounces if you’re bringing it in a carry-on.
Maya Northern is the owner of the personalized travel planning company Chimera Travel, and the Editor in Chief of TraveLuxe e-magazine.
Posted by Kara in General Gear on December 17th, 2010
Wenger Traveler Pocket Watch and Alarm
Pocket watches are super-popular again. Have you noticed? Yeah okay, we don’t call them that. Instead we call them “phones.” But reality is that many people have ditched their wristwatch for a timepiece in their pocket, so in a “what’s old is new again,” this double-duty pocket watch from Wenger seems appropriate.
It’s double-duty because this Swiss-made timepiece from Wenger is really billed as a travel alarm clock, but it’s one that’s rugged enough to carry around with you and it comes with a little clip device to hook it in or on your daypack. Or if you’re doing some activity where a wristwatch is probably a bad idea—like rock climbing perhaps—you could hang this on your belt. (Plus with some of the travel pants we’ve reviewed earlier, there’s even a loop inside the pocket this could hook to.)
This Traveler Pocket Watch is about as big as a men’s large wristwatch, so it’s not much to pack. It’s got a second hand, a date, and luminous hands that glow at night. The instruction manual says these recharge in seconds too, though I didn’t think to verify that until they’d already been in the light for hours. This being a travelers’ alarm clock, there’s also an additional hand that tracks a different time zone, such as your mom’s house when you’re on the other side of the ocean.
There are only three buttons and the main one on the top controls the usual time, date, and alarm sets. The right one turns the alarm on and off, the left one to set the second time zone. In other words, nothing too complicated. Since it’s from Wenger, the Swiss Army Knife people, it employs Swiss watchmaking expertise and precision.
This timepiece is also water-resistant to 30 meters, so no fear if it gets caught in the rain or you drop it in the sink. The steel case has a rubber bumper around it as well, plus a sapphire-coated hard crystal front.
The only complaint I have this travel alarm is the alarm part. It’s about as loud as an alarm on a digital watch. So on a scale of 1 being a mouse whisper and 10 being the howler monkeys outside my window last night in Costa Rica, this is about a 4 or 5. So if you’re a light sleeper, it’ll be fine, but if you’re a heavy dozer that frequently shows up late for work, it could be trouble. It’s probably not louder in order to conserve battery power: as with most precision watches, the battery needs to be replaced by a pro.
This item is probably something you’re going to put on a registry or wish list for someone to buy for you since it typically retails for $160 up to $250. It’s got a three-year warranty though and is designed to last a lifetime. Plus it comes in a really nice metal gift box.
Pass it on to your kid later as you tell him or her about all your crazy exploits around the globe back in the day.
See more info at the Wenger site.
Get it at SwissOutlet.com
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear on December 8th, 2010
Win a Moshi Voice-Control Travel Clock from Practical Travel Gear
The Christmas spirit comes early to Practical Travel Gear.
One lucky reader will win one of my favorite travel gadgets—the Moshi Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock, which I reviewed earlier. This clock is a perfect size for travelers and an ideal way to avoid dealing with those confusing hotel alarm clocks. You can see details and a video of it in use at the Moshi site.
Winning couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is leave a comment here or on our Facebook page. Let us know how you might use the talking travel alarm or what features seem the most interesting.
One winner will be chosen at random on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at midnight CST. Be sure to fill in a valid e-mail address with your comment. (We’ll see it, but readers won’t). Entries without a valid e-mail address will be disqualified.
It’s our thanks for being a loyal Practical Travel Gear reader. Good luck!
Update: Congratulations to Kelly Jackson, winner of the Moshi travel alarm clock, and thanks to all who entered.
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on October 25th, 2010
Eagle Creek Multi-function Travel Clock
I’ve long been on a quest to find the perfect travel alarm clock. This Eagle Creek one is still not it, but it comes closer than most.
It seems like designing the perfect travel clock wouldn’t be all that hard: lightweight, small, inexpensive, quiet, dependable, stingy with batteries, and lighted.
It’s the combination of those last two that always seem to throw the designers and this Eagle Creek Multi-function clock fits the pattern. It hits most of the right notes, but doesn’t have a light, which left me, as the Jayhawks say, stumbling through the dark.
“But hey,” they would probably answer, “what were you expecting for $16.50?” (You’ll rarely find it discounted from that, so go with the best shipping option for the online retailers listed at the end of this review.) For that measly price you get an alarm clock with snooze, one-button displays of 16 time zones around the world, the date, calculator/currency exchange and—my favorite extra—a thermometer. (When your bedmate says she’s freezing, you can look up and see if she’s delusional.)
Getting the clock set up is not exactly Apple-intuitive: you’ll definitely need the instruction manual. And the manual is pretty useless when it comes to figuring out the currency conversion function. The battery is included though, so you can get going out of the box and after the initial set-up you can leave it alone until you change time zones. Then when you reset that time zone later, all the others adjust as well.
In normal display state, you see the date, time, and temperature, though oddly the time is displayed as 2-45 instead of 2:45, which still looks odd to me after weeks of use. As mentioned before though, there’s no light—not even one you can press in the middle of the night to see what time it is. So if you want to check the time, you need to take it with you to the bathroom or something.
But the lack of a light is likely because of using a watch battery to keep the weight and size down. The whole thing closes up, clam shell style, for traveling and is less than five inches long. It only weighs a few ounces and it comes with a lifetime warranty.
I’m still looking for that perfect travel alarm clock with all of the above plus a light and easy-to-deduce controls, but until I find it this will work. I just need to keep my Timex Indiglo watch next to it at night…
When I say this travel alarm clock is widely available, don’t take my word for it. Follow these links to shop for it at eBags, Buy.com, REI, or Amazon.
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Travel Light on July 21st, 2010
Review: Moshi Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock
I’ll admit, I’ve talked to my alarm clock for a long time. Saying things like, “No, it can’t be time to get up!”
But now, I’ve found an alarm clock that actually listens.
The Moshi Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock uses voice commands to set the time and alarm and is a convenient size for travelers. It’s very easy to use—something I can’t say for a lot of the alarm clocks in hotel rooms.
I’ve often fumbled around in a hotel room trying to figure out how to set the alarm. My preference is to use a clock instead of getting a wake-up call because, of course, there’s no snooze control on a telephone.
Moshi uses voice-recognition technology to control the clock. Say “set time” and it will ask for the current time, then set the clock. Or, tell it to “set alarm” and it will turn on and set the alarm for whatever time you say. There’s even a choice of three different alarm sounds. And they are loud enough to wake even sound sleepers.
You can also ask Moshi for the room temperature, get the current time, turn off the alarm, or say “snooze” to grab another nine minutes of shuteye. And, in case you ever need them, there are physical controls for setting the time and alarms, turning the alarm on and off and for volume.
The size is perfect—less than four inches wide—and the clock weighs in at under three ounces so it won’t contribute to any overweight baggage fees. It’s powered by three AAA batteries.
The Moshi travel alarm clock comes in four colors—black, white, blue or pink. And the price is a reasonable $24.99.
Moshi also makes two other models for home use—the Voice Control Alarm Clock and the Voice Control Mini Alarm Clock. They have a few additional features, such as playing sleep sounds and the larger clock also has a night light.
The company also plans to release an iPod app soon.
The Moshi Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock is the the easiest-to-use alarm clock I’ve ever tried. And it’s the first one that listens to what I have to say.
Posted by JohnG in Travel Light on December 21st, 2009
