Top 5 Unusual Travel Gadgets that are Actually Useful

1. Gorillapod

It’s difficult to describe here but the Gorillapod is simply a wiry, flexible camera tripod enabling the photographer to get that shot with his partner when no-one else is around to take the picture.

Fitting into the standard camera tripod slot, you’ll be able to attach it to trees, ledges, on sand, stair banisters, and pretty much every other horizontal and vertical surface you can think of. It’s also quite small and light, and takes up very little of the bulk a standard tripod might.

2. Aerobed Active

Ever been to a hotel where the bed smelt of cigarette smoke and was hard and lumpy? With a portable, inflatable airbed such as this one, you can either place it on the floor or just put it on top of the current uncomfortable bed. It could also come in handy if you wanted to save money – you could just book a single room and toss a coin with your partner to see who gets the real bed. Also included is a tiny rechargeable pump for when the power socket doesn’t match the plug. It inflates in under a minute for the times when you’ve got back to the hotel at 3 in the morning and desperately need to “catch some Z’s”. They’re also available in Single and Double configurations meaning you needn’t spend nights alone.

3. AquaBourne Hydration Backpack

Now that the pesky ban on taking liquids onto flights has finally been abolished, we’re all free to carry on bottles and liquids of all shapes and sizes. But instead of having bulky bottles take up room and possibly even leak all over your freshly laundered shirts, some ingenious entrepreneur has come up with a bag with an internal 1.5 litre water pouch, which can be accessed by a drinking tube, saving the wearer having to grope around in a busy airport terminal for a bottle. The only downside is that it might be slightly, well, odd.

4. Flip Mino HD Video Camera

The world’s smallest HD video camera has space for a full hour of sleek 720p video, has a pop-out USB plug, costs only €160 and has about the same size and dimensions as a cigarette packet. It’s advantageous because its portability means it can easily be fit into a pocket and whipped out stealthily when something is seen which simply has to go on Youtube. It’s a much better solution than anything else at this price range and enables you to adopt an air of smugness when fellow tourists lugging around clumsy conventional camcorders turn green with envy.

5. Suck UK Key Bottle Opener

So you’ve got brought your stunning lady on holiday with you, you’ve got to the hotel, you’ve opened the mini bar and found something suitably alcoholic, you look around and – there’s no bottle opener! Rather than ruin the romantic mood you’ve worked so hard on for the last half hour, you can merely pull out your keys and phssst – Success! Designed in the UK by curiously named “Suck UK”, who are presumably rather proud of this nifty invention.

Picture of Gorillapod by supermariano81

Topic:  Top five Monday | 1 Comment
Tags:  packing

About the author

Paul Crompton is an avid reader and has a passion for cars and technology, primarily. He loves traveling to whichever exotic travel location which is cheap. His dream is to become an advertising executive.