Insider It Gear 11.08.07

Too Cool for Ski School

Looking for a snowboard helmet with as much style as the rest of your gear? The R.E.D. Revolt Snowboard Helmet in the Doze Green Art design is one of the latest items to hit Burton’s online store. This sleek brain-saver comes with removable earpads, a two-position detachable goggle clip and hidden rider-controlled vents to keep your noggin’ at the right temperature. Plus, it looks a helluva lot cooler than your average helmet.

Cost: $90

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Okay, maybe it’s not the sexiest travel book in the world, but travelers who want to geek-out with oodles of practical information will certainly find it within this volume’s pages. The 200t edition of the Airport Transit Guide includes practical information for getting to and from 460 airports around the world. You’ll find current information for each airport’s different ground transportation and public transit options and their corresponding fares, schedules, routes and contact information. Perfect gift for any traveler hitting multiple cities during an extended trip.

Cost: $9.95

Little Red Lifeline

Attention MacGyver wannabes: the candy apple red Portable Power Generator, new from the National Geographic online store, just might knock your burliest hiking socks off. It’s the sort of device that is truly useful for hardcore outdoors folk, but promises just as much fun for gear nerds of all kinds – no matter how far out in the wilderness they actually travel. Check out this unit’s bevy of features:

- 200-watt generator
- 5-LED flashlight
- Fluorescent lantern
- Emergency siren
- 12-volt sealed battery
- AC/DC adapters
- 120-volt AC outlet
- 12-Kelvin DC output
- 7-band AM/FM/NOAA radio
- 250-psi air compressor with hose, gauge and needle
- Thermometer
- Compass
- Clock

Basically, this little machine could seriously save your arse in quite a few sticky situations.

Cost: $119.95

Attention Not-Starving Artists

The Signat Medium Attache A4 DLX from Samsonite Black Label not only has a really long name, but it also has a stand-out design and hipster-friendly features sure to make any jetsetter feel a surge of envy. Outside, the ABS shell with aluminum frame comes in five punchy colors and fits into a woven leather sleeve outfitted with a shoulder strap for easier carrying. Inside, the 1960s-inspired pop-art print lining graces separate cell phone and PDA pockets, as well as a removable, matching portfolio folder, pencil case and internal divider panel. The bottom line: She ain’t cheap, but she sho’ is pretty.

Cost: $360

Good news for the tech-obsessed outdoorspeople among us: the number of KOA campgrounds offering free wireless Internet access grew to 324 in 2007, up from 167 in 2006. Also, the number of KOA campgrounds offering wireless Internet access of any kind increased to 379 in 2007, up from 281 last year. Just don’t leave your laptop lying around the camp site while you’re out enjoying the woods. We hear they make tasty bear snacks.

Cozy up to the Camp Fire and Check Your Email

At the end of last month, Air Greeland launched its first direct route between the United States and the world’s largest non-continental island. But since Greenland has been so time-consuming, historically speaking, for Americans to reach (until May it required a cruise or a flight from Denmark or Iceland), information on getting there and getting around once there has been sparse. For a beginner-level primer on Greenland, when to go, how to get there, where to stay and what to do once you’re there, check out TravelPost.com’s newest article (linked below):

Greenland: Exploring the World’s Largest Island

Forbes.com’s list of Cell-Phone Free Vacation Spots Across the USA (via USA Today) enlightens travelers seeking respite from the wired world. The feature reminded me of one we have right here on TravelPost.com:

10 No-Tech Escapes

If you can drive there, you can camp there. With its metal-frame construction, easy set-up and old-school camping aesthetic, The Equipt Series 3 Rooftent is one part safari, one part car camping, one part MacGyver. The tent sits atop your SUV and offers an additional space behind the car for easy access to the car’s contents without stepping outside. There’s a ladder inside the “first floor” room leading up to a “bedroom” area on top of the vehicle. Mosquito nets, interior storage pockets, a fly sheet, air vents, windows and padded “mattresses” are additional features included with this $2,075 outdoor toy.

Warmer months mean many travelers are stretching their legs, heading on hikes, preparing kids for summer camp and planning outdoor adventures. For those of us prone to poison ivy and poison oak, Buji Block may be a saving grace. The company claims its Buji Block with SPF 24 can prevent poison ivy while offering UVA/UVB sun protection. Another product called Buji Wash is soap that removes urushiol oil, the itch-inducing part of a poison ivy plant, from the surface of the skin after outdoor activity.

I haven’t tried either product yet, but I’ve already got some summer camping adventures lined up, so I’ll have plenty of chances to try it out this year. If you’ve tried this stuff, let us know how well it worked.

For many of today’s frequent travelers, the no-tech vacation is something of a conundrum (Wait, no television? Then how am I supposed to watch The Inferno III?). In fact, the last time most of us were anywhere near being “off the grid” involved an unsolicited power outage followed by disbelief, then sheer panic. Don’t try to deny it.

But as much as we love (and we mean love love, not like love) technology, destinations without plasma televisions, resort-wide wireless Internet access, in-room telephones and the latest gaming consoles give us something that’s often impossible to pin down on the grid: ourselves.

Don’t worry. We’re not talking about destinations where you’ll end up twisted into a yoga pretzel drinking green tea before a mandatory colonic treatment in the “spa.” We’re talking about 10 places you can visit where the sound of the surf is louder than the television in the next room, where news of Anna Nicole’s paternity test doesn’t cause a mad rush to the business center’s Internet kiosks and, finally, where wake-up calls are more likely to come from birds outside than bedside phones.

Check out our list of 10 No-Tech Escapes here.

I’ve blogged before about luxury camping at California destinations like Costanoa Coastal Lodge and Camp, where guests can camp in a gorgeous outdoor setting with luxuries like steam rooms, fireplaces, wi-fi and gourmet meals just steps away. Now there’s a newcomer to the California luxury camping scene: The Sequoia High Sierra Camp in California’s Sequoia National Park. Guests can either drive most of the way into the camp and hike one mile to the actual site or approach it like a backcountry adventure with a 11-mile hike in. Once there, the camp’s 36 canvas bungalows offer perks like pillow-top mattresses, reading lanterns, coffeemakers and daily maid service. Of course, there’s still a rustic element: campers have to walk to the shared bathroom facilities. But it doesn’t get rougher than that. The bathrooms offer towels, toiletries and dressing rooms. The $250/person per night rate does sound a bit steep, but at least it includes three gourmet meals each day - one being a “pack your own” picnic lunch. That means way more room in your pack for fun stuff. Like wine! Or extra camera equipment to photograph the 2 million acres of wilderness that surrounds the camp. Reservations are now being accepted for the summer season, which runs June 15-October 7, 2007.

Are you a geotourist? If you love exploring unique neighborhoods in destination cities, dining at independently-owned and operated restaurants relying on local produce and ingredients, buying souvenirs made by local craftspeople and artists and staying in family-run lodging options, you’re on your way to being a geotourist. In the current issue of Ode Magazine, Jay Walljasper writes about his tour of Chile with Jonathan Tourtellot, an editor at National Geographic Traveler who’s pretty much considered to be “the man” behind the geotourism movement. If you have any interest at all in helping local communities improve during your travels, you should read the article linked below. And as Tourtellot points out in the story, you don’t even have to donate to local charities or spend part of your vacation volunteering to be a geotourist. It’s much more about where you choose to travel and how you spend your money once you get there.

Geotourism by Jay Walljasper

Patricia Shultz’s 1,000 Places to See Before You Die has captured the wanderlust of many a traveler. The Travel Channel took note of the book’s popularity and developed a television show based on Shultz’s worldly advice. 1,000 Places premiers tonight at 9 pm on the Travel Channel. To satisfy the modern viewer’s appetite for reality television, the on-screen version follows two newlyweds from Colorado on a 14-week round-the-world journey to 13 countries and 100 of Shultz’s suggested destinations. First stop? Alaska.