New gear for the road

SINGAPORE — Travel junkies, listen up: A whole bunch of new gadgets and cool creations made their debut at last week’s Travel Goods Association Show in the United States. They range from the wacky-but-useful (the Aero-Tray that transforms the tray table in an airplane into a double-decker space to hold both your laptop and your meal) to the bizarre (a wearable blanket for your flight, anyone?). Here are three innovative offerings we hope will make their way here soon.

POWER CLUTCHES

Juice up your devices without resorting to battery packs with bags that function as a power source. Urban Junket has launched clutch bags equipped with a lithium polymer charger and USB/Micro USB cord for users to recharge their smartphones, MP3 players, e-readers and digital cameras. More importantly, they actually look good.

iWALLET

If you’re a paranoid traveller, you need a biometric locking wallet. Yep, only you and you alone can open your wallet with the swipe of a thumb. An iPassport case to hold precious travel documents is also in the works.

THE SCRUBBA

Save luggage space and money doing laundry by taking along the world’s smallest washing machine. This pocket-sized waterproof bag comes with an in-built flexible washing board that can wash up to “two outfits worth of clothes”. But as its name suggests, you need to do some scrubbing with your own hands. SERENE LIM

Power Clutch to be released. The Scrubba and iwallet are available from http://www.thescrubba.com and

http://www.iwalletusa.com