Another cool item I saw at The Travel Goods Show was the Strandle. As the name says, it is 50% strap, 50% handle.  The handle is very cushy too, and fits nicely in your palm.

The first thing I thought of when I saw these was, “Oh wow, I could use these with my Wii.”  I use various size DynaBands when I work out, and the strap that comes with the Wii cuts into your hand after awhile.  I told the owner Kathi that, and I think she was concerned that you couldn’t make it small enough to fit around them.  (She is probably right on that, so I wouldn’t recommend that use…even though, chances are if I buy one, I’m going to try it for that.)

But after we got talking, I thought about all the times we go to hotels with one of our rolly bags, and something else.  And how you try and wrap the handle of the “something else” around the rolly bag handle, and the darn thing always falls off.

With a Strandle, you can velcro eveything together easily, and pull it with one handle.  The uses are endless, as they show on their site using them for paint cans, grocery bags…even golf clubs.

So check out Strandle.com for more information on this nifty product.

I travel a lot on business, and this month alone I’m traveling and staying 8 nights in hotel rooms.  And I have to say, you never know where the bedspreads and sheets have been in a hotel.

Bed Voyage has come up with a solution…bring your own.  They have created eco-luxury sheets that are created out of bamboo fiber. Yes, bamboo. And the sheets I touched in the display were really, really soft.  And they hadn’t even been washed yet.    The top and bottom sheet are sewed together at the bottom, and the top sheet has an extra 2′ length, that you pull over the nappy blankets on the bed, plus they hang down on the sides.  You basically put the sheets right over the hotel sheets, then pull them off, roll them up and place them in their carry case when you are done.

They even have a sign in English, and Spanish, to place on the bed so the maid knows not to change the sheets.

Currently, the sheets are a bit out of my budget ($189.00 for a Queen size set), but this is an item I plan on buying in the future when I can afford it.  For more information, or to purchase your own set, visit their website at BedVoyage.com.

Anyone who has traveled on on airplane with a toddler knows the frustration of keeping them quiet during a long flight.  I traveled several times with my son when he was small, and remember the looks people gave me if he started to fuss, or God forbid, cry.

So when I saw this nifty tray table cover by Star Kids at The Travel Goods Show, I wished it had been around when my son was small.

It starts out as a bag, that you can take on the airplane and carry items in it.  Once there, you can flip it inside out, and put it over the tray table.  On both sides (so it doesn’t make a difference if the table is up or down) there are various toys and things the toddler can play with to keep occupied.  How cool is that!

Visit the Star Kids Products website for more information.

I loved this one, because it was created by Jack’s Mom.  And I met her and Jack at the Travel Goods Show.  Ann (Jack’s Mom) told me the story behind creating the pillow covers.

One day when she was flying home, she was using a pillow she made for herself, and a flight attendant asked her where she got it from.  When she told her that she had made it herself, the flight attendant told her she would “buy one  in a minute.”  At  the time she didn’t know that it would lead to launching the product.

It was shortly after that she was laid off.  Her husband, a licensed contractor, was also struggleing for work.  Like a lot of us, she knew she would have to come up with another idea to create income.  She spotted her pillow, and “Bingo!” she had her idea.

She proudly showed me some of the fabrics they had for the pillows and told me that Jack had picked them out.  Jack was so cute, he was dressed professionally in a suit, and was pretty excited about the product too.   I’m not sure how old Jack is, (and I’m sorry if I’m a poor guesser Jack) But I’d say somewhere between 6 and 10.   Pretty cool for a kid to learn about R&D and growing a business at that age.  And to have the fashion sense to pick out some of the cool fabrics that he did.

The other cool thing about the company is in addition to their standard cases, they have some that the cases have  different fabrics have different causes, and a percentage of the proceeds are donated to the cause.  They have Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (arf), National Breast Cancer Foundation,  Go Red For Women,  and the  Us Too prostate cancer education.  I always love to see companies that work with charities.

They had a little treasure chest in their booth that was locked on their table and invited me to pick a key.  They said several keys would open the lock, and if mine did, I’d win a free case.  Wouldn’t you know, I was lucky, and my key opened the lock.  I was their first winner at the show!  Whoo hoo! I picked out their red fabric that is for the Go Red For Women,  that looks like satin for my Just In Case pillow cover.

So visit their site at JacksMom.com and pick up yours.

I saw this item at a show in Vegas on Wednesday.  It is a way when you travel to keep everything you need in one location.  It is a file jacket that on one side, has places to fill in information on your flight, hotel, car rental, reservations, notes, limo, and taxi information.  It also has an area to itemize expenses.  The flip side has check lists.  Things to pack.  Advance planning tips (water plants, stop newspaper and mail, etc).  Things to do the day of departure. (set timers for lights, empty trash, turn down thermostat) and don’t forget list in red (license/passport, tickets, etc.)

Since it is a file jacket, ie: has a pocket, you can place all your receipts, tickets, reservations, passports, etc. in the pocket.  It is the perfect size to file the information too, making it great for turning in expenses if you are a business traveler to your comptroller.

If I’d of had something like this, I might not have forgotten my rubber bands and hair brush that I really needed on this last trip.

The inventor of this item confessed that the idea came about when they went on a cruise.  They arrived at the cruise ship to find out they had forgotten their passports.  Oops.  I didn’t find out what happened to them on the cruise (I admit, I’m curious if they were able to still go on it, but another potential customer walked up, so I didn’t get to hear the end of the story).

So check out their site at JumpinJac.com and pick some up today.

I figured for my first post on New and Cool Stuff, we’d feature earrings by a good friend of mine who owns Om Goddess.  She recently posted up some new earrings she had that spelled out various words that she was going to vend at the Xanadu Las Vegas Sci-Fi & Fetish show.  I fell in love with two pairs the spelled out GEEK and MAGE.

So when we came into town Tues, I picked up the two pairs, and have been wearing one of each (because, heh, I’m a Geek Mage, don’t you know).  They are Geek Chic and oh so cool.   They have sayings like LEET, ZOMBIE, GAMER, EVIL, STFU, OMFG, plus some bottle cap earrings with various pictures.  She also has some retro inspired necklaces that are very,very cool.

Check out her Facebook Fan Page and be the first to pick up some of these new and very cool earrings and necklaces!