What are the top trends in travel tech for 2020? Our correspondent Julie Chang Murphy breaks down the best new luxury travel technology. Sleep and sound tech, language translation and photography gadgets are some of the best-tried-and-tested products from around the world.
The latest in luxury travel tech innovations are more intuitive, compact and gorgeous than ever. They allow for those revelatory moments that make travel so soul-sustaining. The last thing we want is to be worrying about how to operate our gadgets before a client meeting.
The Best New Luxury Travel Technology This Year
1. Packing Technology
Smart Suitcases
Sometimes a traveler needs a suitcase geared for modern needs. No more hunting around for an outlet or worse, sending withering looks at the guy hogging the outlet. Enter these smart suitcases, which hardly sacrifice style for functionality. A little preparation in the packing phase is critical to a successful trip.
- Away Travel
- Arlo Skye
- Planet Traveler
Packing Cubes and Smart Luggage Tags
The gold standard right now is Paravel Travel packing cubes ($55). They come in 5 standard colors in sets of three sizes. The brand’s motto? “If dresser drawers could travel.” Adero’s Smart Tags (Starter Kit, $79.95) can keep your essentials organized with Bluetooth enabled taglets. With the press of a button on your main “control center” tag, you’ll know something is missing if it glows red.
2. On-Board Technology
Ultimate Ears or Shure Aonic 50 Headphones
From Ultimate Ears come wireless ear buds that are molded specifically for your ear. In-home kit takes an impression of your inner ear in less than a minute. Luxurious and technical sets can hear the most upper register harmonics in clear detail, thanks to built-in speaker systems.
The Shure Aonic 50 over-the-ear headphones have padded ear cups for comfort and noise-canceling. Adam Levine will be the face of the inaugural advertising campaign. They’re slated to be on sale this spring, and battery life is approximately 20 hours.
3. Technology For Once You’ve Reached Your Destination
Travel Fitness Tech
Hyperice has two products that can help soothe or activate muscles. The Hypersphere ($149) and Vyper 2.0 ($199) are TSA friendly. Until First Class comes with a massage table and masseuse, we’ll be bringing these along.
Safe Storage for Valuables
The Trova Go is a wireless portable miniature safe. You can open the Go box with either a passcode or biometrics. It also has a “never lost” feature that marks the device’s last-used location. The company’s slogan is “enjoy the luxury of privacy”.
Air Purification
The Levoit Core 300 True HEPA travel-size air purifier is designed to fill our work and hotel rooms with crisp, clean air. The device can purify and sterilize up to 99% of allergens, bacteria and chemicals in an area up to 215 square feet.
Language Translation Tools and Clearer Conference Calls
Vasco Mini Translator ($218) is a pocket-size device that translates to and from 40 languages. Pow Audio has a new product for business travelers called the “Biz”. Biz is a pocket-sized magnetic wireless hand-held portable speaker. It features a 360-degree microphone, automatic echo cancellation and noise suppression. The device will be available at retail later this year.
Photography Assistance
The Yuneec Mantis Q drone is beginner friendly, folds up and only weighs 1 lb. Launch it into the air for up to 33-minutes of photo and video-taking so you can actually be in the moment. NexOptic debuted a new version of its “DoubleTake” binoculars at CES 2020. The device has a dual-lens design, and image stabilization that enables real-time, high resolution panning. It can shoot 4K video and photos, and it has a 10x digital zoom via its wide field lens.
Final Thoughts
Luxury travel tech doesn’t have to be perplexing and cumbersome, especially when it comes to the latest gadgets. Our pick of the best new luxury travel technology is based on what we’ve seen in the UK so far this year.
