It looks like your basic hoodie, yet, it’s built specifically for travel comfort with features including a removable inflatable neck pillow, stash pocket with ear plugs, zippered internal passport/ticket pocket and a light shield built into the hood. Genius.

So many situations the world over you can navigate smoothly with the double whammy of cash and compass.

(via The Awesomer)

A working video camera, with built-in microphone, disguised as a working ballpoint pen. Fulfill the International Spy Fantasy: Just add trenchcoat.

Also: Congrats to the lucky Laurel, winner of the Point It. More giveaways coming your way soon!

The new pima cotton (and therefore more affordable) version of White+Warren’s cashmere travel wrap. A nice, big all-weather scarf, blanket and wrap in one, it comes in a rainbow of colors.

My latest gear roundup, Born-Again Bags, is in the current issue of Frommer’s Budget Travel. It was tons o’ fun to track down the latest in green carryons, but one of my very favorites got cut at the last minute. So, here it is, this great little clutch made out of pop-tops crocheted together in all sorts of colors (bamboo shown here). I use mine as a purse organizer that makes my business cards, pen and lipsticks easy to find and to transfer from bag to bag. I love that I can just remove it from the bag, as I did recently before hitting the town in Vegas, and bam! It’s a fancy stand-alone clutch. All designs are more refined versions of what’s apparently a common souvenir in Brazil, where the owner took inspiration while on vacation. All Escama bags are made in Brazilian women’s cooperatives—you can see the ladies’ profiles and send the maker of your specific bag a thank-you email via Escama’s website. You’ll likely feel inspired to thank. I get compliments on mine all the time.

One of the items in Breaking the Language Barrier, my latest “travel helpers” roundup for the Minneapolis Star Tribune Sunday travel section: This fantastically priced translator, which doubles as an alarm clock. Push one of eight buttons corresponding to popular travel categories to access over 4,500 pre-programmed phrases you can read on-screen or play out loud. (There’s a headphone jack for discreet learning.) It’s quite simple to switch between the seven languages; English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese; and you can easily store your favorite travel phrases in a special button-location, for easy access. Two caveats: You must rely on the pre-programmed phrases—no ability to type in words willy-nilly. Also, Japanese shows up as characters, not translated into the Latin Alphabet. All in all, nice bang for your buck.

A washable, organic cotton double-sling, with adjustable back support, that configures and re-configures to tote your kiddo from birth on to up to four years old. Provides nursing privacy, too, and can even handle twins.

The well organized urbanite’s answer to the Swiss Army knife: a mini screwdriver, file, scissors, toothpick, knife, tweezers, pin, pen and ruler, all swiftly pluckable from their thick credit card-like home. As with the aforementioned knife, don’t try to carry this on, kids.

Key addition to any adult train ride activity pack.

A full-sized, stainless steel fork and spoon are hiding in there, alongside your standard pocket knife, file, bottle opener and corkscrew. A budget backpacker essential.