* Balanzza Mini Digital LuggageScales Excess baggage charges have become much more of an issue in the past few years with the airlines increasingly playing tough over luggage weights. How often do you see the careful reapportioning of a few pairs of smalls from one case to another in an effort to dodge the baggage bailiffs?
And when you look at the massive profits they’re extracting from this and other “ancillary” costs, you can see why. A slightly misjudged case could cost you more than the flight and trigger a bag-tag rage episode.
This is reflected in the ever expanding range of luggage scales about. The new Balanzza Mini Digital is particularly neat. Just attach the strap to your bag, lift it by the shaped, rubbery handle and the weight’s there in kgs or lbs. It’s backlit and can hold the weight for easy reading. And being so discreet, you can then stick it in the bag for the return leg in case there’s been a little shopping en-route. Battery included.
CostBalanzza Mini Scales, £19.99 (€22.80) from balanzza.co.uk
* OnTheFly Travel AppI have to confess, I got a nice warm glow when I first read about ITA's OnTheFly app for iPhone and Android phones. It's free and, according to several US reviewers, is the perfect air travel assistant. You simply stick in your departure and arrival airports with the relevant dates, and OnTheFly would give you the cheapest flights. You can't book them through it, but you can email off all the details and follow up on the airline site. (That email would be to your PA, don't you know.)
Sure enough, OnTheFly has a simple interface, with good prompt options. The searches threw up lots of flight suggestions and fares. However, my warm glow became a little more heated as I tried it against Aer Lingus’s own site for comparison. Basically, the app offered me fares 10 times greater than the web one, such as Cork to Gatwick for €500, rather than the €45-ish on aerlingus.com. Tried several routes, all the same.
Then discovered no Ryanair and ditto for their original Stateside inspiration, Southwest Airlines which isn’t in the US search either. ITA is a respected name in software systems for airlines, and OnTheFly might be free, with an easy interface and great functionality, but right now, its prices are sky high.
CostOntheFly travel app, Free from iTunes and Android
* Hippychick All-in-one WaterproofsIt's a hoary old one, but a truth all the same: there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
Well if you’d like your little ones to be able to crash about outdoors in virtually all weathers, doing what they do best, hiding from parents and exploring the precise viscosity of mud, Hippychick All-in-ones could be just the trick.
For one to four-year-olds, and made from tough-as-kids Teflon-coated nylon, they’re waterproof, windproof and reasonably breathable. Not that the kids will perspire nearly as much as the adult chasing them, of course.
With a hood, taped seams with reflective strips and shoe straps, Hippychicks are very good at keeping the elements out, and with Velcro-adjustable sizing, they’ll survive a growing spurt or two. And to deal with the aftermath, they’re machine washable at 30 degrees.
So even if you want to wrap yours up in cotton wool and keep them hermetically-sealed indoors all winter long, it could be a great pressie for your foolish sister or daft friend who has their lot out in the park in all weathers. They even look like they’re having fun.
CostHippychick All-in-one Waterproofs, €29.99 from babytravelshop.ie