With
his conservative suits, starched white shirts, and dilapidated litigation
bag, attorney William J. Candee IV looks like any other business traveler.
Except for one thing: He's takes a portable, head-enveloping smoke
hood with him, too.
Shaped like a huge bubble with a protruding mouthpiece, the Evac-U8
hood is supposed to fend off poisonous smoke and high temperatures
in the event of an airplane or hotel fire. He hasn't used one yet,
but you never know. "I might look like an alien," says Mr.
Candee of the $69 product. "But at least I'd be an alive alien."
Ever wonder what's tucked next to the shoehorns and toiletry bags
in your fellow travelers' suitcases? These days, even some seasoned
globe-trotters are hauling along some oddball gadgets, from electronic
air purifiers that hang from your neck to ultraviolet flashlights
that can spot germs and bed bugs on hotel sheets (using the same technology,
according to one catalog, that "police use at crime scenes"
to find dried body fluids.)
It's all part of the not-so-brave new world of neurotic travelers.
Sure, some of these gadgets make you look, well, like a freak. But
with tourism to unfamiliar countries soaring, and media coverage of
travel disasters intensifying each year, many people figure they're
better off safe than sorry. Their angst is fueled by the cottage industry
that makes these gizmos.
Last year alone, for example, more than 40,000 Evac-U8 smoke hoods
were sold world-wide, double from the year before. Travel Medicine
Inc., a fledgling Northhampton, Mass., catalog concern, reports more
than $1 million in annual revenue from products ranging from emergency
dental kits to insect-repelling suits (called the "Bug Baffler").
And germ warfare isn't just the subject of international arms negotiations
anymore; Magellan's International Travel Corp., which sells everything
from a citrus-scented sanitizer to an "Urban Suburban" bacteria-filtering
water bottle, expects revenue of $25 million from its catalog and
Internet service -- a 45% gain from last year.
"I don't think you can be overly cautious when it comes to your
own safety," says Jonathan Russell, an insurance and risk manager
in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Russell says he never travels
without a battery-operated smoke alarm and sometimes even lugs a special
door-stop alarm that he shoves under his hotel-room entrance; it emits
a shrill siren if an intruder tries to get in. "It's a habit
for me now when I travel," he says.
For $59, Katherine Braun, a bookstore operator in Exeter, N.H., recently
ordered the "Silk DreamSack," which looks like an ordinary
sleeping bag, after her skin kept "itching" from hotel sheets.
She hauled the sack to Europe recently and slumbered in it solo for
three weeks -- even as her husband dozed beside her in the regular
sheets. "I had some reservations that I'd be looked upon as being
a little prissy," concedes Ms. Braun. "But it's really quite
nice and cozy."
Better Than Just Sitting There
Are these products really worth it? Indeed, do they even work? Well,
at least some travel experts think they can't hurt, if only to ease
people's fears about traveling to new regions. Overall, the number
of Americans venturing overseas has soared 56% from a decade ago,
sending travelers into regions where good medication and doctors aren't
always available. Arnold Barnett, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology
professor who has conducted studies about transportation safety, says
that as long as these gadgets don't make people obsess about their
hang-ups, they're better than "just sitting there and being scared."
But fighting germs, of course, is much more complicated then simply
calming nerves. Bradley Connor, medical director of Travel Health
Services New York, says no device can prevent travelers from catching
colds from others. "Whether you catch something or not depends
on the proximity of the sick individual to you," he says.
He'd get quite an argument, though, from Constance Stallings. The
67-year-old magazine copy editor blames germs circulating in the close
quarters of planes for the respiratory infections she seemed to develop
every time she flew. After trying dozens of nose ointments and moisturizers,
she stumbled upon the personal Air Supply purifier from Magellan's.
Now, she straps the black box around her neck every flight -- ignoring
other gawking passengers -- and lets it blow air in her face throughout
the flight. "I put it on right after the security checkpoint
so I won't forget," says Ms. Stallings. "Haven't gotten
sick once since using it."
In Lakewood, N.J., the maker of the "RestAssured" ultraviolet-light
germ detector argues that the product has been truly effective in
scoping out everything from food stains to dirt on hotel sheets. "Even
the finer institutions do not readily change the bedspreads,"
says Joseph Schulman, founder of Mobility Solutions. The product works
by illuminating contaminants in a range of hue and shapes. (Saliva
comes out gray and circular.)
Surviving a Crash
Smoke hoods, meanwhile, have sparked their own high-level debate because
so many plane accidents are survivable. Nearly 80% of fliers involved
in life-threatening but potentially survivable accidents between 1983
and 1996 made it through alive, according to the National Transportation
Safety Board. Smoke hoods can help the panicked flier "remain
clear-headed and mobile to follow the evacuation route," says
John Swann, Evac-U8 inventor.
The Federal Aviation Administration cautions, however, that too many
passengers fumbling with smoke hoods could cause unnecessary delays
during an evacuation. After mounting an extensive smoke-hood study
several years ago, the Flight Safety Foundation, based in Alexandra,
Va., found that just donning the hoods was "unbelievably difficult"
in many cases, according to Roger Rozelle, the group's director of
publications. Because some hoods are vacuum-packed, unpeeling them
and getting them on your head presents "some real logistical
problems," Mr. Rozelle says.
All this debating about these products, though, hasn't seemed to slow
down sales. The Evac-U8 is one of the top 50 sellers out of 10,000
products for SkyMall Inc., whose catalogs can be found on most major
domestic airlines. Stuart R. Rose, founder of Travel Medicine, says
"We sell everything in the catalog," including a plethora
of options for vacationers fearing medical mishaps. Its Family Spirit
medical kit, for example, comes complete with 10 yards of adhesive
tape, latex surgical gloves and oral rehydration salts. Yachters are
encouraged to try the Marine Life-Pak, which throws in a stethoscope,
five-shot skin stapler and blood-pressure cuff.
Never mind that the average traveler would have no clue what to do
with a skin stapler: "This stuff is a form of insurance,"
Mr. Rose of Travel Medicine says. "There's a fear factor here."
Computer Alarm
When it comes to prevention, Michael D'Angelo thinks neurotic travelers
will risk a little inconvenience or embarrassment. His Boston company,
Lexent Technologies, recently launched its first product, iSpy, a
$149.95 laptop theft-prevention device that requires owners to tote
a special keychain. Should someone move the laptop, the keychain alerts
the owner who then must decide whether to trigger another louder siren
on the computer. "The alarm is quite loud," explains Mr.
D'Angelo. "It's like a smoke detector, but more annoying."
Similarly, Magellan's hawks the Portable Pit Stop: biodegradable disposable
urine bags for those who "can't wait" while on a long walking
tour of, say, the Great Wall. "OK, well I wouldn't necessarily
use everything we have to offer -- though in some areas there's a
good reason," says Jack Kotowski, Magellan's marketing manager.
"But thank God for America. We have the freedom to choose."
To assuage the paranoid and protect companies from liability if something
happens to employees on the road, security agencies such as Control
Risks Group specialize in guarding business travelers. Control Risks'
clients pay as much as $10,000 for briefings and advice about international
travel and what precautions to take. Founded in 1975, the company
has opened five offices in the past five years and now operates bureaus
in 14 countries.
"The globalization of business has sent more businesspeople,
executives or consultants to countries where they would never have
traveled before," says Bob Hoffmann, North American operations
director for Control Risks. Many "are under the impression that
it's like going from New York to Topeka."
His company advises clients about matters from kidnapping prevention
to fire safety in hotels: no rooms above the Seventh floor, for instance.
"Rescue equipment get can't up much further," Mr. Hoffmann
says. On the advice of Control Risks, gold-mining company Placer Dome
Inc. of Vancouver provides health packs -- complete with hypodermic
needles and sutures -- to workers who request them.
But not all cautious travelers, of course, haul a suitcase of safety
gear on their business trips. When she flies overseas, Lisbeth Barron,
a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, tries the low-maintenance
approach: She picks hotels whose staff can assign a good doctor --
just in case. (The Regent in Hong Kong: excellent. "I had the
flu and they had me on my feet right away," she says. ) Another
precaution: Toting spare antibiotics. "But I don't want people
to think I'm a hypochondriac or anything," she says.