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Kickstarter

Coolest travel products on Kickstarter, August 2016 edition

Jelisa Castrodale
Special for USA TODAY

We might be nearing the end of the busy summer travel season, but it’s never too soon to start preparing for the next time you’re holding a boarding pass and running toward your departure gate. The innovators and big thinkers on Kickstarter have some new ideas to keep you comfortable, carry-on sized and – perhaps most importantly – well-caffeinated on your upcoming business trips or on family vacation. Here are five of our favorite products that either have active Kickstarter campaigns or are taking pre-orders this month.

The Nomatic Travel Bag has 20 traveler-friendly features, including a water bottle pocket and laundry bag.

The Nomatic Travel Bag calls itself “the most functional travel bag ever,” and that might not be an exaggeration. The bag has 20 traveler-friendly features, can hold up to a week’s worth of clothing and accessories and will still slide easily into an airplane’s overhead bin. One of the highlights of the carry-on sized suitcase is the lockable RFID-safe pocket designed to hold your passport, wallet and other important documents. As for the bag itself, it can be carried as a duffel bag or worn as a backpack and, thanks to its nifty strap system, you won’t worry about dangling straps getting snagged in the subway door. The Nomatic Travel Bag has blown through its Kickstarter funding goal, raising more than $803,000 as of today in less than two weeks. One Nomatic Travel Bag – which includes a vacuum bag and expandable laundry bag – is currently available for $169 through Kickstarter, with an estimated delivery date of January 2017.

The VaultCard is a wallet-sized card that protects your sensitive data.

Travelers don’t just have to worry about being physically pickpocketed; there are digital pickpockets who can steal your data without touching your wallet. That’s where VaultCard comes in. VaultCard is a wallet-sized card that protects your sensitive data – credit and debit cards, passports, building access cards, transportation passes – from RFID skimming devices. When VaultCard’s built-in antenna detects an RFID scanner, it turns on and jams the signal, preventing would-be thieves from swiping your info. VaultCard’s successful Kickstarter campaign has ended, but you can pre-order one directly from its London-based founders. One VaultCard is $34.99, with delivery by August 15.

The Marlon carry-on weighs only seven pounds, but can hold up to 35% more than other suitcases of its size.

It’s rare that you get to know your luggage on a first-name basis, so say hello to Marlon. This innovative carry-on weighs only seven pounds, but can hold up to 35% more than other suitcases of its size. How does Marlon do it? Through what its developers call Assisted Compression Technology (ACT), which is a scientific-sounding way to say that the suitcase itself expands when you’re packing it and then can be compressed back to carry-on size when you zip it up. In addition, Marlon (which is French for little falcon) has a removable 10400mAh battery and two USB ports, so you won’t have to play outlet roulette at the airport. It also swaps the spindly wheels found on most suitcases for an oversized set that should give you better traction – and fewer reasons for profanity – when you’re pulling it along an uneven sidewalk. Marlon is available through Kickstarter for $195 (plus shipping) with an estimated delivery date of May 2017.

The Ultimate Travel Underwear is designed to be comfortable and odor-free.

When you travel, your underwear can be an afterthought, as you toss whatever’s at the top of the clean laundry pile into your suitcase. The makers of the Ultimate Travel Underwear want to change that. No, you won’t think about your underwear any more than you do now, but at least you’ll know that you’ll be comfortable, odor-free and won’t spend that cross-country flight trying to un-bunch your boxers through your pants. Y-Athletics has designed these underwear with travelers in mind, using sweat-wicking merino wool and odor-neutralizing silver fibers. They’ve also borrowed some design features from cycling shorts, putting a soft silicone grip around each leg opening to ensure that they keep their shape and stay put, regardless of how long your day is. The Ultimate Travel Underwear are currently available through Kickstarter for a pledge of $29 or two pairs for $50.

The Voltaire Smart Grinder is a portable, battery-powered coffee grinder.

Sometimes hotel coffee isn’t enough to overpower being jetlagged or exhausted from the all-night symphony coming from the air conditioning vent. The Voltaire Smart Grinder wants to change that, ensuring that you have the best possible cup of coffee even when you’re on the road. The portable, battery-powered coffee grinder calls itself “the world’s first high-performance portable burr grinder,” and it might be the smartest too: one version comes with an Internet of Things-connected platform and a phone app to guarantee the freshness of your coffee beans. But even its stripped down, analog version promises the kind of coffee that baristas would beg you for. The Voltaire Smart Grinder has several reward tiers available on Kickstarter, ranging from $199 for the grinder itself to $249 for the connected version.

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