5 great travel inventions that desperately need inventing

Part of the reason I enjoy writing about travel gear is that I get to see new ideas all the time. I’d probably be doing this anyway, because that’s how much of a dork I am, but I get even more info sent to me than what I could find on my own, because people let me know about new things every so often.

Lots of great ideas have shown up in the last several years, including some industry-upturning apps like AirBNB. It seems like there’s something new you can do with your phone pretty much every time you leave for a new trip.

But I can think of a few ideas that haven’t quite shown up yet. Or if they have, they haven’t been good enough. So here are a few ideas that I expect would go over rather well with long-term or frequent travelers, which, as far as I can tell, haven’t been sufficiently invented yet.

1) Solar powered phone charger cases

We’ve already got smartphone battery cases, and they’ve got a big, flat surface in back, so…why not put a solar panel there? Seems like a great way to charge things up when you’re sitting down for a meal, which, for most normal humans, happens multiple times per day. You could just leave it out on the table and let the burning hot fireball in the sky take care of the rest.

The problem, however, is that it probably wouldn’t be good enough. Solar panels are getting better all the time, but maybe not enough for a tiny one to charge up a whole phone. On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be the only charging method; if you catch an hour or two of sunlight here and there (as well as a few seconds pretty much every time you take a photo), it’ll at least last longer on a full charge, which could work nicely for people who are out and about in the sun all day, using their phones.

Weirdly enough, this invention kind of exists, but it’s such a cesspool of cancelled Kickstarters and allegedly-fake Amazon reviews that maybe it’s not too late for someone else to go for it. This invention has a time limit, though. Apple has already patented a method to turn the entire screen of an iPhone into a solar panel. Quick! There’s only so much time to make a third-party accessory and reap enormous rewards before it’s too late!

2) Shoes that pack flat

Shoes are probably the worst things in the world to pack, and although it’s true that you can stuff your socks inside them to save space, I just like it better when the shoes can be flattened, so you don’t have to keep pulling socks out of your shoes whenever you want them. All you need is a heel that folds down flat, and that’s it.

While we’re at it, shoes can be improved in all sorts of other ways, too. I’ve always suggested that the best way to travel with just one pair of shoes (if you’re a guy) is to get a nice-looking pair casual leather shoes. But leather can get warm a little too quickly in the summer, which is why I’d like to see some other fabric options; soft shell fabrics could reasonably emulate the appearance of leather, and nylon canvas can look just like cotton canvas; but they’d be super durable, weather-resistant, and pack flat. Get to it, people.

3) Flip-flops that neither flip nor flop

I’ll start by saying that this has largely been solved when it comes to women’s sandals, simply because there are far more options available. When it comes to men’s non-shoe footwear, however, there are only two options, both of which are terrible.

Sandals, for some reason, most often put one of the top straps right over the goddamn hinge between shin and foot and it’s just the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. Every step you take means the strap scratches against a moving hinge, and, eventually, blood ensues. Chacos have an objectively superior strap layout that everyone should steal, but they have problems too, like scratchy materials and ridiculous heaviness.

Flip-flops, on the other hand, allow your feet to move around way too much, and if you’re stuck walking with them continuously for several hours, there’s a good chance they’ll scratch up the spot where your foot moves up and down against the strap. Certain flip-flops fit better than others, but this problem would be completely solved with a heel strap in back, and everything would be great.

4) Eco-friendly fabric alternatives

Performance fabrics are spectacularly useful for ultralight backpackers, as they allow you to handle oppressively warm weather without bathing yourself in your own sweat, and you can wash your clothing in a sink and hang it up to dry overnight. This is great.

On the downside, every time you wash polyester or nylon, tiny little particles go right into the ocean, where they show up in fish and find their way into your dinner. Someone actually checked, and found plastic remnants in 25% of the fish at a San Francisco fish market, which means there’s a pretty good chance you’ve eaten your own workout t-shirt at some point (or, even worse, someone else’s). This is especially annoying, because fish are supposed to be good for you dammit. Synthetic clothing also starts to smell pretty bad after a short time, and the oil drilling required to make them can create some rather awkward mishaps.

Cotton has a pretty horrific environmental record too, which is why we need some alternatives. I wouldn’t say we have perfect replacements yet, but merino wool is a spectacular fabric for t-shirts and other next-to-skin items, and there’s some promising research regarding milkweed for use in insulation (as a replacement for down jackets, for example), and I keep blathering on and on about how Tencel would work pretty well for casual or semi-casual/semi-performance clothing.

Polyester and nylon will probably be around for a long time, but I like seeing alternatives showing up here and there.

5) AirBNB for currency exchanges

Yes, this would be totally illegal, but, then again, so is AirBNB…in some places, anyway. It’s still a big mess.

So imagine if you have to cross a border, and you’ve got a few hundred whatevers of whatever currency that you want to get rid of. You’ll get a terrible exchange rate at the banks, and it’s a pricey souvenir that’ll never have the opportunity to be used for alcoholic purchases of some sort. But what if you had an app that located some guy willing to buy the cash and send a payment through Paypal or Venmo or whatever? Problem solved.

Too bad this’ll never fly. Cops would disguise themselves as currency exchangers and crack down on everyone right away. But oh well. It was a tiny niche idea anyway. But if it’s backed by a massive corporation or billions of dollars in startup capital, I bet they could find a way.