Travel gear for the frequent flyer & VR

Travel gear and Virtual Reality are becoming commonplace among frequent flyers. In 10 years (or 110) you’ll just teleport everywhere. But for now, you need good gear to make your trip a treat.

1. Pack Right

Stand out from the nylon-rollie masses with luxe leather and easy- grab slots for your laptop and iPad. | Piquadro Cabin Trolley, $970

2. Ear Muffs

These noise-cancelers mute crying babies (mostly) as the Bluetooth 4.0 streams calming tunes into your ears. | Sennheiser Momentum Wireless, $500

3. High Flier

The 7-minute battery life on this tiny drone lets you peek up at facades (hello there, Mr. Gargoyle!) with time left for an overhead selfie. | Aerix Vidius HD, $95

4. Bag Tracker

You see London, you see France. With these little Bluetooth squares on your bags, you’ll never lose your underpants. | Tile Mate, $70 for four

5. Wrap Star

Protect ya neck from Arctic in-cabin weather with this cashmere and silk scarf. Or drape it over your head and slumber in darkness. | Bottega Veneta Scarf, $550

6. Juice Box

This to-go battery can charge an iPhone twice, and it comes in rose gold (flashy!). | Mophie Powerstation Plus, $80

7. Cargo Hold

Slip passport, phone, tablet, and charging cables into this sleek organizer and stow in the seat pocket in front of you. | Knomo Organizer Air, $80

8. Double Time

Track your time zones with two sweep hands— one for where you are and one for where you were (or where you’ll be). | Botta-Design Duo, $490

Virtual Reality

It’s great to go places. with VR you can arrive without traveling. It’s also great to sit on your couch or in your squeezy airplane seat and let virtual reality transport you to your destination. New tourism-focused VR offerings are trying to do just that, helping you be smarter about roaming this planet—and even be inspired by dreams of Mars.

Fly Before You Buy
You can now beta-test your getaways before you book. Travel agency Thomas Cook Group’s VR videos offer immersive peeks of Egypt, Singapore, and more; Vegas VR lets you fly over the Strip or experience a show. Thankfully without the bachelorette parties.

Wonder Down Under
Australia’s Qantas Airlines partnered with Samsung to create the first in-flight VR experience. Strap on a Gear VR headset to heli-tour Hamilton Island and snorkel off the Great Barrier Reef—all while 40,000 feet in the air. Now that’s a g’day.

Respirational Travel
Jaunt’s Home Turf series transports you to adventure-sport hot spots, with athletes as your guides. Rock-climb in the Needles, kayak a waterfall in Iceland, or slackline across a canyon in Moab. The best part? No one will know you’re eating chips the whole time.

Red Rover, Red Rover
When the Curiosity rover descended from Mars’ atmosphere to its surface in 2012, NASA called the sequence “7 Minutes of Terror.” Now Android users can experience the terror for themselves via Hello Mars on Google’s Daydream platform.