Travellers' Checks | Smart suitcase with some handy lo tech; Macau family package deal
A new crowdfunded smart suitcase seems to roll up every month, but the Floatti system, while as hi-tech as the best of them, has several useful features of a more practical nature, writes Adam Nebbs
The carousel of crowd-funded luggage seems to be turning faster than ever these days, with new designs rolling around at the rate of about one a month. One of the latest suitcase start-ups successfully raising cash is Floatti floatti.com which promises "a smarter suitcase for happier travellers". Offering most of the hi-tech gadgetry that is already in production - including laptop and phone charging, tracking via smartphone app and a built-in digital scale - Floatti luggage (which comes in two sizes) also has some useful lo-tech features. These include wheel suspension for a quieter and easier "pull" over uneven ground, a secure handbag and carry-on-bag docking system and individual velcro-anchored pouches that won't move around on their own inside the main compartment.
Most innovative in the hi-tech department is the "smart handle", which lets you make calls, play music and perform other customised phone functions while your phone is in your pocket or packed away. Floatti bags are still at the crowd-funding stage at kickstarter.com where various enticements are on offer to anyone willing to get financially involved in advance of the expected December delivery date.
Floatti promises "a smarter suitcase for happier travellers".
The Mandarin Oriental in Macau has just announced a Dinosaur Explorer package for families, which includes tickets to the recently opened "Living Dinosaurs" exhibition at the Macao Science Centre www.msc.org.mo and a 3D show at the world's highest-resolution planetarium. Priced from HK$1,999 for two adults and one child, the deal includes one night's accommodation with a separate bed (for the child), breakfast and dinosaur-themed turndown amenities. Subsequent nights without the prehistoric extras start from HK$1,399. The package, and the exhibition, will run until September 11, but note that the Macao Science Centre is closed on Thursdays. For further details and reservations, visit www.mandarinoriental.com/macau and click on the Offers link.
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The electric Gatiman Express runs between Delhi and Agra.
India has just entered what the country's Ministry of Railways is hailing as "a new era of high speed rail travel", with the new electrically powered Gatiman Express running between Delhi and Agra. Rolled out this month, the train, while the fastest in India, is in fact being described as only "semi-high speed" and travels between the two cities at a maximum of 160km/h. That's the speed officially first achieved in 1934, between British cities Leeds and London, by the recently restored Flying Scotsman steam locomotive. Still, it's a significant step forward for rail travel in India, and cuts the journey time between the two cities from up to three hours to about one hour and 40 minutes. The 10-carriage train will operate daily except Fridays. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has introduced guided tour packages of Agra and the Taj Mahal to coincide with the new timetable. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/RailMinIndia
There is no current guidebook devoted to train travel in India, but Bradt's excellent India by Rail, by Royston Ellis, which went out of print in the late 1990s, was an essential reference in its day. The book still contains a wealth of useful and interesting reading, and plenty of second-hand copies can be found for pennies at amazon.co.uk More recent is Trailblazer's Indian Rail Handbook, which was co-written by Ellis, but copies of that are harder to track down. The best current information can be found online, at www.seat61.com/india
