11AUG2024

Happy Sunday, everyone! As summer winds down and we prepare to get the kiddos back to school, I’m already scheming about a Fall family trip. So, this week’s post features a couple of my travel essentials, along with some other fun gear recommendations. Apart from daydreaming about traveling somewhere with a proper Autumn, I’ve been swooning over these gorgeous nerdy custom rugs and this incredible Honda Concept Car from 1984, and trying out a new, minimalist app for tracking my workouts.

On to the good stuff!

• ✈️ Timeshifter - This iOS app is my secret jet-lag killer. Just enter your home location, destination, travel dates, and duration of the trip, and Timeshifter creates a custom schedule to help adjust your circadian rhythm before, during, and after your trip. It includes recommendations for dosage and timing of sleep, caffeine, screen time, and sunlight exposure. I’ve used it on two transatlantic trips, and both times, I managed to sleep peacefully through the night at my destination and when I got home.
• ⏰ Flighty - Flighty is another one of my essential iOS travel apps, regardless of whether it’s a quick domestic flight or an epic international jaunt. As an Apple Design Award winner, it beautifully tracks your flights, gates, baggage carousels, and uses Live Activity notifications both to alert you to any delays and to track how much time is left on your flight. It also lets you share a live tracking link with friends and family so they can keep up with your flight status and arrival time as it evolves.
• 😴 Manta Sleep Mask - A few years back, when I traveled across time zones more regularly, I discovered the magic of sleep masks. After trying a bunch of various options ranging from free in-flight ones to more premium options, the Manta Sleep Mask has become my go-to for quality sleep in unfamiliar places. I have both the Slim and Pro versions—I prefer the Pro slightly, but I’d say that it’s probably not worth paying double the cost of the Slim for it.
• 💦 Oto Lawn - I need no further confirmation that I’ve reached middle age than the realization that this piece of lawn irrigation tech is one of the technologies our household has adopted this year that I’m most excited about. The Oto is a nifty little box you connect to your hose, and then program from your smartphone to use its incredibly precise spray nozzle to systematically water your lawn and garden with the frequency and schedule that you like, without over spraying any zones or watering the sidewalk. It also has liquid lawn fertilizer, anti-mosquito, and odor eliminator pods that you can have it mix in to its watering routines on a set schedule. I’m loving it. The link above has my “refer a buddy” code which should save you $25 at check out, if you want to give it a go.
• 🔅 TTArtisans Mini LED Light - This is likely a niche recommendation, but I saw this and knew right away that I had to have it. It’s a small LED light shaped like an old roll of 35mm film. It magnetically attaches to your camera’s hot shoe, providing supplementary light for photo/video work… or you can just hand hold it as a little flashlight. Is it the most effective light? No. Did I buy it immediately because it’s cute and costs less than $10? Absolutely. Just look at the thing, you’ll see what I mean. FWIW, I wound up buying it through Amazon to avoid the $20 shipping fee from the manufacturer—here’s my Amazon Affiliate link to it if you also want to grab one and help offset the Report’s hosting fees at the same time!

That’s it for this week, be well, everyone!