Top travel trends

With increasing airline fees consistently making the news, some people are skipping air travel to avoid the hassle and expense -- and who can blame them? But if you're still compelled, by force of adventure or terms of employment, to take to the air, consider a few products that may help ease any travel pains.

Clever Case: Work travelers, rejoice. The Transportation Security Administration has approved several "checkpoint-friendly" laptop bags, which means your precious computer can stay where it belongs -- in the bag -- when going through security. Think of the time and aggravation savings.

If you're in need now, there's the CODI Phantom CT3, for example. It's available for about $179.99 at edwardsluggage.com, but if you can hold out, lower-priced models should be available soon.

Charming Charger: It's a pain to plug your cell phone in when you're traveling, but it's a bigger pain to lose service. Enter: The WildCharger pad. It looks kind of like a mouse pad, but it's got a conductive surface. Once your cell phone or other electronic device is enabled with the WildCharge technology, simply place it on the pad and watch it charge. Expect the speed to be the same as if you plugged it into the wall. It's $89.99.

Cute Carry-on: If you're tired of having the skycap gently remind you that a gratuity is not included in the checked-bag fee, maybe it's time to reconsider carrying on. Even though your carry-on will be small (most airlines limit it to about 22 by 14 by 9 inches, but be sure to check before the trip), I prefer the wheeled variety. I also look for a few separate compartments to help keep things neat and handy, a semi-soft construction to help the bag squeeze into the overhead compartment if need be and a bright motif, simply because I find it cheerful. I found an adorable, orange polka-dot number at ebags.com for $55.99, down from $140.

Finally, to make things easier on myself before I even leave the house, I've been using a free travel itinerary Web site called TripIt.com. Just send TripIt the e-mail confirmations for your flights, hotels, rental cars, etc., and in return you get a beautifully laid-out itinerary. You'll feel like the hyper-organized version of yourself you always wanted to be.

(Helen Malani is the chief shopping expert for Shopzilla.com, a Scripps Networks Interactive company, and the largest comparison shopping search engine on the Web. E-mail Helen at askhelen(at)shopzilla.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)