ADAM HARVEYrounds up the latest travel gadgets
** Undercaffeinated adventurers don’t have to go without their morning pick-me-up when they venture into espresso-free zones such as the peaks of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks or the wilds of certain north Dublin suburbs (take a bow, Bayside), thanks to the ingenious Handpresso Wild DomePod, a muscle- powered portable espresso machine that resembles a chubby bike pump (€99 for the Handpresso alone or €169 for an outdoor kit including flask and glasses, www.amazon.co.uk). Fill the reservoir with hot water from your flask, pack the dome with ground coffee, pump up the pressure until the dial indicates 16 bar and you’ll be the crema of the crop.
** I’ve been to Paris a few times and thought I’d made a reasonable stab at ordering food and asking for directions. But it took only 30 seconds of the Mi-Vox Quick French audiobook (£13.99, www.mi-vox.com) for me to realise how badly I’d butchered the most basic phrases. The 40-minute guide is refreshingly old school: nothing to download, just a set of headphones and the instructions preloaded in a lightweight plastic box the size of a mobile phone, with a play, pause, forward and rewind button. The instructions are clear, and basic words and phrases are repeated twice. You’re supposed to listen to the tape three times, but a single run through on the flight over would be a great start. The gadget’s powered by a single AAA battery, which is included.
** Olympus’s Stylus Tough-8000 is a 12-megapixel digital camera that’s waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof, but at €309.90 plus €14 shipping (www.pixmania.ie) it might not be recession-proof.