Luggage

Anyone who's ever gone on a vacation involving swimming knows how yucky it can be to pack up a wet bathing suit when it's over. The Guide bag, now on Kickstarter, aims to solve that issue and save you some space when packing dry clothes as well.

When running through an airport, your luggage becomes a liability dragging along behind you. A new ride-on suitcase called the Airwheel, currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, can let your luggage lug you around for a change.

Air travel can be difficult for the mobility-challenged … they have to get a wheelchair at the airport, or make sure that theirs gets stowed. Engineer Richard Williams has developed an alternative: a folding wheelchair that doubles as a carry-on bag.

London-based startup Phoenx is focusing on the eco-conscious traveler by creating sustainable, modular luggage made from recycled plastic bottles and fishing lines, old carpets, waste rubber and aluminum.

​If you're much of a world traveller, then you've probably experienced it – a several-hour airport layover during which you'd like to get some sleep, but without going off to a hotel. That's where the Trollaby is intended to come in, as it serves as a sort of bag-connected airport-floor tent.

No-one likes to queue at airport check-in lines, it eats into your holiday time, and can be both boring and tiring. Now British Airways has signed up for ViewTags, reusable electronic baggage tags that can be attached to luggage before holiday-makers get to the airport.

For every truly groundbreaking concept there are a hundred others that should have stayed as smudges on a whiteboard. Since the flow of bad ideas never seems to end, New Atlas once again picks through the cream of the crap to highlight some more of the worst Kickstarters we’ve seen recently.

​If you're going on a family road trip, everyone's luggage will no doubt take up a lot of space inside the car. That's why Lugga (pronounced "looga") was created. It's a system that incorporates aerodynamic hardshell suitcases, which lock onto a custom roof rack while in transit.

When you ship something, you typically put bubble wrap or newspaper around it, to provide impact protection and to keep it from rattling around inside the box. Well, PaQ is a self-inflating gadget that does the same thing for the precious contents of your suitcase.

​If you travel a lot, it's possible that you may get tired of dragging your suitcase around. Wouldn't things be easier if it could just follow along beside you? Well, according to Beijing-based startup ForwardX Robotics, that's just what its motorized Ovis suitcase is able to do.

After finding crowdfunding success with its Influx suitcase that expands from carry-on to check-in size suitcase using an inbuilt electric pump, Fugu is back with the Rollux, which achieves the same space-expanding feat without requiring a pump and with a more traditional baggage look.

​We've looked at a number of self-healing materials over the last few years, but are these wonder products ready to leave the lab for the great outdoors? Gear company Slughaus thinks their time has come, and is running crowdfunding campaign for a clever carry bag claimed to patch up its own wounds.