Defend Against Travel Mishaps with These Safety Products

We all know someone who refuses to travel because of fear. They may be afraid to get hurt, afraid to get robbed, or afraid to get sick. No matter the travel paranoia, there's a product out there for them. Some of these items are genuinely useful, and some of them may be catering to unreasonable fears. Which ones are which? That all depends on the fear. 

We've included a verbatim snippet of the claims made by each manufactuer so you can see for yourself what fears they're promising to eradicate. Travel safely!

Grayl (www.thegrayl.com), $70–70

BPA-free and lab tested, this hand-pressed water filter (you have to push hard) comes with three color-coded filters with varying strengths according to how nasty you fear your water to be.  The claim: "The TAP [blue] removes many chemicals and heavy metals, TRAIL [green] adds protection from bacteria and protozoan cysts, and the TRAVEL [orange] provides the ultimate defense against viruses while traveling in developing countries or highly impacted wilderness areas." 

Head Defender (www.headdefender.com), $20–$30 Slip it over the top of your seat and, the makers say, you will protect yourself from germs. The claim: "Rather than integrating a barrier that slowly poisons the microbes on the headrest covers (as metal-based antimicrobial barriers do), we integrate a water-based antimicrobial barrier that bonds to the headrest covers and creates a unique molecular configuration that punctures and rips the microbes thin cell walls apart.  Thus destroying them."