Guide To Summer Swag: Travel Essentials, Booze & Gadgets

Cop These Solar Gadgets

--Scott Steinberg

RUKUS SOLAR BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

$150, ETONCORP.COM

Anemic speakers sputter out long before Kanye’s 10-minute closing skits. But this extraterrestrial looking sound buddy streams straight from any Bluetooth device off a six-hour sun charge, letting you wreak mobile mayhem.

A-SOLAR IOS SOLAR POWER DOCK

$104, A-SOLAR.EU

The equivalent of a life jolting oneup for your handset, this portable recharger stops your iThings from croaking mid-text. Jack energy from UV rays or nearby laptops (via

USB port), and when fully charged, it’ll resurrect two devices at once. Beware: it only packs enough heat to get your iPad halfway juiced.

SOLARFOCUS SOLARKINDLE LIGHTED COVER

$80, SOLARMIO.COM

Amazon’s Kindle e-reader screen always looked best bathed in daylight. With this

rechargeable leather case, it also gains 90 days of unplugged life. A built-in LED lamp lasts

50 hours on a built-in backup battery, while a sole hour of sunshine yields three days of reading time, enough to get all Zen-like with Deepak Chopra.

SOULRA XL PORTABLE SPEAKERS

$200, ETONCORP.COM

Equipped with a sun-soaking solar panel, this wedge-shaped boombox for iPhone and iPod blares beats through eight serenity-killing speakers. Fortunately, an antiglare screen lets you regulate and reduce ratchet levels if the wrong kind of junk in the trunk struts by.

LOGITECH WIRELESS SOLAR KEYBOARD K750

$80, LOGITECH.COM

Bring your Gears of War addiction up out of the basement with this one-third-inch thick wireless keyboard for Windows desktops. Scared to face reality? Relax: It’ll run for three months in pitch-black dark. A companion app even tracks battery life, so you can play—er, work—nonstop where the sun don’t shine.

Want to fly the coop without surrendering your premium cargo to airport po-po? Tuck your whole summer travel in with these TSA-approved first-class goods —Katie Hintz-Zambrano

The Art Of Shaving 4-Piece Carry-On Shaving Kit, $50, theartofshaving.com

Leave the bump navigation to the guy in the cockpit. All you need: a combo of beard-shearing pre-shave oil, lux cream, aftershave balm and a fancy brush to keep your grill cloud-smooth. Do pack a fresh blade…but not in your carry on.

OXY Spot Treatment, $4 for .65 oz., walgreens.com

Exposure to aircraft germs can leave your face grittier than a Meek Mill rhyme. Before your visage gets all Dalmatian-like, slather some of this acne-squashing cream on trouble spots as soon as they surface.

Malin + Goetz Mojito Lip Balm, $12 for 3.5 oz., malinandgoetz.com

Clean up pizza-crust puckers by applying this boozy balm before, during and after your in-air adventure to dead any Homey the Clown comparisons.

Kiehl’s Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer, $20 for .17 fl. oz., kiehls.com

Your peepers shouldn’t need a baggage check. If your under eyes are on swoll, banish those puff daddies with a swipe of this magic stick laced with skin-tightening caffeine.

Braun MobileShave M-90, $23, amazon.com

An unexpected layover in Miami could mean a date with a Speedo. Pack a pair of these battery-operated shavers to man-scape both your below-the-belt region and your face. Its travel-safe design assures an air marshal won’t tackle you during in-flight shape-ups.

CleanWell All-Natural Hand Sanitizer, $4 for 1 fl. oz., malinandgoetz.com

Eliminate microbes floating about the cabin by keeping this citrusy hand sanitizer in pocket. The alcohol-free, thyme oil-enriched goop ensures even the biggest OCD freaks won’t end up with parched palms.

Jack Black All-Over Wash For Face, Hair And Body, $9 for 3 oz., getjackblack.com

You can’t join the mile high club with a body like Linus. Give grime a quick departure using this triple-duty tube (infused with hydrating sea kelp) that lathers up your mug, your mop top and physique. It’s one ménage a trois your girl can get down with.

Juniper Ridge Elk Meadows Solid Perfume, $65, juniperridge.com


Leave the double-baggies to grocery clerks and invest in a fragrance that’ll quell those fears of BP-esque cologne spills. This version boasts top notes of fresh snow, citrus and high-mountain meadow. In other words: A well-deserved vacation.

Instead of chucking random ingredients into a pitcher at the eleventh hour, whip up one of these mixtures guaranteed to leave you and your guests bowled over

[WHISKEY] IRISH SUMMER SOUR

You may think the chest-scraping heat of brown water is best left in winter. But when mixed with lemon, lime and sugar, the sting softens and a grownup Country Time thirst-quencher is born. Make like Gucci Mane (minus the choke outs) and cosign all yellow everything.

1 part Jameson Irish Whiskey; ½ part lime juice; ½ part lemon juice; sugar (1/4 cup per 6 oz. of booze); orange slices; Mix, stir, serve over ice



[RUM] HURRICANE

Ready to flip a lame fiesta into a Category Five fete? This Nawlins nectar boasts a booze-muting combo of citrus and grenadine. Sublimely sweet and potent yet sippable (think an alcoholic’s Hawaiian Punch), it’s the beverage of choice among the stumbling Bourbon Street set. Double your batch and friends will bum rush the bowl for fourths and fifths.

1 part Bacardi (light); 1 part Mount Gay Rum (amber); ½ part lime juice; ¼ orange juice; ¼ grenadine; Maraschino cherries, pineapple

[GIN] TOM COLLINS

Gin and Juice belongs on your party playlist, not in your punch bowl. Instead, ride out the next scorcher with this crisp gin upgrade. Though it’s laced with lemons, it’s not just another liquored up lemonade. The juniper berry-based gin, cherries and orange slices mellows the yellow fruit flavor, making this mash-up taste more like a stiff Sprite, sans bubbles and bad ad campaigns.

2 parts Beefeater Gin; 1 part fresh lemon juice; ¼ part simple syrup (4 parts sugar and 8 parts water), or Agave Syrup (hit up Whole Foods); Orange slices, maraschino cherries; Combine, stir, pour over ice



[TEQUILA] POLOMA PUNCH

No more knocking back Patron on a stifling summer night. There’s a reason you don’t hear blenders buzzing in Mexico City barrios—they’re swilling this tart, bitter drink that replenishes like Gatorade. The tequila delivers a cool buzz, the soda douses your dehydration, and the salt re-ups the sodium you sweat out while attempting the Smurf dance on the deck.

2 parts Jose Quervo Tradicional Tequila; ½ part lime juice; 1 part Jarrito Grapefruit Soda; Few pinches of salt; Few dashes rhubarb bitters; lemon slices; Combine, stir, serve over ice