Are you sitting down? Because I have some sad news to tell you. Lonely Planet and I broke up. Now, now. Don't worry. I'm going to be fine...in time. It was for the best, really. We'll be happier now. I'm ready to play the field again, see what's out there.

What happened? Well, we got in a bit of a row while I was in Thailand. You see, LP mentioned in passing that we might experience "high winds" in Koh Samui in November. I live in San Francisco! High winds are nothing! I laugh in the face of high winds.

Today I'm stopping by The View from the Bay to do a round-up of the best summer travel gadgets. Savvy Window Seat readers already know about a few of the gizmos I'm going to talk about, but here are my top five (in no particular order):

Not all gadgets were created equal. Some are frivolous like the Mind Relaxer, some are awesome but expensive like the Amazon Kindle, and some are just right like X-ray-friendly laptop bags. If I had to recommend one travel gadget to frequent flyers, this is it.

It’s the most interesting reason for a flight cancellation I’ve seen in a while: a Japan Airlines flight was stopped yesterday after its engine "ingested" a giant luggage cart on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

The footage is pretty unbelievable—I’m not sure what I’d do if I looked out a plane’s window and saw its monster engine chowing down on a metal cart.

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Sorry to gloat, but I have a much-needed two-week vacation coming up and I’m starting to think about how to pack for the trip. My suitcase, you see, isn’t very big. In fact, it’s what you might call downright small. For the first part of my trip I’m going to be moving around from one place to the next, and so I want something light and versatile, that’s easy to carry up and down steps.

So how to pack two week’s worth of stuff into my small but well-worn suitcase? I’m going to have to be creative—and just accept that I’ll be doing laundry once or twice while on the go. Since I don’t know when or where exactly I’m going to be able to find access to a laundromat, though, there are two areas where I’m definitely not going to skimp: socks and underwear.

As for the rest, my motto’s got to be, “less is more.” I plan to employ the following strategies:

Every time I whipped out my iPhone in Thailand the locals said the same exact thing: Want to sell? I quickly realized my precious gadget was an easy target for pickpocketing and I needed to make sure I knew where it was at all times. Look, I loved Thailand, but scams and theft are a reality there.

The kicker was, I hadn’t brought my iPhone to Thailand so I could use it as an emergency phone. If that had been the case, I could have left it locked up in the safe in my hotel room and never worried about it again. No, I brought it with me because it’s my music player. And I think you’ll agree with me that I’d rather tour the world with Rachel Ray and listen to her say, “Yummo!” on repeat than travel without music.

Problem: I need a cheaper, lighter music player for my rugged adventures.
Solution: slotRadio

I've been talking about getting your passport for a few years now, but this time I really mean it.  The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has had a rolling ID ramp-up requiring passports for people who are entering the United States from Mexico, the Caribbean, or Canada.  Up until now it only mattered for people who were traveling by air.  But as of June 1st passports, NOT JUST A DRIVERS LICENCSE, will be required for entry back into the US.

Since I’m the self-elected travel-gadget guru on the Window Seat, I’d like to take a moment to offer up my latest techno-savvy travel tip: buy an e-book. I recently got a Sony Reader as a gift and it has revolutionized my life. Plus, Amazon is releasing the Kindle 2 next Tuesday.

Call me crazy, but I’m a big proponent of airlines raising their prices a teensy bit to eliminate all these baggage fees. Wait, wait. Hear me out. It’s not that I enjoy paying more. It’s that I like to comparison shop. With extra costs that vary from airline to airline, it’s impossible to compare the prices of flights at a glance. (Though sites like Airfare Watchdog do try to help.) This is the same strategy mattress stores use. They rename their mattresses so you can’t compare them to those carried by competitors. Their Sleep-O-Matic might be called the Snooze Xpress across town and you’d be none the wiser if the prices were different.

I don’t think I’m particularly vain—I clogged across three continents in Crocs, for goodness’ sake—but I really hope I look a little different in everyday life than I did when I was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. You know, just...not dirty?

Maybe, though, the difference between mountain me and city me isn’t as apparent as I would hope. The other night I—wearing a dress, heels, and jewelry—met up with some friends who’d hiked the mountain with me, and we found ourselves in need of a corkscrew. “It’s okay,” one of them said, “Michelle has one on her Swiss Army knife.” I had to explain that I do not, in regular life, hook a Swiss Army knife onto a carabiner and attach it to a daypack before setting off to dinner. And, I added, not only was I not carrying a daypack et al, I didn’t even have pockets, let alone giant stow pockets in which to stuff gadgets.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member 80 Ways Tim