Pointless, therefore indispensable
The spirit-level keychain
A keychain with an actual spirit level built in. Ridiculous, tiny, and surprisingly practical on the road.
Defensible
The UV sterilizer and its four competitors
Five objects from the same family, five eliminations, one verdict for the whole family. No listing says how you'd even know something happened.
No
Eleven hours on a layover in Istanbul with an inflatable pillow
Eleven hours in a transit terminal, armrests welded to the frame, and an object everyone judges on a plane, exactly where it's useless.
Defensible
Thirty-four degrees in the room, five fans
One single problem, sleep. Five objects that claim to solve it, four eliminated, and a selection constraint that isn't the one you'd expect.
Indispensable
I forgot my padlock combination, the night before departure
A thousand combinations, forty minutes sitting on a bed, and a discovery more embarrassing than the memory lapse itself.
No
The silk sleeping bag liner deserves better than its reputation
A summer-camp object, a stated hundred and twenty grams, and a question you only ask yourself once you're lying down.
Defensible
A room with no clothesline, in Lisbon, in January
Two t-shirts washed in a sink, a room at fourteen degrees, five objects from the same family, and only one that doesn't add a problem.
Indispensable