I began my career working for the International Finance Corporation. In hindsight, I realize it was a pretty cool job. One of the most challenging and exciting parts of the job was the travel. I'd have to hop on planes with short notice and head to places like Nicaragua, Bolivia, Uganda and Slovenia. After my time at IFC, I continued to travel for business and for adventure. I met other travelers and, through a combination of my own experiences and those of others, I learned the code of the travel warrior.

The travel warrior knows how to get from Point A to Point B with minimal effort and minimum baggage. Most people travel with too much stuff or stuff that takes up too much space. It’s stressful, inconvenient and impractical. Do you want to be a travel warrior and eliminate the waste from your travel experience? Start with these very cool products and ideas.

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is one of the coolest products to have launched in the past few years. It's a fully functional computer the size of a credit card that costs only $35. It was developed by Eben Upton, Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft and University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory. Their original purpose was to develop a cheap, functional computer for educational purposes, but the current iteration of the Pi is great for travel warriors. The computer uses an SD card for a hard drive. Plug in a monitor and a keyboard, and you're all set to go.

Steripen

The Steripen is a small handheld device made by Hydro-Photon that can purify a glass of water. If you travel internationally, it’s very easy to become ill from drinking the water. The Steripen uses UV light to kill bacteria, viruses and protozoan cysts like Giardia, E. Coli, Shigella, Legionella, cholera and other very nasty stuff. The Steripen starts at less than $100.

World's Lightest Luggage

Airlines have become very stringent with weight requirements on checked baggage. The standard limit is 50 pounds, with large penalties being charged on bags that go over that limit. A standard, empty piece of luggage can weigh 15 pounds or more. In effect, you're wasting 30 percent of your available shipping weight on the container. The company “it luggage” has developed a solution to this problem with its “World’s lightest” luggage collection. Using aircraft-grade materials and creative engineering, the company has developed luggage in standard sizes that weigh as little as 2.25 pounds, with large bags weighing only 5 pounds. This can add 10 pounds or more to what you can pack, which makes a huge difference.

Ballasox

Ballasox are foldable, portable shoes. The slipper style shoes can be folded into a little, portable pouch that can fit in your pocket. So far they're only available for women. The shoes are stylish, comfortable and ideal for travel. If you want a comfortable pair of shoes to go through long airport corridors, these are a great option. If you need shoes in five different colors to match your outfits, you can take five pairs of Ballasox in the same luggage space that would occupy one pair of traditional shoes.

Are you a travel warrior? What do you travel with? Let me know in the comment section below.

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Photos: iStockphoto, Raspberry Pi, Steripen, it luggage, Ballasox