Time for tea

By Lylah M. Alphonse, Globe Staff, 11/17/02

		Sensible traveler  Destinations  Where they went  Travel gear

You don’t have to resort to musty muslin bags of stale tea when you’re on the road. Starbucks offers a traveling tea tin that’s slim and sturdy enough to slip into your purse or pocket, and it comes with several Tazo tea bags to sample. After you’ve tasted their Awake, Zen, Lotus, Wild Sweet Orange, Calm, and Refresh blends, pick a favorite and replenish your tin before your next trip. It costs $7.95 and is available at many Starbucks stores, online at www.starbucks.com, or by calling 800-782-7282.

Casio offers a water- and shock-resistant television set that you can take with you to the pool (or the game, if you don’t have great seats!). Its 2.7-inch anti-glare LCD screen gives a sharp picture with vivid colors; the telescoping antenna catches VHF and UHF signals. There’s a jack for your headphone, so you won’t disturb the people who don’t want to hear the broadcast. It’s tiny (6 inches wide, 2 inches deep, and 3 inches high), runs on 4 AA batteries and weighs less than 2 pounds. The TV costs about $189 and is available from Frontgate (telephone 800-626-6488) and Hammacher-Schlemmer (800-543-3366), and online at www.frontgate.com; www.hammacher.com; www.buy.com; www.livingincomfort.com/cas27hanporc.html; and www.shoplite.com/sy-30.htm.

Leave those precious family photos at home where they won’t get lost or damaged. With Ofoto, you can show off the baby pictures without bringing them with you. A subsidiary of Kodak, Ofoto is an online photography service that allows you to store and share your pictures easily, once they’ve been uploaded to the site, you can edit, crop, or add borders and special effects before making as many prints as you need. You can make personalized calendars, pick out picture frames, and even create greeting cards. There’s no fee to join, but you pay $3.95 per roll for your 35mm or Advanced Photo Systems film, including that from single-use cameras, to be developed and scanned into their system; digital photographers simply use the free software available on the site to upload their images. All of your photos get stored online in password-protected albums that you can send via e-mail to your family and friends. For more information, or to join, visit www.ofoto.com.