Atlantica - 01.06.2006, Page 29

28 AT L A N T I CA
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By Sara Blask
ATTENTION PASSENGERS
Gone are the days of tome-length to-do lists
before your international flight. No more visits
to the old fogey luggage store for a clunky suitcase,
no more frantic trips to the drugstore for travel-sized
bottles of shampoo, and certainly no more last
minute stops to your local bookstore for a map and a
pocket-sized French dictionary.
Innovative and retro-modern travel store Flight
001 (pronounced: flight one) was conceived out of
these very frustrations. Former fashion designers-
cum-entrepreneurs John Sencion and Brad John
got so fed up with the piles of time they wasted
preparing for international business trips that they
decided to turn a jetsetter’s nightmare into a dream.
The result: sophisticated travel shopping in one store
that’s as streamlined as the Concorde itself. “It’s our
idea to sort of go back to the glamour days of travel,”
John Sencion says. “Now it feels like a cattle call.”
Its namesake, Flight 001, is inspired by PanAm’s
Flight 001, the world’s first seamless transcontinental
carrier which ruled westbound travel for nearly 40
years. Originating in San Francisco, the flight wound
its way around the globe via Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong
Kong, Bangkok, Delhi, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt, and
London, before finally landing in New York 48 hours
later. With their curved white walls and soft lighting,
Flight 001’s retail stores located in New York, San
Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dubai, bear a
striking resemblance to the inside of a 747 fuselage.
But if perusing the actual shelves requires adding
a leg to your trip, log onto www.flight001.com for
one-click shopping. Jetsetters, indulge. Here are our
13 favorites.
Hideo 20: Stow your life’s belongings in style with award-winning
Japanese designer Hideo Wakamatsu’s hardshell carry-on trolley.
Fellow travelers will be envious when they notice that its silent
moving wheels won’t squeak a peep as you wheel your sleek,
lightweight, and mirror-finished box of perfection into the aisle.
Bonus: with six [very] bright colors from which to choose, you
can be assured that your luggage will be the last to go missing.
USD 210.
2-Zip Dopp: Problem solved! You no longer have to cram your
toiletries into a tiny, dysfunctional dopp kit. Inside this bestseller
is a zippered mesh pouch for the small stuff, and on the outside
is a handy double zipper that spares you the headache of having
to squeeze it closed with two hands while you zip with the other.
Comes in tons of bright colors, or charcoal for the color-phobic.
USD 30.
Mobile Foodie Survival Kit: Never eat bland food on the road
or in the air again. Ever. This spice kit features 17 small containers
filled with everything from cinnamon to basil to wasabi powder, as
well as a packet of soy sauce and a mini bottle of Tabasco, which
salvages even the worst that plastic serving trays have to offer.
USD 30.
Universal Phrase Book: A usable phrase book for even the worst
linguist. This gem is an illustrated dictionary with all the common
phrases you can think of translated into six languages: French,
Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch. Uh, lo siento,
señor, hablo inglés. USD 9.95.
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