Mini Motel offers travelers portable shelter

Weather delays, flight cancellations, security checks and skyrocketing fuel costs are making it tough for airplanes to get off the ground. Frequent flyers find themselves grounded too, stuck overnight in noisy, cavernous airports waiting for the blizzard over Pittsburgh to relent. No lodging, no blankets, no privacy and no sleep—unless you happen to bring your own Mini Motel.

Frank Giotto, a frequent business traveller, developed the Mini Motel after too many grounded flights and sleepless nights. The 4.7-pound, one-person shelter includes an air mattress, pillow, bed sheet, alarm clock, reading light, toothbrush, ear plugs and eye shades. Once assembled, the temporary shelter is 80 inches long, 25 inches wide and 35 inches high in the head and upper-body area. This $50 home-away-from-home package is for indoor use only, but has other applications, including private accommodations for emergency responders, people in shelters, visitors, adventurous vacationers and more. Visit the Web site for Mini Motel Inc., Oriskany, N.Y., at www.minimotel.net for more information.