I’ve logged over two decades of business travel — domestic sprints, international marathons, red-eyes, middle seats, missed connections, and more hotel rooms than I can count. I built this site because I got tired of reading gear reviews written by people who clearly never dragged a bag through three airports in one day.
– Rex Boardman
The Rex Boardman Story
Rex Boardman has spent the better part of twenty years crisscrossing the country — and the globe — for work in the technology industry. What started as an occasional business trip evolved into a lifestyle: one to two trips per month, a mix of domestic and international, elite status on multiple airlines, and an encyclopedic knowledge of which airport lounges are actually worth it.
Based in Dallas-Fort Worth, Rex has launched from DFW more times than he can count — connecting through hubs, jumping time zones, and navigating everything from Tokyo to Toronto, Frankfurt to Fort Lauderdale. Along the way he has bought a lot of gear. Some of it was outstanding. A lot of it was garbage. LayoverGear.com exists to help you skip straight to the good stuff.
Rex on the Road — By the Numbers
- 20+ years of business travel
- 1 to 2 trips per month — domestic and international
- Elite status on multiple airlines
- TSA PreCheck and Global Entry
- Hundreds of flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth
- Cities visited: Tokyo, Toronto, Frankfurt, London, and dozens more
What Rex Actually Reviews
After two decades on the road, Rex has strong opinions about everything that touches a business trip. He reviews gear the way a road warrior actually evaluates it — not in an unboxing video, but after six months of real use across a dozen trips.
- Luggage and Bags — carry-ons, backpacks, packing cubes. What actually fits in the overhead bin and survives the carousel.
- Tech and Connectivity — eSIMs, power banks, noise-canceling headphones, travel routers, and the apps worth paying for.
- Security and Safety — including gear Rex buys for his family when they travel — locks, trackers, RFID wallets, and personal safety tools.
- Sleep and Comfort — because arriving rested is a competitive advantage. Travel pillows, eye masks, and everything that actually works on a long-haul flight.
- Hotel and Lounge Hacks — the gear and memberships that make time between flights actually productive.
- Wrinkle-Free and Packable Clothing — because showing up to a client meeting looking like you slept in your bag is not an option.
Travel Is a Family Value
Rex does not just travel for work — travel is woven into the fabric of his family’s life. Every year the Boardmans take at least one full family vacation and one couples trip, just Rex and his wife. Travel is not something that happens to them. It is something they choose, plan, and look forward to together.
That means Rex evaluates gear across every possible travel scenario — brutal work sprints through three airports in a single day, chaotic family adventures with kids in tow, and romantic getaways that call for an entirely different kind of packing list. When he recommends something on this site, it has been tested in all three contexts. That is a perspective you will not find on most travel gear blogs.
LayoverGear Covers Every Kind of Trip
- Work Travel — optimized for speed, efficiency, and arriving ready to perform
- Family Vacations — tested with real kids on real trips, gear that survives the chaos
- Couples Getaways — lighter, smarter packing for trips that actually help you disconnect
- Women’s Travel Safety — gear Rex personally researches and buys for his wife, no compromises
I don’t review gear I got for free. I review gear I bought with my own money because I needed it to work. If it failed me at 6am in a foreign airport with a dead phone and a 7am meeting, you’ll know about it. If it’s been in my bag for three years and still performs perfectly, you’ll know about that too.
– Rex Boardman
Why LayoverGear?
There’s no shortage of travel gear content on the internet. Most of it is written by bloggers who took one trip to Cancun and suddenly became experts. Rex Boardman is not that guy.
LayoverGear.com is built on two decades of real road warrior experience — the kind you only get from actually living this lifestyle, month after month, year after year. Every recommendation comes from genuine use, genuine money spent, and genuine opinions. No fluff. No filler. No gear that didn’t earn its spot in the bag.
— Rex Boardman Founder · LayoverGear.com · Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas