Deciding what to take while travelling is all about priorities and the kind of holiday you want. Sometimes you simply can’t decide and might need a list to work from. From that you can decide what you want to focus on when you go abroad. We’re here to help. Whether you’re checking up on your booking details on your smartphone or getting a truly Instagrammable pic on your DSLR camera, you need these gadgets when travelling. Read on for all the details.
Noise cancelling earphones
But the time you get to your hotel room, you might be grateful for the sheer silence that comes over when you close the door. Not only is travelling tiring, but it’s noisy. You’ve got hundreds of people, even in some of the smaller airports, bustling between shops and food venues and to their gates. Then when you’re on the flight, the engines remind you harshly, that getting sleep on this vehicle takes will. To top it off, there’s always a kid with painfully popping ears letting you know just how painful it is.
Don’t be that guy who tells the kid to shut up, just make sure you pack your noise cancelling earphones. Nobody has sympathy for that guy.
We’re going with earphones rather than headphones simply due to space. If you’re planning on backpacking or are intending to fill your baggage with returning duty free goodies, you’re going to need to go smaller. Stick them in to simply block out the world, or as a means of not disturbing anyone else with that audiobook, Netflix binge, jamming sesh, etc.
e-Reader
There are bookshops littering the airports for a reason. Who doesn’t love an hour by the pool or on the beach with a novel? Whether you’re fantasizing about Julio who owns a small private island, or you’re imagining a dystopian world where you take a pill to eat, a book is a great friend while travelling.
But paper has a habit of being bulky, which isn’t much fun when trying to pack, and isn’t waterproof, which makes for a problem when the kids are having a splash fight in the pool.
An e-reader, like a Kindle, can store hundreds of books, all in one lightweight and waterproof gadget. It means the booklovers dream can be taken on holiday: more books!
Camera
Sure, we’ve all got a camera in our phone, but their quality wavers depending on the model. Even the most advanced smartphone cameras are nothing compared to a DSLR. Can you imagine going to these beautiful places and finding you can’t capture the beauty of the landscape or the culture sufficiently in your phone camera? Well, you probably can.
There is a learning curve to the DSLR, but that’s half the fun. Everyone has turned into an amateur photographer with their phone in their pocket, but you can push that even further and get creative with your photos, rather than taking the same photo of the Eiffel Tower every other tourist in France has.
Tracker
There are three common mishaps that can happen while you’re on holiday that are enough to scare any traveler: losing a bag, losing a wallet, and losing your passport. All three of them can be somewhat counteracted with a tracker. You can get a Tile Tracker or an AirTag, attach it to any high value item and track on your phone where it is. There is one caveat, in that the tracker connects via Bluetooth, which will cut out when the bag is in the belly of the plane, but once you land, you’ll be able to track down your baggage.
It’s even been known to be useful in looking after kids. Children can get distracted by something foreign, or let’s face it, you can too, and get separated in a crowd. Parents back home are sticking trackers to kid’s backpacks or as an anklet and letting them enjoy the playpark knowing that their parents not only have eyes on them, but so does their phones. This can come in handy when you are abroad and you need to find your little one without panicking.
Smartphone
Of course, it goes without saying that you will need your phone, but while travelling, your smartphone offers up more advantages than just being able to call home or check your restaurant waitlist app for the best dining experiences in town.
Having a smartphone will be especially useful, almost necessary while getting into and out of the country. We’ve already gone over how easy it is to keep track of your passport. For one thing, the tracker interfaces with your phone to find it again, but it’s also somewhere you can store a second copy of your passport and all your documents, so that you’re not stuck anywhere. Travel companies and hotels tend to send you your booking documents either via email or stored in an app, which means you aren’t carrying a whole office’s worth of documents while getting through security.
Tablet
And, of course, having essentially a smartphone, but bigger, comes with a lot of perks. The foreign TV stations are nothing to write home about, especially if there’s no subtitles, so download a VPN and tap into the TV back home on your tablet. You will have Netflix and any other subscription services you like right there in your tablet, with entertainment that can be taken poolside, or for the hotel room. Plus, a VPN will keep you safe while you’re tapping into Wi-Fi sources around the country.
It’s big enough that you can download all your books into it, you can play games on it, and you can do everything else a smartphone is needed for. Plus, it will be perfect for the kids. They can play games on long journeys or contact granny and grandpa back home and tell them all about their holiday.
Portable charger
While you’re shopping for gadgets, you’re going to need a means of charging all these gadgets. You might want to invest in a portable charger, so that you’re never stuck without your phone while out in the wide world. This is practically a necessity for backpackers, but even city goers need a portable charger. You don’t know what kind of situations you might get into abroad that a smartphone might solve. Hiking around the nearby mountains could result in you getting stranded, and you need a chopper to save you. Communicating in a rural place might be impossible, where Google translate might come in handy. Getting lost on the way to a museum might mean pulling out maps.
None of this, you can do with a brick, which is what your phone will become without charge. And depending on where you are, plugging your phone into a wall might not be an option.
Adapter
Unfortunately, chances are you’ll need another piece of tech to even do that. If you need to plug something into the wall, like a charger, a hairdryer, a kettle, etc. you’re going to need an adapter. There are different plug sockets found in different continents, and within them different countries. Because making them universal would be too simple, right?
Luckily, they’re not too expensive. You can pick up a specialized adapter in the airport for wherever you’re going, but if you’re roaming and expect to be in various places, you’d be better off getting a universal adapter. These have rods that stick out in all positions so you can charge your tech no matter where you are.