So Christmas has been and gone, the telly is swamped with adverts for new sofas and you guessed it, holidays!! But what does a gadget-obsessed traveller need? check out the 7 best travel gadgets you need and you can be safe knowing your suitcase and hand luggage has the best tech you need!
You’re right, I’m going on holiday what are the best travel gadgets?
Universal Travel Adapter
We take a lot of gadgets with us, so in those foreign countries we need power to charge those phones, ipads and whatever else. So it would make sense to have one charger that can provide us with power no matter which country we are calling our temporary home.
This should not just be on the best travel gadgets it should on the vital travel gadgets.
You will have adapters that can charge multiple devices at once, but be warned to check the local voltage because if you charge 3 devices at say 110v your charger will generate a lot of heat and burning down your holiday let just might make you lose your security deposit!!
- Pay about £20-£70. spend more if you want to power a mac book for instance
- Beware Cheap Ali Baba crap see note above regarding burning down your accommodation
- Tip Look for chargers with G.A.N technology. See my post on chargers here to explain.
Power Banks
So, you’ve travelled to the airport, waited to check in, waited to go through security, waited some more, then waited for the gate to open and finally, you get to your seat on the plane before your 5 hour flight, ‘let’s have a quick game of angry birds before take off, your phone shows you the dreaded symbol of DEAD BATTERY! noooo!! But you need your phone for your car hire voucher and the address of your villa, put ineloquently… you’re screwed!
You need an emergency power back up, depending on your holiday theres 2 options for you here. You can just buy a standard powerbank i suggest you get one in the region of 20,000 mAh which in my experience should give your ipad about 5 hours of additional uptime.
If you’re going camping or somewhere totally off grid you can try a solar power bank which as the name suggests can be charged by the Sun!! But be warned these will only be charged either very very slowly or in the case of the solar back up power devices, will only provide your phone with enough power to make an emergency phone call, so you can forget about live streaming yourself jumping off that waterfall!!
- Pay About £30 depending on the capacity
- Beware Low capacity powerbanks or cheap solar ones
- Tips Get the lightest but most powerful one and remember to charger it for the way home!!
Waterproof Phone Case
We love waterparks don’t we? I’ll tell you who dosen’t love waterparks your beautiful new £900 phone!! As most places now either insist on you having entry tickets for attractions on your device or when you’re actually in the waterpark they don’t take cash which to me seems insane so you have to take your phone with you end of story.
The option of sticking your phone down the front of your speedoes whilst on the slides is no no, so you need a waterproof case for your phone, most you can use the screen through the case and use the NFC to pay for stuff or access your park tickets.
- Pay £5-£15 or probably £1000 in a Disney park!!
- Beware Check the reviews if you’re buying cheap off Amazon they might leak!!
- Tips make sure your case has a strong lanyard because if you like violent water slides your phone might end up in the filters!!
Noise Cancelling Headphones
Holidays are a time for relaxing and whats better to destroy the early hours of your holiday than either a screaming baby or a boring passenger sitting next to you that wants to talk to you about how much cheese has gone up by in the last 12 months.
Solution… noise cancelling headphones!! this way you can blot out the screaming and send unspoken hints out that you don’t want to be disturbed!!
- Pay depending on your budget anywhere from £30 to £300!!
- Beware of buying cheap crap that sounds like cats getting tortured!!
- Tips buy a decent brand and you’ll get your monies worth when you get home.
Luggage Tracker
You get off the plane, go through passport control and boom the worst happens, everybody else is loading their rental cars up with their bags and you’re still there at the baggage carousel looking at an empty rotating belt..your has gone to a destination that only God himself knows.
Its not your fault and the problem isn’t going away, check these risk factors of checking your luggage here
Although not a solution, a GPS luggage tracker will definitely make it on to the best travel gadgets list. A small gps device that will track your luggage that you can see through an app in real time, believe me this could save you having to shell out on a Bermuda shirt/shorts combo for every day as you can give the airline your bags exact location so hopefully you’ll be reunited with your favourite underpants sooner rather than later.
You could also use the tracker (or Apple Air tag) to leave in your hire car whilst your out and about just in case you get a little lost in the middle of Marbella for instance and you can’t remember where you’ve parked your rented Fiat 500 in periwinkle blue!!!
- Pay £20 to £40
- Beware make sure you don’t buy one that charges you to access the location
- Tip If you’ve got a apple airtag for you keys, use that instead save the £30 or so for 2 drinks on the plane!!
Go-Pro or Action Camera
This may seem an uneccessary luxury to be on a best travel gadgets list, but the last time we went to Florida I literally filled a SD card with memories even if its just whilst your messing about in the pool, on big roller coasters or in the water park my Go-Pro 8 captured some great footage.
Theres some super good value accessories out there now you don’t have to spend massive money on original Go-Pro stuff. Have a look on amazon.
Conclusion
This list may not cover every eventuality, I would of mentioned multi-tools or water purifiers etc but I’ve aimed my best travel gadgets list at resort based holidays rather than camping etc, last piece of advice as always, enjoy your holiday but stay safe and be aware always check foreign travel advice if you’re going somewhere unusual.
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