Travel Tip – Power Management
Today’s traveler carries several different kinds of powered devices. Whether smartphone, tablet, digital camera, all three, or something else they have in common that they need power. You’ll almost certainly have to recharge them while you travel.
Get and carry a travel power strip, plug adapter, and voltage converter. Also several USB power supplies, and any custom adapters you need. My current set includes a cable and USB adapter for an iPod Touch, a cable and USB adapter for a Kindle, a device specific cell phone adapter, and a device specific digital camera battery charger. They all fit in a small bag I keep in my day bag. Make sure you have plug adapters that will work where you are going – Europe is different from the US, both are different from the UK, and Africa and Australia are different from each other and all the rest.
Verify that all your powered devices will self-adjust to different current standards. The US is 60 Hz 120v power, most of UK and Europe is 50Hz 240v and will blow up powered devices that aren’t built to adjust to that power.
In the near future, I expect to be able to carry a single multi port USB adapter and a few cables, instead of the collection I need today.
For keeping track of the cords, see Travel Tips – Cord Management.