The travel industry is almost back to full force. While the atmosphere might not be the same as it was pre-pandemic, traveling still presents a fascinating opportunity for many people, especially considering how we couldn’t travel much for almost three years.
However, traveling—or the packing and planning aspect of it—can be really stressful. Making a packing list for clothes, medication, and tech essentials is helpful for many people. After all, when you’ve got a list to follow, you’re less likely to overpack and stress out about things you might have forgotten.
To help ease you back into travel mode, we’ve prepared a list of 10 gadgets every traveler generally needs to get through any type of trip, regardless of whether you’re off on a city or beach vacation.
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Travel adapter
Possibly the most crucial gadget on this list, a travel adapter is essential for charging all your devices in whichever country you’re in.
Some travel adapters, like the Mogics Power Donut or Bagel, do double duty, serving as a travel adapter and USB charger. Both adapters are extendable, allowing you to quickly charge your tech items wherever you might be in your hotel room.
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Portable charger
These days, many smartphones are equipped with long battery lives, allowing them to last an day entire without additional charge. However, it’s always wise to pack a portable charger with you whenever you travel in case of an emergency.
Apps like Google Maps, Instagram, and Spotify take up a lot of power, and they’re essential for travelers wanting to navigate or update social media as they go about their journey.
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Wired headphones
Before you scoff at this recommendation, it’s worth understanding that most airplane entertainment systems still require passengers to plug a wired headset into their media players to watch films and TV shows.
Plus, wired headphones are just really reliable. You no longer have to worry about them running out of battery or being disconnected midway because of interference. Many wired headphones also have active noise-canceling functions, so you can watch films uninterrupted.
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Wireless Bluetooth headphones
While we’re fans of wired headphones, we also know the benefits of wireless Bluetooth-enabled headphones. If you can afford to own both wireless and wired headphones, it’s worth considering purchasing both. Wireless headphones are perfect for when you’re discovering a new city and want to keep your hands free.
Plus, having spare headphones is always handy.
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Relevant cables
Packing the necessary cables for all your electronics can be a pain, but it’s worth it. Many experienced travelers recommend packing an extra cable for your smartphone because it’s the device you’ll rely on most when traveling.
While purchasing a new cable wherever you’re in is always an option, having your cables is more economical.
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Electronic lock
Luggage bags and other travel bags generally have in-built TSA-approved locks, and while it’s excellent, they might not always guarantee safety.
This, coupled with the fact that you’ll need to remember a pin, can be quite a hassle. This is why many travelers are turning to electronic or biometric locks that remove the need to rely on memory. The Benjlock is a portable biometric padlock that can be used on check-in or carry on luggage and lasts up to an entire year on a single charge.
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A VPN
While it’s not a hardware gadget per se, a virtual private network (VPN) is still a worthy item on this list.
A VPN reroutes your internet connection through an encrypted tunnel, disabling hackers and other malicious third party from accessing your data or seeing your online activities. It’s particularly useful as well if you want to tap on public Wi-Fi that might not be safe while out and about. Owning a VPN also means that you might be able to catch some of your favorites shows from back home on your preferred streaming service provider.
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Wireless trackers
During the summer months, many travelers were stuck at airports all over Europe because their luggage went missing.
While there isn’t much you can actually do when an airline loses your luggage, it might give you some peace of mind if you know where your luggage is. If you want to know where your lugagge could be, getting a wireless tracker like the ones from Tile or Apple could be helpful.
When you’re done with your trip, you can repurpose these trackers and attach them to things like your keys or even your wallet to track them if you have a tendency to forget where you’ve placed them.
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Portable UV light sanitizer
The pandemic has definitely shed some light on the importance of personal hygiene and ensuring that all your items are kept clean. To help travelers take care of themselves, portable UV light sanitizers are now available for people to sanitize items that might be difficult to disinfect with liquid sanitizers, like their smartphones, wireless headphones, and other electronic devices.
These UV light sanitizers are also great for disinfecting hotel or hostel surfaces, too.
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A pouch to keep things neat
Lastly, you’re going to want to get a pouch to keep all your electronic gadgets neat and tidy. Owning a pouch with dedicated slots for cables, plugs, and smaller items like memory cards and adapters could prevent them from being misplaced and storing your cables properly could prevent them from getting tangled or damaged.
With our list of tech gadgets, you’re all set to travel now. As mentioned above, packing is the least exciting part of the trip but having a comprehensive list of items you might need will help make the process so much easier.
