Our friends of 1Cover Travel Insurance inspired us to create this top 10 list of most useful gadgets for travellers. As any top 10 list it’s open to debate, but we have created this list from our own travel experiences. We wouldn’t leave home without some of these gadgets.
Never leave New Zealand without.... Checking our top 10 gadgets list
However we aren’t that much of a bunch of geeks, so not every item in our top 10 list is an electronics item. Gadgets for travellers can be anything that helps us on our travels or makes life easier for us.
Never leave home without our top 10 list of travel gadgets
Our top 10 list of gadgets that are perfect for travelling is probably a bit different from what you were expecting. Putting things like iPad, smartphone, or laptop on it is a bit too obvious as so many of you have that stuff already. We focussed on different, smaller, and cheaper things. Things that make travelling more fun. Gadgets that make using the geeky gadgets mentioned above easier overseas.
1. MP3 player, iPod, or anything that holds heaps of music
As music lovers we can never go anywhere without a MP3 player filled with our favourite tunes. Plus it’s the perfect gadget for taking home music you have discovered on your overseas trip. Don’t buy CDs overseas (they take up too much space in your bags), simply download the new tunes straight onto your MP3 gadget.
Sony NWZ-S544 8GB MP3 Player – Black
2. Great music, starts with great headphones/earphones
Always make sure you have great headphones to enjoy your music. And great doesn’t mean you have to buy the super duper expensive ones. Just don’t buy the cheapy cheapy ones. The advantage of great headphones is that you can use them anywhere, for instance on the planes. So much better than the one-size-fits-no-one-headsets that the airlines give you. Plus you can enjoy the music and movies for much longer as they always collect their headset well in advance before landing.
iBeats Headphones with ControlTalk – White
3. Handy gadgets come in small packages: airline headphone adapter
Using your own headphones on an airplane means that you have to plug your single 3.5mm male jack plug into a twin 3.5mm female jack plug. It fits, but doesn’t give you a stereo sound (if you fiddle with it, it might worlk). Simply bring your own airline jack plug adapter, so you have the best stereo sound possible on any airline. These adapter plugs cost less than NZ$10 and are so worth their money.
Airline Headphone Adapter
4. Bring your memories home: digital camera
Again a quality gadget in a small form factor. Making snap shots and uploading them on Facebook, Pinterest, or whatever medium is fun for you but also fun for the mates back home. Share your travel fun with everyone who’s not with you on your OE. Perfect.
LUMIX 12.1 MegaPixel Digital Camera – Black
5. Heaps of memories on a single memory card
Buy a good quality SDHC memory card that can hold heaps of photos, either 16GB or 32 GB. For instance, if you shoot photos at 8 mega-pixels you can store 5,080 photos on a 16GB memory card and at least 10,000 photos on 32GB. Make sure you check whether your camera can handle these high GB memory cards.
32GB SDHC SecureDGTLSD MEM Card
6. Protect your gadgets, but travel in style: laptop bag
Who isn’t travelling with laptop, netbook, smartphone, or tablet? We all know why it’s so important to protect your gadgets. Or haven’t you seen this damaged smartphone photo? A special laptop bag will definitely help. Plus you’ll be sure you have all your carry-on stuff with you on the plane. No longer searching for a loose item.
Dots Mine™ Laptop Bag
7. Love your tablet computer, love your sleeve
Another important style item, a sleeve for your iPad or Android tablet computer. You don’t want to hide a sleek and sexy device like a tablet in an ugly sleeve. Oh and yep, it protects your iPad tablet perfectly.
Chloe Dao by Nuo Sleeve for MacBook Air 11″/iPad/Tablets
8. Shop till you drop and no excess luggage fee
Shopping overseas is an amazing experience. Massive shopping centres in the USA or Europe, where you can find awesome deals on heaps of stuff. So one of the most useful gadgets (and most simple gadgets) is a lugage scale. It’s small, light-weight, and doesn’t cost much. And as you can use it to weigh bags, backpacks, and suitcases you always know how much weight you are carrying. No surprises at the check-in desk at the aiport. No more excess luggage fees.
Salter Electronic Luggage Scale No9500
9. Travel light, travel with just one power adapter plug
As there are many different countries and cultures around the world, there are also many different power plugs. You can’t just plug in your New Zealand power plug. With this Swiss Army knife of power plug adapters, you are prepared for almost any kind of power plug system worldwide.
Beware, a plug adapter like this doesn’t convert voltage levels. But who needs a voltage converter nowadays? Almost any electronic device can deal with both 110V and 230V. Have a look at the back of your gadget or its manual. Therefore a simple 4-in-1 power plug adapter is sufficient. No worries.
Universal 4-in-1 Travel Adapter
10. Protect your iPad and stay busy on the road
A real travelling geek demands more than just an iPad cover. There’s more to it than just protecting the device. An iPad is for using, wherever you go. So the real workaholic travelling geek wants to stay busy on the road as well. Therefore a keyboard for iPad like this is the perfect gadget for these travelling geeks.
iPad Keyboard and Stand
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