Last week I was contacted by Fabio Virgi who asked if I would promote his top 7 gadget essentials infographic on the blog. Whilst I am always open to collaboration opportunities and working with fellow travel bloggers, I actually thought this was a worthwhile topic to discuss as tech gadgets have become so important in everyday life now!
It was only five years ago that I went backpacking with my beaten up Blackberry and my miniature pink Dell laptop. Both were frustrating slow, but somehow I still managed to upload all of my travel snaps (sometimes after several attempts, mind you!) and maintain my blog, albeit in a very premature state at that time! Nowadays, however, my hand-luggage is brimming with i phones, cameras, i-pads, various cables and leads, i-pods (can you guess I'm an Apple fan!?) and numerous other tech items. So, with my growing reliance on the likes of Google maps (coupled with my decreasing skills in map-reading!) and Trip Advisor and a baby on the way (thus justifying even more ‘Googling' and ‘reviewing'), I thought this infographic was one worth a share!
7 Gadget Essentials To Travel With – An infographic by Fab Meets World and Let's Talk Tech
Taking the tablet along with me is a recent edition to my hand-luggage items. Previously I relied on my phone a lot and I often still do. However sometimes the little one is big enough to be distracted by cartoons and games!
My husband and I also recently purchased a honeymoon to the Galapagos. Now I look back at my photos and kick myself because the quality is not as good as what I take now! We currently only have the one lens (yes, I know-complete amateurs!), but we plan on buying more. We also plan on buying a Tripod. This all means extra ‘tech' gear in the hand-luggage!
As for headphones, did you know that some airlines now give free in-flight entertainment, but they charge you for headphones!? Well if you didn't it's worth taking some along with you! Plus the in-flight headphones are always made of cheap plastic anyway which hurts my ears after a while. Whilst I haven't splashed out on any fancy head phones just yet, my husband swears by them. He always takes his Beats on the flight not only to listen to music/watch movies, but also to help him sleep as they are great at noise cancelling. I will have to monitor this once we're travelling with baby though… otherwise I'll be the one awake with the baby all flight!
Likewise, my husband is far more of a music expert than I am. As a result he always has a stash of the best music for any given moment- tropical, zen, party… you name it, he has it. We particularly appreciate the music when we can play it on a speaker over dinner whilst staying in an air b'n'b or when we are lucky enough to have a private pool. Speakers might even come in useful when we're having a sneaky evening beverage on the balcony while the baby sleeps, we might have to keep the volume down though! You can use your phone for this purpose, but it doesn't go very loud and it tends to sound a bit ‘tinny'. I recommend a tiny transportable speaker such as this .
One thing that Fabio recommends which I don't currently take with my is battery packs, although this is a great idea, I just haven't purchased any of these yet! And as for cables, I have so many of these I have filled an entire cupboard… unfortunately I don't always remember to pack them though! Lastly, I would recommend apps such as Trip Adviser, Skyscanner, Air B'n'B and Google maps. Google is my absolute life-saver when travelling, whether walking, getting the train or driving, it always shows me the way, and as a person who gets lost simply walking around the supermarket (!), this comes in VERY handy!
So, that pretty much sums up my travel tech list. As technology progresses I'm sure that this list will quickly change, but I'd love to know which tech items you take travelling- any recommendations? Especially seen as I will soon be travelling with the baby on board! If so, please leave your comments below!
Great post and great visual image! Some awesome tips! I can never travel without most of these gadgets!
Great list! I love the infographic style too. Makes for a possible print out!
Great tips! I also recommend extra SD cards and batteries for your camera.
Portable battery charges for your phone is so useful! 🙂
Great tips, I’m about to go on a trip so will keep these items in mind 🙂
I try to keep everything to a minimum including tech. Just one camera, extra batteries and a battery charger. Everything else is left at home. Travelling light is best for me. Great post though
I love my ROOST laptop stand that helps raise my Mac Air up so that I’m not hunched all the time. I get comments all the time in coffee shops about it. BEST INVESTMENT. Now I use it a a second monitor stand when I’m home. It’s collapses so it’s perfect for the digital nomad 🙂
Great list of things to pack! I’m always paranoid about forgetting chargers 🙂 Google maps is our most used app while travelling – haven’t been lost in the road for a long time now!!
Wow, love this!! I will copy this to have it in my bucket list.
I always take my tablet and camera wherever I travel. I like the idea of headphones (to block out noise on the flight) and a battery pack would be handy. Good travel gadget tips. 🙂
Thank you for including my graphic in this post Hayley! Great roundup of your own too 🙂
Personally I skip the headphones and the speakers, I enjoy listening to the local environment and music rather than bringing in my own. And instead of a tablet I prefer to bring a small netbook, that plus my phablet covers my needs pretty well. After that it’s really all about the apps.
Any apps that you would recommend?
This is a great list. When I was in Thailand some family friends gave me an external battery pack as a gift. Best gift idea ever! Even when I’m traveling super light, it’s always in my bag.
I’ve never thought of that, I’ll have to look into it! Thanks!