Now a days there is a huge list of things one must have during travel with them. Some time back we wrote about how we continued traveling far and wide after having our baby. And the secret behind it – a bunch of travel friendly products for kids and toddlers that really helped us make our life traveling with our baby super easy and convenient. Along with the tips for traveling with toddler, that we have learnt and discovered over a period of time, touch wood, now it’s a breeze traveling with our kid.
Post this , we got a lot of enquiry from our friends and readers on what other products we use during our travel in general. That add to the convenience. And also, help us be efficient with our travel plans. So, we have decided to start a series on the same. And in this first part, we introduce you to some of the electronic items that we always carry where ever we go.
PS: clicking on the product image will take you to the product page
Table of Contents
An easy and portable pen drive
Actually, a very small pen drive, which can fit in any corner of the purse. But it’s of enormous use. It helps us store the soft copy of our important documents. Including our tickets, hotel vouchers, important contact details and what not. We normally carry our laptop also along with us. So, with a pen drive we can easily transfer data & print data stepping into a cyber-cafe or using our hotel’s lobby service. This way, our useful data is at our fingertips as and when we need it. Also, not to forget – it can as well store lots of songs and some movies and videos for road trips and those boring layovers and flights :). A must have during travel.
A compact Power Bank
Universal travel charger
Memory Card
Well, after all, a holiday is all about making memories. And we all capture memories during our travel. So much so that the phone, the camera everything tends to overflow at times. (Yes, that reminds me, I do have to make some space in my camera before the next trip !!). And what helps us here is a nice memory card. Easy to carry, easy to fit and easy to store. A tiny memory card that can help us capture lots of memories during our travel. This is our next must have during travel.
Amazon Kindle
Well, this is not something you can’t do without. But this is something everyone is bound to fall in love with. Many a times, when we travel, we need books and magazines to help us fill our time. During long queues, during the airport layovers, during the road trips and even in the hotels. After all books are our best friends! Moreover, we also need them to be our guide at times. There are so many guide books available for all the places. And we can just grab one to the destination we are headed to. How amazing it will be? But imagine carrying 100s of hard copy of books with you. How will you carry them? In your limited backpack. No way! Right. That is where Kindle comes in.
I know it has many amazing features. But the ability to carry my whole library with me in one small and compact device is what overpowers everything else for me. And it is my must have during travel. I have used it everywhere I have been. When I read a book on the beach or poolside in Goa. Or when I read one on that lovely window seat at the Lodge at Wah. Or when I had one always with me during those road trips around India. (And everyday while I commute to work..well ok, I know that won’t count)
An amazing camera
One thing that none of us wants to miss at. A must have during travel far or near. We have had experience with multiple cameras. But we intend to elaborate on that sometimes later. For now, let us emphasize the fact that a camera is a must of must to carry with you. I have seen people take pictures using phone or ipad, but for me somehow, the experience doesn’t match that of a camera at all. I need one all the time. Even if I am going out just in the town to explore a new place. I have a friend who carries her camera randomly and comes up with such lovely snaps that I am completely bowled over every time I peek into her camera.
Don’t want to carry a heavy DSLR or SLR tucked in your belt or hung in your neck all the time? No problem, here is a compact one to serve most of your purposes. And also doesn’t take up much space in your luggage:
PS: Laptops are yet another integral part of our travel electronics now a days. More so for those who have to work during their travel. Here’s a read to help you decide how to choose the best laptop for you. Also, here’s a list of 10 best travel laptops for 2020.
Do help us grow our list by letting us know what other electronic essentials you carry during your travel. Do they help in making your life easier? In what possible ways? We will love to hear back from you.
Happy traveling!!
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Wow! The Pen Drive and universal adaptor sound perfect – and any of these things would make a great gift for people who travel too! On a recent trip, my sister had a very useful small electronic scale for weighing luggage – that way we could instantly check if our luggage met the weight restrictions. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it, but when travelling together, all we had to do was swap a few items so we both met the limits!
The weighing gadget is a really useful one Marion. Thanks for reminding us. Often times we keep worrying if our luggage is going to exceed the limits because we just don’t have an option to weigh them
I also bring the items on your list when I travel but not the same brands. I have not really thought of getting a Kindle yet because I still prefer to bring a book/magazine. I should probably need to consider purchasing a new camera. I have a digital camera only because I do not like to carry DSLR. The Nikon camera on your post looks good and practical. I would check it out.
Sometimes digital camera comes handy. Particularly when you don’t want to carry the bulky DSLR with you
Great post, the one thing we can’t live without is a travel power strip… we have so many things to plug in at once and usually the hostels only have one outlet per room so having a strip allows us to charge at once, along with making new friends who want to borrow an outlet 🙂
Noted Gina. It does sound as a very useful addition to the list of must haves
These are basically the travel essentials.Recently I purchased a dual usb pen drive which turned out to be a saviour as it connected both to my mobile and a laptop, making it easier to transfer files. Instead of investing separately for a kindle, I took a Samsung tablet which was multipurpose use and a eBook reader as well.However I never took a travel adapter, because that is one thing which can easily be taken from the resort/hotel reception desk.
Thats a good idea, this time around we struggled a bit to transfer the photos from mobile to laptop since the laptop was somehow not recognizing the mobile device. Having a dual USB like yours would have saved us the hassle
Huh! I like the Universal charger! I think I should get one for my next long term travel! And I don’t have kindle yet, I have hard copy books! But these are so cool, camera shouldn’t be missed out!
Correct Cathy
Great tips! Most of these, I already have in use. My universal adapter looks a lot different than that one thouh.. ha ha. It has so many parts, but it works so I’m ok with it. I totally see why this kind of posts are so valuable, like you mentioned the one with traveling with kids. When we first traveled with our baby, I went through so many blog posts about how to make traveling more comfortable.
You are right Paula. In our own case, we picked bits and pieces of information from different blogs and learnt over a period of time about these devices that can make our life easier. So, we thought to compile all our knowledge in one place to benefit other fellow travelers
Add some earphones and minus the Kindle. I tend to use my phone for the kindle app. Makes it a lot easier. Rest of course, are a must
Yes, earphones are also a must. I tried reading kindle books on phone, but returned back to my kindle because I love the experience on kindle which is so close to real book.
Great post and really useful. The power bank is so needed. The amount of times we’ve been in a remote place and electronics die. Great idea to make people aware of these things because you sometimes forget them. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Simon. Somehow, these have become necessities for us.
This is absolutely must have list of things on your travel. I had once difficulty as I forgot to travel Universal Travel adapter. I would also like to add enough memory cards for your travel pictures here.
You are right Parna..some readers suggested hard disk drive too for backup. Both memory cards and hard disk drives are great ideas
Great post and items.
I carry all of this, and all are important while traveling. Great informative post. Thanks for sharing
I carry all of these except for a Kindle. I use to be a big mystery reader, but since starting our blog, that has gone out the window. My #1 is my camera. I love my Canon Rebel!
Actually you are right. With our blog, our reading choices have also changed. But still, the reading continues for us 🙂
I actually carry an 1TB HDD with movies and stuff along with the laptop. I need to work and the entertainment is also taken care of. It is good to carry some good books but then the bag gets too heavy for its own good.
Wow..thats great. You carry your whole collection with you. I guess we should also start doing that
I don’t bring any pen drive with me, nor a power bank. But a camera is a must 🙂
These are actually must have gadgets during your travel. We tend to carry a little bigger portable charger though. There are so many things that have become essentials over the years.
You are right, there are countless things that have become essential over time 🙂
Through this blog post you have shared the quint essential electronic gadgets required but I am not too much of a camera person, so i carry a phone with a high resolution camera. It helps me get through the day!
(Ambuj Saxena)
I am not that much of a technical person. Not sure if a phone can suffice in all the situations. I prefer the camera. But if you are successfully traveling with your phone camera, I need to update my phone info 🙂
Phone suffices in most situations if the light is fine. However, for technical shots, one needs proper cameras for sure!
You are absolutely right
I agree with having a universal travel charger! I once lost mine in a country that doesn’t have Apple stores, and it was sooooo frustrating!
Oh…I can understand
I am not a reading person during my travels so Kindle not for me but yes for all others. Honestly; i was not carrying pendrives earlier on my trips but i am gonna add this for sure now. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Suruchi. Glad you find the list useful
A power bank can save you so much hassle when on the road, especially when you travel in remote areas where electricity is a luxury. I need to replace mine because it broke down, your post just reminded me that I need to do so before leaving on my next trip. And I agree, never leave without your awesome camera! 🙂
Really, a power bank has become such a need now a days that we travel far and wide to remote areas
There are so much that I would like to bring when traveling, but that is not always possible. I have worked around a system that at least works for me when it comes to electronics. It is actually only 5 electronic gears that I do bring. It is my camera, mobile phone, additional SD-card, power bank and a PC with reliable battery. With all these I know that I will be able to communicate no matter where I am as well as safely upload my photos to the cloud. Of course, I will need to find some accommodation from time to time with a fast wifi 🙂
That sounds brilliant Jesper. Great that you have got it all covered with just 5 devices.