With our bags, camera gear and phones all packed up, our travels would not be complete without a lot of preparation to ensure that not a moment is missed. From chargers, cases, and mounts, each of these accessories have helped to ease our travels and provided us with more convenience and efficiency in today’s modern day technology. After all, you don’t always have the luxury to re-capture those priceless moments again.
Here are some of our travel essentials that we recommend that everyone bring for every travel destination:
1. Belkin Mini Surge Protector/Dual USB Charger — In conjunction with a travel adapter, we could charge several electronics at one time with our Belkin surge protector. We couldn’t function without our Belkin mini surge protector. What makes it better than a power bar, is the fact that it has two USB ports to charge cameras and phones. Plus, the surge protector also helps to ease our minds since power outages and surges can potentially occur any place in the world. This gadget safeguards our electronics from being potentially being fried.
2. International plug adapters — In combination with the above Belkin Surge protector, we use these plug adapters when visiting foreign countries as the electric voltage is different from the standard North America plug type. So this really goes hand-in-hand with the Belkin Surge protector because there is nothing worse than having to charge only 1 electronic device at a time! By using both, allows us to charge up to 5 devices at a time!
3. Portable power bank USB charger —There are so many options and choices of power banks to choose from and no matter what you buy, you can’t go wrong for the sole purpose of charging your device on the go! Imagine you’re in a beach, capturing some videos of your kids playing in the sand and you’ve forgotten to charge your phone and suddenly out of battery for the rest of the day! These power banks are life savers and a must when travelling because you can never guarantee that there is an outlet wherever you go. These things are so popular, you can even buy them at convenience stores / gas stations!
4. Universal Air Vent Magnetic Car Mount Holder for Cell Phones — We’ve used this a lot on our road trips! If we know we are going to do a lot of driving in a country, we make sure to bring this tiny guy along to help hold our phones up, which we uses as our GPS guide. We not only use this for our travels but also on our routine day to day vehicle in our hometown. Super convenient to look at directions when it’s right in front of you! And more importantly, you can’t go wrong with it since it’s so tiny and discreet that you can easily pack it in your bag to go.
5. Dual USB Car Charger — just like a his & hers closet, we bring this when we know we are going for long drives and if we need to charge 2 cellphones at a time. It also works with tablets which makes things convenient on the go. Not all rental cars have the modern day conveniences of a USB port built in, so bringing something like this would give you peace of mind you won’t ran out of juice! On another note, this actually charges your devices much faster than the built-in USB ports in a car, so bonus points there!
6. iPhone underwater case — no matter where we go in the world, swimming is always a leisure activity that we make sure to plan in our itinerary. And just because we plan to get wet, doesn’t mean we stop capturing memories in the water! Tons of waterproof case options out there for whatever phone you have, but after researching and reading reviews out there, you just can’t go wrong with the HITCASE as it truly protects your phone from water and from high impact drops (hence the name)!! It allows us to take our iPhone up to 30 feet below! The HITCASE also features the ability to swap lenses! I love this feature since we like shooting wide angles in the water! Not only do we use this for our water adventures, but we have the ability to strap this on our chest / helmet and use it for other fun activities like snowboarding, tobogganing, or even go kart racing! We’ve used this feature a lot in the past when we go to theme parks or do certain rides where we want to capture our experiences with both our hands tied and not having to worry about filming!
7. Universal car power inverter — We would only consider bringing this item with us only during long road trips. It comes in handy a lot when we go to parks when there is no power outlet to be found anywhere! We even used it for camping to inflate our air mattresses! Definitely super handy and even comes with a few USB ports to charge other devices!