Friday, January 1, 2010

Things you should never forget to take along Part 1

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!! To many it's probably just another day but it's just another day of the beginning of something new. 2010 is going to be a blast, I promise!

Since Lydia started her little section on essentials for traveling, I decided to also share some tips, simply based on experience. Hopefully this will help my partners in crime and others alike!

When traveling, there are the basics you would need, like your passport, sufficient funds in the correct currency (or your plastic) and your own toothbrush. But then there are little things that people tend to forget or not consider. I will try to put this into installments as things pop to mind, but here is my number one favorite, something I would not be able to live without.

PLUG ADAPTERS

The first thing you would probably notice upon entering a hotel and wanting to charge your camera or phone, is that the power points are..., yes, very different. In Europe, they use a 2-round pin socket so you would need to get an adapter like in the picture above. Your best bet is to purchase one of those that comes with all the different pins for use all over the world and bring whatever you need depending on where you are traveling to. Most hotels (not hostels) provide plug adapters but it is always best to carry one if not more of your own. (As you can see in the picture above, I actually travel with 3!) Without the adapter, you would be battery dead and I can guarantee that will not be fun.

Now wait, that is not all .Europe runs on 220V which is good for us traveling from Malaysia as our power supply is at 240V to begin with, so there is no need to worry about step-down transformers and the lot. If you are however coming from Japan or America (100-110V) then you should make sure that your chargers and gadgets are universally adapt, or you would need a step-down transformer which are actually quite a pain to travel with. Most gadgets today are made to take power input from 100-240 so it is usually your power chord or charger that should match the power input of your destination, so just check on that and buy the appropriate chargers before you leave. They usually are pretty cheap.

And with this you are set to get your phone, camera, computer, hair dryer, ipod working throughout your stay away from home!

4 comments:

Vania Moreira said...

How do you have time to blog while travelling??? About the plug adapters, I couldn't agree more! During my last trip to Europe, I was lucky to find a universal "all in one" adapter that can be used in the USA, Europe and U.K.! It's a kind of cube, with holes and pins, and sockets. They stay "hidden", you touch the specific bottom and they appear! Another good thing is to have cameras and cell phones that have also universal chargers.

Nora said...

Hi Vania! That sounds like a very funky all-in-one adapter!! We are not so sure if we will be able to blog as we travel but that is what 3G and cellphones are for these days. ;) The least we could do it to post pictures of our exploits. Hope to see you around here.

Lydd said...

Hi Vania, thanks for dropping by! :) After reading your tip, I made it a point to look for them all-in-one adapter, and guess what, I did! Yay! :D

I'll be taking my laptop with me, as well as my iPhone, so hopefully I'll have the chance to update the blog as we go along :)

Vania said...

Great girls! I’m following you! Nora, the techies today are really amazing, specially the 3G one! Lydd, now you have your own all-in-one adapter “cube”, it’s great, isn´t it? By the way, thanks for visiting my blog and for leaving a nice comment!
Ok girls keep working but mainly having fun!
Cheers!