Are you itching to embark on your latest travel adventure? You’ve likely already picked out where you’ll go and what you’ll wear, but what tech should you pack? Here’s a list of the ten essential tech goods – devices, software, and accessories – you should bring along regardless of your destination.
A Travel-Ready Smartphone
While keeping in touch and posting pics is nice and all, your phone’s true travel utility lies in the apps you preload it with. The right mix of travel-savvy apps can help you with everything from securing cheap flights and accommodations to discovering the best sites, communicating with the locals, or having access to detailed offline hiking trail maps.
Luggage Trackers
Losing or having their luggage stolen ranks high on any traveler’s nightmare scenario list. Trackers offer peace of mind by providing real-time location information so you can be sure your things boarded the same flight successfully. Better yet, they have a geofencing feature that can sound an alarm as soon as the tracker moves too far away from your side.
Noise-canceling Headphones
You can control which sights to take in on your travels. The sounds? Not so much. Whether there’s a wailing baby on your flight or a snorer in your hostel room, noise-canceling headphones will let you enjoy your jams or drift off to dreamland while avoiding frustration.
An E-Reader
Vacations are the perfect time to tackle your book backlog. E-readers let you carry a library’s worth of titles inside one notebook-sized device. They’re better for your eyes than regular screens since E-ink mimics real paper, letting you read longer and fall asleep quicker without suffering the adverse effects of blue light.
eSIMs
Getting stable local reception and the best deals on internet packages meant buying and fiddling with SIM cards whenever you arrived in a different country. Let’s say you are traveling to the USA.
With an eSIM for the USA, you can get the best offers, coverage, and rates. Just settle on an itinerary, activate the appropriate package(s), and enjoy hassle-free international connectivity.
A Power Bank
The last thing you want is to be caught in Patagonia or the Australian Outback without a reliable backup power source. Modern power banks are compact enough to fit inside any travel pack yet have enough ports and energy to charge multiple devices several times over. You can even charge some of them using solar power, although that’s still supplementary.
A Universal Adapter
Even the best power banks eventually run out of juice. This is not a problem if you’re traveling locally, but it’s definitely a problem if you’re touring countries with different plugs, sockets, and voltages than your own. Bring along a universal power adapter with the appropriate attachments, and this will no longer be a concern.
An Action Camera
Smartphone photo-taking capabilities are so good now that you don’t need to bring a standalone camera to get stunning travel shots. Action cameras are anything but standard, however.
You can secure them to your head, chest, canoe, or bike and capture high-quality wide-angle footage with a unique perspective. Moreover, a rugged exterior and voice commands make them convenient and safer in extreme situations.
Passkeys
Passwords are the first and default account security measure, but they have shortcomings. The likelihood of reusing or resorting to simple passwords increases with the number of accounts one has. Compromising one suddenly puts them all at risk.
Passkeys are a more recent, more secure development. Switching over to them eliminates the need to remember and type in passwords. This makes associated accounts resistant to phishing while combating the dangers of unsecured networks like public Wi-Fi since there are no credentials to steal. If your services and password manager support it, consider switching to passkeys before departing.
A Smartwatch
Smartwatches are game-changers when it comes to portable utility and security. On the one hand, they can provide guidance, fitness tracking, and entertainment on your journeys. On the other, they can monitor your health, detect when you fall, and alert emergency services even when you can’t reach your phone.