Fear of the dead electronic is a powerful motivator to
research appropriate charging equipment if you are leaving the US and traveling
to a greater than 110V output country.
For an extended journey abroad, I fretted over what devices
to bring, what adapters, converters and surge protectors I would need, and how
I was going to fit everything in to my and my husband’s luggage without
exceeding the weight limit. I am not a rugged backpacker nor do I usually travel
in excess, or even moderate, luxury. I think of myself as an average, somewhat
thrifty traveler who likes to splurge once in a while. I am a woman who likes
to temper the hair frizz and stay somewhat, or rather quite a bit, on the
electronic grid when possible. When in the US, I use a hair dryer sometimes, a
flatiron often, a smartphone, e-reader, and/or computer/tablet daily. For traveling, I decided to forgo on the hair
dryer and flatiron. (Thanks to Brandon, my hairdresser, who told me I couldn’t
live without a flatiron but suggested I purchase one abroad made for the 220V
output.) This decision left me with the question of what to do about protecting
the smartphone, e-reader, computer and tablet. And yes, I wanted to pack all of
them so perhaps I am a bit more high maintenance when it comes to being wired
than I realized.
We already had one voltage converter, bequeathed to us by my
husband’s father upon his return from China, which we used successfully in
Paris during our honeymoon attached to an all-in-one plug adapter/surge
protector. Prior to this trip, however, we had never used a voltage converter
abroad and had never had any problems. But a dear friend put the fear of
disconnection in me with her story about frying her computer while using it in
Tanzania. Given my husband’s new occupation as a budding internet entrepreneur
and my desire to publish online as much rubbish as possible to amuse myself and
anyone else bored at work looking for a distraction on the web, I suspected
that we would have increased electronic needs and also be somewhat devastated
if our computers were killed by errant electricity. Therefore, I proceeded to
manically search for the best options available to us and below I have written
a summation of what I uncovered, decided on, and may now change. I have no
idea, honestly, if this will be successful or if it is excessively
overcautious, but I suppose I will update this as we move along the trip…
If you look at the fine print on the plugs for most of your
equipment (I suggest getting the magnifying glass out because the writing is
teensy-weensy), you will find that many of your items are dual or
multi-voltage, meaning they have a range of input voltages that they are
compatible with. Therefore, you may not need a voltage converter because the
plugs can tolerate up to 240V input. We have apple computers, phones and
Kindles (keyboard versions) that all have multi-voltage plugs. My husband’s
electric razor, however, only accepts a measly 125V max. Prior to all of my
panicked research, I purchased the Apple world traveler adapter kit for my
husband as a gift. I probably should have been less impulsive, but I was sucked
in or suckered by the cute packaging and the concept. The reality is that if
you are traveling to one country or locations using one type of plug, this may
be a good option. You can simply attach the adapter to your computer’s plug and
off you go. However, if you are traveling to multiple locations requiring
multiple adapters and you have a wonderful husband whose forte is not keeping
track of insignificant things like adapter plugs, then maybe this is not the
right choice for you. Also, if you are planning to plug in other items besides
your Apple computer, then you will still need additional adapters for those
items. Another potentially fatal flaw is that there is no surge protection. And
here is where my friend’s story fits in. Without a surge protector able to
withstand high voltage surges, your equipment will probably not survive, despite
having a multi-voltage capacity, unless there are no surges.
We ended up with two setups, mostly because we happened to
have a hodge-podge of attachments. I believe that the first setup is the
smarter one, and really the only one we will need. For the first one, we are
using the all-in-one universal adapter/surge protector. It was cheap and has
worked for me on my past five trips abroad over the past five years, so
hopefully it will continue to work. Nonetheless, it was less than US$10 so
easily replaceable. While it does not convert the voltage, the majority of our
electronics do not require a conversion. However, we are still using the
converter, which is plugged in to the surge protector to avoid burning the fuse
in the converter. The main reason for the converter, besides me being paranoid,
is also to relieve some of the stress of the weight of an extension cord on the
surge protector/adapter because it is a bit flimsy and does not tolerate a lot
of weight added to it. We have a multi-plug extension added to the converter, which
allows us to charge multiple devices at once. We are using a 200W max converter
so theoretically we should not overload it with our multiple devices. For the
second arrangement, we have a converter with the appropriate plug for Asia plugged
in to the outlet directly. A three-port+ USB surge protector up to 125V is
plugged in to the converter and our electronics can be plugged in to that. The
converter in this scenario is at risk for death if there is a surge that it
cannot tolerate which makes it a bit less appealing. We are not using the Apple
world traveler attachments; they are simply taking up precious space in my
husband’s luggage, looking cute in their packaging.
So what would I do differently? I don’t think we need so many
backups. As many travelers before me have said, “Oops, I over-packed.” The
all-in-one adapter/surge protector was probably sufficient. Additional surge
protectors/adapters can be purchased along the way as necessary. The only
reason I really bemoan this over-packing is the converters are heavy! Perhaps I
also could have talked my husband in to leaving his electric razor at home and
purchasing one abroad that does not require a voltage conversion.
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