New travelers often feel the need to overpack, burdening themselves with spendy tech equipment they will likely never use just to document their experience through social media. In today’s digital age, some travelers make a living with just a computer, working remotely while traveling. If you’re going abroad for work, leisure, or both, evaluate your tech gear for a smoother travel experience.
A Current Smartphone
Having an up-to-date smartphone when you’re traveling abroad will save you a great deal of time, money, and possibly your life. Save money to really invest in a quality smartphone that can handle new updates and features current applications. These updates will help prevent your phone from being violated and will make the quality of the applications faster and more defined.
DSLR Camera
Unless you’re shooting professionally for a magazine, your camera doesn’t need to be more than $600. In fact, you can find great DSLR models between $399.99-$599.99 that combine the user friendliness of basic point-and-shoot cameras with the professional results of prosumer interchangeable lens cameras.
A good example of this is the Canon EOS Rebel T6. You’ll want to invest in a camera that you can allow to get banged up while you’re traveling. Something that doesn’t cost you thousands of dollars but can still produce high-quality images and video.
Travel Laptop
Hauling around a laptop is not an ideal situation for anybody when traveling abroad. If you can accomplish your online tasks over your phone without the use of a laptop (watching movies, playing games, social media), don’t bother packing one. If a laptop is essential for completing your tasks abroad, consider getting one that doesn’t weigh you down.
If you’re needing a beast rig to facilitate business meetings around 3D modeling projects and HD video presentations, be ready to spend around $2,000 or more for a travel sized laptop that can perform at the capacity of your office workstation.
If you’re only using a handful of applications to edit your work and to communicate with colleagues, look into getting something lighter and more inexpensive like Google’s Chromebook, or Dell’s Ultrabook. These offer a 360-degree hinge that allows your screen to fold over the keyboard and face outward achieving a more tablet-like effect.
Portable Chargers
You will run into many situations when traveling abroad where you won’t be near an outlet. You must also be cautious around the outlets that are available, due to the wattage differences in other countries, they could fry your equipment. That’s why it’s always best to keep your gear charged with portable chargers.
Most portable chargers have a multi-outlet feature that can charge multiple devices at once. A popular one is the Anker PowerCore. The price is a bit steep, but it is able to fully charge your devices multiple times before it needs a recharge. Another handy charger is the Iceworks 5000mAh. This has built in cables within the charger so you don’t have to bring separate cables for each device.
If you haven’t already noticed, the tech gear on this list is very basic. It’s not about getting the nicest bluetooth keyboard, or portable scanner. You don’t need to drop all your money on cool tech gadgets like a Smart Pen, or a pocket sized selfie drone. Only invest in crucial, quality equipment that leaves you feeling comfortable, and productive.
Love traveling.
