Monday, June 17, 2013

My favorite travel accessories

  1. Second laptop battery

This might seem like a no-brainer, but I think people write off second batteries as too expensive a purchase. In reality a backup battery can cost as little as $20, including MacBook batteries. This is a must in case you are delayed or laying over in an airport with few plugs around.

  1. Anker Astro Portable Battery

This thing is awesome. It charges via micro-USB cable and can connect to pretty much any USB-powered device. It holds at least two charges for my iPhone 5, and fits in the palm of your hand. Sometimes if my iPhone is out of juice I will plug it into this and carry them both in my pocket.

  1. 4 or 5 Car Chargers and Wall Adapters

Also an item people assume is prohibitively expensive. I buy four or five chargers at a time for about $15…total. Here’s a look at a potential buy on eBay. $2 per piece for car chargers. The same can be had for wall adapters. I love having an abundance of both of these because it’s not the end of the world if I leave one in a hotel room. I also like having a few in my apartment, my office, and my bag so I never have to be moving them around.

  1. 4 or 5 USB Cables

There is no reason everyone shouldn’t have a bunch of these. Even iPhone 5 cables are cheap as heck on eBay. Here’s 5 for $10 on eBay.

  1. Amazon Kindle

For $69 plus the cost of a cover, it is worth not carrying a really heavy book around. Or just a book that takes up space. My travel bag is bulky enough as it is with a laptop, there’s no need to make it even thicker. At the $69 price point, no reason to not have one.

  1. SoundMAGIC Earphones

These are great headphones that wrap up easily, don’t get messy, and block most of the sound around me.

  1. Neck Pillow and Eye Shades

The links above are to the two that I use. Both very comfortable. To give you some idea of how comfortable exactly, my girlfriend made fun of me for using them on our way to Mexico, and then ended up using them the entire flight back. Okay maybe she was just tired. Either way, these are great products.

  1. FreedomPop Wifi Hotspot

The link above is my referral link that gets us both some extra data each month. This is a free wifi service that uses 4G cell signal to beam internet to your computer. All you have to do is buy the $39 hotspot device and then you can use up to 500MB a month for free. This is really key in airports where you have to pay for wifi. I’ve only had the device a little while, but it’s going to pay for itself in my next couple visits to Reagan where the wifi is horrible. The device itself easily fits in your hand, or you can get a little USB stick that plugs right into your computer.

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