This is something I have to thank Raquel for, as she’s amazing when it comes to gadgets. Our kitchen has been completely transformed, she has a food processor for the onion cutting, a cherry pitter to get rid of the stones and an electric tin opener to…Well you get the point.
Holidays are just the same, she’s always sifting through TikTok and comes across the latest gadgets or nifty items that work wonders when going abroad. We’re not associated with any of the products highlighted, they’re just items we’ve found useful over the years.
Universal Travel Adaptors
This blew my mind! We first saw it when judging for the Travel Retail Business Awards, which was amazing fun, while we had to test out each item and this is the one that stayed in my head afterwards.
With a single adaptor, it can adjust to the plugs in any country, meaning you can bring it with you wherever you’re going and you don’t have to worry about having the wrong ones, something I’ve done multiple times.
It should be stated that they don’t often adjust the dual voltage, so you can’t actually use them for certain items in certain countries, like hairdryers or kettles, or anything that requires a lot of power.
Travel eSim
I always used to just rely on roaming and hoping my phone company wouldn’t mess me around, which can be risky business! We first got an eSim when we went to Japan to ensure we used a set amount of reliable data and it worked perfectly, so since then I’ve looked at using these on future trips.
You can get a Europe eSIM with data from Nomadesim, allowing you to stay connected with everyone back home, to download videos you might want to watch if stuck on a train or to allow you to freely view Google Maps without worrying about a bill when you get home.
They can be easily installed onto your phone and the eSim plan starts automatically once you connect to that destination network, e.g. as soon as the plane hits the ground and you switch off airplane mode.
Wearable Neck Fan
Again, this was a gamechanger with Japan, as we used it every day and to say others were jealous was taking it lightly, with temperatures hitting 40c.
So to explain them, they easily sit around your neck, while they blow wind towards you, up or down, depending on your settings and the one you buy.
I saw so many people walking around with a paper fan, or even an electric fan, but you have to hold that in your hand, which gets tiring after a while. This doesn’t weigh much and you get a surprisingly decent battery life from them.
I would say that it’s worth paying a bit extra, when we were researching them, the cheaper ones had a smaller mAh, which translates to how long they’ll last before dying. Ours was 5,000mAh, which worked for the day (like 5 hours of continuous usage), but the slightly cheaper models only offered 2-3k mAh.
Airplane Headphone Adaptor
Another find I have to thank Raquel for, while it was pretty cheap as well (we’re talking about £15). So imagine you’re going on a long distance flight, sure you can watch videos on your own devices, but realistically you want to make the most of the long distance entertainment and see all the movies and shows they have.
But you hit one big issue, your headphones are now wireless, meaning you can’t connect it. If you try and listen with the provided free headphones then you catch all the background noise and hear virtually nothing.
So airline transmitter receivers (or headphone adaptors) plug in to the socket and they have Bluetooth connection to your headphones, allowing you to use your noise-cancellation headphones (or earbuds) while watching the plane TV. Honestly, game changer!
Sunbed Towel Clips
Alright, this is a loose connection as a ‘gadget’ as all the others are technological, but we always get looks over as we put these in place and instantly a comment on how clever an idea they are.
You stick your towel on the sunbed, then use the clips to peg them on. This stops them blowing off if a breeze comes along, it stops them slipping down and it helps to keep them in place.
You might also want to use them on your balcony afterwards if you’re drying your clothes after giving them a rinse.
These are becoming more commonplace in all inclusive resorts, but they were such a new sight just a few years ago.
