Travel Gadgets I Carry on the Road

Now that we’ve all started traveling a lot more, figured it’d be a good opportunity to do a roundup of the travel gadgets I have on me at all times. I am breaking this post into a few different sections so the gadgets and categorized based on my use-cases.

I never leave the house without these 2 gadgets:

1. AirPods Pro – can’t step out without these; I use a leather AirPods Pro keychain holder, so I am never without my AirPods
2. My iPhone – currently sporting the Product Red iPhone 14

Laptop charging when on the road:

My work laptop is a Surface Pro 7 which can be charged using the USB-C port. I don’t carry a Surface Pro charger with me and always use the USB-C charger; one less charger to deal with.

1. Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse
2. RAVPower flat 45W charger USB-C charger
3. 10ft USB-C cable with 90 deg connector
4. Travel power strip – super helpful in conference rooms and hotel rooms with poorly placed power plugs
5. HP travel dock – this has been awesome to connect the work laptop to project (HDMI and VGA – yes, I’ve had to do that often)

iPhone and Apple Watch charging in the hotel:

1. Anker flat 30W Lightning Charger – this is what I connect the MagSafe Duo charger to
2. MagSafe Duo Charger – it’s not the ideal 3-in-1 charger but does the job
3. Apple USB-C to lightning 2m cable – when the plug point is very far from the center of the hotel bed

When I am on the plane itself:

I don’t use my AirPods Pros while I am on a flight because I need these fully charged after the flight. When sitting in one place, the wired QC20 are good enough.

1. Bose QuietComfort 20 – these made my coast-to-coast flight so much more tolerable
2. Anker Powerline 3-in-1 cable – this 1 wire is my Swiss-army knife
3. Anker MagSafe Charger – battery pack for the road with USB-C wired charging option
4. Basic Kindle – because I also want to feel sophisticated and educated (the Anker Powerline charges it when I decide to read on my Kindle in-between boring movies and inability to sleep)
5. Foldable and small USB charger – to charge the iPhone using the seat power outlet using the Anker Powerline (similar product to the one I have: Anker 12W Wall charger)
6. Lightning audio jack – if I want to listen to songs on the iPhone using the QC20

Miscellaneous gadgets that are in my bag all the time:

1. MagSafe iPhone kickstand
2. iPhone laptop mount-clip
3. Car USB charger – just in case
4. Anker USB Card reader – when I am traveling with the Insta360 One X2 or the Mavic Mini drone
5. Micro-SD cards – see #5
6. My gaming laptop ASUS G14 and its monstrosity of a charger – mostly with me on my personal trips

The cable organizer bag to hold most of these wires:

I needed something very slim so that my laptop bag does not bloat. I really like the Bagsmart cable organizer I got from Amazon.

Spare cables in the bag:

When traveling with my wife, I have learned that having a few extra cables isn’t a bad idea:

1. Apple USB-C to lightning 1m cable
2. Small micro-USB cable (specifically to charge the Bose QC when the Anker Powerline 3-in-1 is charging the iPhone)
3. Standard Apple Watch charger
4. Standard Apple USB – lightning charger

PS: I will do a follow-up post on what are the bare-minimum gadgets I got my wife for her work from the road life. It is a subset of this list.