Top gadgets to take on your travels

Now that the digital world is such a central part of our lives, it makes sense that we want to stay connected when travelling. It’s easier than ever today, with so much portable technology on offer. Here are our top gadgets for taking on the go.

Tablets

If you’re backpacking long distances, you probably won’t be wanting to lug your laptop around with you. Even if you own a lightweight ultrabook, it will start to feel heavy very quickly – besides the fact that it’s an expensive piece of kit to lose. We recommend taking a tablet: they come in far smaller, more mobile sizes but they can perform most of the functions of a computer such as watching movies, updating your blog, browsing for hotels, uploading your photos and even online gaming, with countless options including F1, tennis and games. What’s more, they are great for reading, too. Indeed, Amazon’s Kindle series is worth looking into for something that doubles as a book, and in addition, the range is affordable so it won’t break the bank if it gets broken. For something more premium, the Samsung Galaxy Tablet and iPad are a great choice, but Google Nexus will set you back less for a lot of the same functions if you’re accident-prone.

Cameras

Of course, a huge part of travelling is bringing back memories, and there’s no better way than taking photos. Think about the kind of photography you want to do: for nature lovers, something with good zoom will be best, but if you’re more interested in shooting landscapes, you can’t go wrong with a wide-angle lens, or even the standard 18-35mm lens on a DSLR. You don’t have to push the boat out, though; there are plenty of compact options which cover more ground at an affordable price – besides, unless you are a serious photographer, it’s unlikely you will need so many functions. Don’t forget there’s always a risk of something happening to your camera, so keep backups of your photos, or, even better, upload them to cloud storage by taking a card reader.

Chargers

If you’re taking a lot of gadgets on holiday, it follows that you need something to charge them with. For anyone who is camping or who is uncertain on the availability of plug sockets, it’s best to be prepared. It’s possible to get all sorts of portable chargers, from heavyweight options over 20000mAh to much smaller models. Work out how many devices you need to charge, and take into account the durability of your phone battery – you don’t want to get stuck with no way of contacting anyone.

The editorial unit