It’s Holiday Shopping Time, and there are so many options to help make your life, or the life of someone you know and love, a little easier, with a bit more battery power. We’ve covered items for Comfort and Joy, and this week, I have some gift ideas that help the people you care about keep going as they travel. I use a number of these tools and bring them with me when I travel, even for a weekend trip.
Anker 36W 4-Port USB Wall Charger – $20
Share the electricity, share the love! I have one of these plugged into an outlet in my kitchen, and when we travel, I bring it with us. It turns one A/C outlet into four USB outlets, allowing us to charge four devices at once – phones, watches, e-readers, tablets, etc.
It doesn’t weigh enough that I notice it in my purse, but it’s large enough that it’s easy to find, and hard to miss if we’re leaving a hotel! (Slightly related note: If you ever forget your charger for your phone, and you’re staying at a hotel, ask the front desk. They probably have hundreds of abandoned phone chargers that were left behind.) We’ve carried this adaptor everywhere since we got it.
If you need slightly more power, there’s a 40 watt version of the 4-USB adaptor that works a little faster for $25.99.
Another handy travel option is the Belkin 3-in-1 Swivel Power Strip. What makes this power strip very useful is that the three-prong outlet on the back swivels so that you can extend the outlets in any direction – left, right, straight up above the available power source, whatever.
It’s description includes the word “mini” but it’s not that tiny, to be completely honest. It takes up some room and the swiveling plug on the back doesn’t fold into itself. But if you find yourself in a place where you need three outlets, there’s only one, and that one outlet is hard to reach, this gadget can help out a lot.
And now, MORE POWER!
I’ve recommended this before, but if you need an easy stocking stuffer or work colleague gift, the PowerCore Mini external battery is a great choice for under $20. It comes in a range of colors, and is about the size of a tube of lipstick. It doesn’t weigh much, either, so you don’t notice that you’re carrying it.
The one I use will charge my phone about one time before I need to recharge the battery, so it’s not a great long-term solution, but if you’ve got a small handbag and a dying phone, this will charge it up easily.
I also know from men that I’ve given it to that it’s easy to carry in a pants pocket with a phone, too. It’s not heavy or bulky at all. (All the jokes just ran to the front of my brain and collided. Ouch.)
But if you know someone who travels a lot, and frequently has to recharge devices, you’re gonna need a bigger boat battery. The Anker 2nd Gen Astro E5 16000mAh Portable Charger External Battery is $39.99 right now.
Because we’ve been driving back and forth between Maryland and DC a lot lately, my husband and I each have one of these in our cars. It can recharge a DS gaming system, a tablet, or a phone and do so multiple times before it needs to be plugged in.
There is also an earlier version of this battery with 13000mAh for $29.99.
And for those who like to travel light but carry things that are small and useful:
The Griffin USB Mini-Cable Kit comes with three USB cables that are 4″ long, and stiff rubber so they don’t tangle. There’s a USB-micro, a USB-mini (which I call the USB trapezoid), and a 30-pin Apple universal dock connector.
I carry these everywhere. The only flaw I’ve found is that for some devices, like my phone, if I need to connect it to my laptop, the phone is face-down due to the orientation of the USB and USB-micro connections. But I can twist the cable so the phone faces upright, and it hasn’t hurt the cable that I can tell.
If you’re curious, I carry these cables, plus my Square card reader, a tiny box of crayons, a spare phone battery, an iGo USB keyring ($6), a headphone splitter, a USB thumb drive, my business cards, and a lip balm in my purse in a zipper pouch from Tom Bihn, the Clear Organizer Pouch, size small. It’s 7″ by 5″ and keeps all the tiny things that would get lost in the bottom of my bag together, and with the clear plastic on one side, it’s easy to find the tiny thing I need.
Should you need a cute phone case, Amanda got hers, which is adorable from this Etsy shop: Chick Lit Designs. The Handbook for the Recently Deceased phone case is book-style and is $29, but there are a bunch of adorable options in the shop – including the peacock feather Pride and Prejudice phone case ($29), which would match the Out of Print Clothing P&P shirt ($29) perfectly!
Once, long ago, I had a pair of Sketchers that matched my cell phone, and I thought I was the very height of coolness. Of course I wasn’t but the shoes and the phone were an exact match. Anyway.
There are e-reader covers (caution: maximum cuteness). And LEGO purses. I need to back away slowly from this store immediately.
But I can’t talk about e-reader covers without mentioning Oberon Design, which I’ve mentioned in just about every gift guide every year.
They do hand-tooled leather covers for Kindles, iPads, iPad minis, and other devices – and they’re gorgeous. I saved up for one for my Kindle, and I still like to stare at it, years later.
There’s also jewelry, hair accessories, and journals – and bags and I should stop now, right? Wait, one more link – special deals!
What technology do you find really useful, or have you given to people? Anything you recommend – or need?
I was quite taken with the wall charger, then I saw the link to Lego purses and now nothing else will stay in my brain. I Want! It’d go with everything too.
Also need Lego shoes (that don’t pinch too much) to go with…
I second the recommendation for the Anker 2nd Gen Astro E5 16000mAh Portable Charger. On a recent trip to Scotland I was able to fully charge my phone twice, my camera, my iPad mini and still had at least 25% left on the device. It’s only 1 x 2.5 x 6″ so it fit into my medium size purse.
Thanks!
Last night, I begun my lengthy Christmas shopping planning, and this has really helped! Going to check everything out now!
If you’re a frequent (or not) flyer, you might find the TrakDot useful. trakdot.com Small device you put in your luggage as it disappears down the baggage conveyor belt. It turns itself off as the plane reaches altitude and turns itself back on when it lands. Hopefully where you are. It’ll text you where it is so you’ll know if you need to head to the baggage carousel or the lost luggage line.
I never go anywhere without my lipstick charger! I’ve also used the Belkin wall charger… works great!
@katy:
Isn’t it amazing? We’ve charged a phone, a DS, another DS, and then a second phone without it running out of power. It’s kind of amazing and it doesn’t feel like you’re carrying a brick in your bag, either.
@Critterbee:
I’m so pleased it’s helpful! I confess, it’s a LOT of fun to shop for the entire Bitchery when compiling the gift guides.
@Rhoda:
I think you should totally get a Lego purse. And shoes. And a cool notebook. All Lego. (No, no, I’m not enabling anything, not at all!)
I’m getting my mom a Roku for Christmas, she wants to see if she can get rid of cable and she has an older tv that is still a really high end tv, and Roku has models that work with component cords only, yay!
Okay, not sure where else to ask but what the heck.
I saw this commercial for a hot dog container, you use to cook hot dogs in the microwave. I really want to get it for my brother, he’s a hot dog fanatic. It looks really nice, has a tray for grease, steams the bun at the same time. It’s red and white, and the hot dog cooks in like 45 seconds, dishwasher safe, no bpa. Pretty sure they were selling 3 for $10.
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT IT’S CALLED?
Driving me crazy, pretty sure there was a website, but seriously if anyone can find the name I’d be eternally grateful. I’ve looked everywhere on the Internet, cannot find it!
@Olivia: I couldn’t find anything like that on Amazon, but your post reminded me of one of my favorite cookbooks. Haute Dogs. Because I, too, love hot dogs. I used to get one every Wednesday afternoon during my undergrad between classes at the same hot dog stand.
@Amanda: Thanks! That looks great, I think I’ll get him that if I don’t end up finding the product. 🙂
I adore Oberon Designs. Beautifully crafted, gorgeous designs that are well made and very durable. They were one of our best sellers at the store I used to work at and I bought bunches of their products to give as gifts every year. The bookmarks, hair clips and pendants make great stocking stuffers and I’ve also given a lot of their business card cases to coworkers and bosses as a reasonably inexpensive but very classy looking gift.
Am getting the Power Core mini for both of my teenagers. Teens are tough to buy gifts for (and Santa has to leave them actual gifts, not just money because they have a little sister who still believes in the big guy:-)) so thank you!
Handbook for the Recently Deceased is really depressing. I lost a friend this year and it’s really a scary cover.
@Emily: I’m sorry it’s upsetting and I’m very sorry for your loss! The cover is actually a reference to the movie Beetlejuice, not that it makes you feel any better, I’m sure.
I treated myself to a leather checkbook cover similar to the Oberon designs (who knows, maybe it is one, it was at a renaissance faire) & can’t recommend it enough. It’s been in my purse every day for almost 20 years and looks like I just bought it. I get compliments on it all the time. It has outlasted every wallet I have purchased at a big box store. I’ll be upgrading a few things in my life now that I know Oberon is out there!
Got these for the niece and nephew and the goddaughters http://www.qvc.com/Que-Set-of-2-5,000-mAh-Portable-Chargers-w-AC-Wall-Plug.product.E227973.
Ooh, that first one is a good suggestion. We bought the Anker PowerPort 5 40W early this year, and it’s great. Works well even when we need to charge 2 tablets and 2 phones, and frees up outlets. And *fantastic* for travelling – we were always having to hunt for plugs in any hotel room, and now we only need one outlet. I’ve definitely considered giving this as a gift!
They come in a variety of sizes, up to 10 ports, so you can figure out how many ports would be most useful. Highly recommended.
Wonder about that hotdog container…. For it, I’d even get a microwave t
Do the different a wall chargers work in Europe?
I need, need, need the Nancy Drew clutch!! Chick Lit Designs may be my new favorite Etsy store.
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