Looking for the best travel gadgets to bring on your travels or give as a gift? While there are many gadgets that travelers would love there are some essential travel gadgets that are must haves. I like to travel with carry on luggage only so I don’t like to bring any extra gadgets with me unless I absolutely need them. Here are my picks for the best travel gadgets that every traveler must have.
Best Travel Gadgets
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1. External Battery
If I had to pick the most useful travel gadget other than a smartphone, it would be an external battery. I always carry at least one of more external batteries to charge my phone and other electronics when I am not close to a power outlet. My smartphone runs out of battery so fast that I cannot live without one!
2. Universal Travel Adaptor
A universal travel adaptor is a must have gadget for any international traveler.
3. Noise Cancelling Headphones
Noise cancelling headphones are useful gadgets for travelers who want to sleep on a long flight. These are the best headphones I have found.
4. Apple AirTags (or Samsung Galaxy SmartTags)
Worried about your checked bags being lost by airlines? Put a tracker (such as an Apple AirTag) in every one of your checked bags so you can track them. Apple AirTags only work with Apple devices. For Android users, Samsung Galaxy SmartTag are similar and work for Samsung Galaxy devices. You can also use them for your keychains at home as well.
5. Smartphone Waterproof Case
This waterproof phone case is a must for travelers that want to take their phone with them in the water at the beach or in the pool. Also handy for taking photos in the rain or under waterfalls (we used ours all the time in Iceland!).
6. Kindle Paperwhite
A Kindle Paperwhite is another practical gadget for travelers. Getting lost in a book is one of the top suggestions on how to survive a long flight in economy. This is also a space saver for long term travelers because you can download your favorite travel books on your kindle, instead of bringing a bunch of books with you.
7. Personal Water Filter
Do you spend a lot of time outdoors or will you be traveling to countries where the water is not safe for drinking? This personal water filter makes contaminated water safe for drinking by removing waterborne bacteria and parasites so you can use it to drink directly from your water source.
8. Power Strip
A compact power strip is one of the most useful travel gadgets. I use one when I find myself somewhere with few power outlets and want to charge multiple electronic devices.
9. Waterproof Action Camera
For travelers that want to take photos while being active or underwater a waterproof action camera like the new GoPro HERO12 is a must have item. If a GoPro is beyond your budget, this underwater action camera is more affordable and gets great reviews.
10. Mirrorless Camera
If you want to take good photos but don’t want to bring along a bulky DSLR, a mirrorless camera is the way to go. I love the Sony Alpha a6000 which gets great reviews and is one of the more affordable options. If you want to splurge, the Sony A7 III is one of the best mirrorless cameras.
11. Portable Tripod
A portable tripod is useful for travelers that want to take better photos but don’t want to carry a large tripod. Depending on your needs you can get a traditional smaller tripod or a flexible tripod like a gorillapod that you can wrap around various surfaces. There are gorillapods for DSLR and mirrorless cameras and gorilla pods for point and shoot cameras. I especially love this flexible tripod for smart phones that comes with a wireless remote for selfies and group photos.
12. Surge Protector
This surge protector has 3 outlets and 2 USB ports to protect your electronics from power surges and charge multiple devices at the same time.
13. Headphone Splitter
Perfect for couples or families, a headphone splitter allows you to connect two or more headphones so that everyone can enjoy your playlist or your favorite travel movies.
14. Digital Luggage Scale
A digital luggage scale is a must have if you want to be sure you don’t overpack and have to deal with overweight bag fees especially when flying on low cost airlines.
15. Headlamp
Perfect for backpackers or travelers staying at a hostel, you can use a headlamp instead a flashlight.
16. Selfie Stick
Want to take good selfies or couple photos without asking a stranger? This gadget does double duty as both a selfie stick and a portable tripod.
17. Drone
If you want to take those amazing aerial photos you see on instagram, you might want to invest in a travel drone. One of the best travel drones is the DJI Mini 2 which is perfect for beginners and is also ultralight and foldable. For more advanced drone photographers, check out the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom.
What are your favorite travel gadgets?
I’m slowly starting to acquire these gadgets little by little! This is a great list!
I love my Kindle Paperwhite–I can even read it on a sunny beach and I don’t need to bring booklights. I always forget my own headphones, but we have these really cute panda ones for my youngster that she adores.
I love pandas-need to look into getting those panda headphones for my nephew.
My brother wants a drone for video so badly but someone told him they aren’t allowed on all planes. Do you know if that’s true?
Such great products, I have most of them! I would be lost without my external charger and the gorilla pod and scale both come in handy!
These are some really useful and practical gadgets which I will have to get as soon as possible. The first thing I will definitely get is the external battery. 🙂
I have the external battery and the noise cancelling headphones at the moment and I don’t think I’d want to travel without them again. That battery has saved me from getting lost many times by charging my phone.
Some of these gadgets I use and some were new to me. Thanks for the list!
The perfect list of gadgets for travelling! I couldn’t agree more to your list, and as I see them one by one, I keep nodding to myself saying, I do need these! A powerbank for emergency juice. A universal travel adapter, ’cause you can never know what sockets can you expect in different countries. And of course, you can never go wrong with Sony mirrorless camera A6000. Thanks for sharing your list!
A universal travel adaptor is such a savior! Nowadays, we usually bring more than one gadget and it’s a hassle to go and find an adaptor when our gadget reaches its low battery signal. That’s why I think a universal adaptor is a must for everyone. Anyways, great list you have here 🙂
Surge Protector and Headphone Splitter are really useful, Noise Cancelling headphones are also a lifesaver during long commutes
Well, there are some great gadgets here, but I couldn’t do without my Gopro hero. It goes with me wherever I travel. I can’t believe some people use their phone cameras can you?
Anyway, great post and keep up the exciting work
Hi,
I like my Kindle Paperlight – I can read it on a sunny beach and don’t need to bring a book light I always forget my own headphones, but I really like them for my young lady.