In this age of social networks and ubiquitous high-tech electronics, most travellers have “special” gadgets that they love to travel with. Purposes vary, of course: these gadgets are maybe brought by travellers to ensure that they stay connected in the office (ugh!), or maybe to ensure that they stay online for their family and friends, or to just have something to “cheer” them up during times of boredom waiting at airports or while waiting for their next activity. Of course, some of them bring gadgets to keep the kids occupied. Whatever the reasons are, it cannot be denied that these gadgets are here to stay and they will continue to accompany us on our travels.

Along this line, and being the IT professionals that we are, we have our own “preferred” gadgets when we travel. You could say these are our favourites, and the ones we always bring along on our trips.

Keeping the kids happy

In our travels, expect that there will always be PSPs for our kids. We have 3 kids – one in his teens and the other two almost teens now – and to avoid quarrel we gave each one a PSP. They have been bringing these on our travels ever since, to keep them occupied, especially during long waits at airports or queues in various events that we go to. Aside from PSPs, the kids have just recently been given their iPod Touches – to download their favourite songs and additional games and puzzles as reinforcement to their PSPs. Aside from these, our daughter – who is very fond of K-Pop music – also has her Sony WalkMan, while my eldest son has his older generation iPod Shuffle. These gadgets keep the kids happy in the meantime.

Toys for Mom and Dad

For wifey and me, our iPads keep us busy during times of boredom. We’ve subscribed to online editions of our favourite magazines, downloaded several books and our favourite travel apps, and even some games. We also use our iPads as primary gadgets for connecting to wireless Internet at hotels. The kids love these, especially at night when we’re already relaxing. These gadgets also serve as our tools to plan and prepare for the next day’s activities. Alice also has her old iPod Nano, which she uses during travel times.

The good ol’ Mac

Alice cannot travel without bringing along her MacBook. In a way this is good, as it allows me to have a storage of the photos taken during the day. Now that we’re into blogging, her MacBook ensures that we’ll get all the features we need to constantly update our blog with fresh activities that we do on our day-to-day exploration.

A picture speaks a thousand words

Aside from Alice’s and my iPhones, we have 3 more digital cameras that we bring on our travels. The first is a DSLR Kit (EOS 50D with telephoto, wide and prime lenses), a micro four-thirds (Olympus E-PL1 with wide and telephoto lenses), and a point-and-shoot Kodak EasyShare. I normally use the Canon 50D, Alice is the one who handles the Olympus E-PL1, and we let the kids take photos using the Kodak EasyShare. The kids also use their iPod Touch to take photos. To ensure continuous operation of our cameras, we have 4 8GB and 4 4GB CF cards and 2 extra batteries for the EOS 50D and 1 16GB and 1 8GB SD cards for the E-PL1.

You bet these gadgets entail bringing lots and lots of chargers and cables, and thus aside from having cables and chargers for each one, we also bring multi-socket adapters to allow us to re-charge them simultaneously at the hotel.

What about you? Do you have your very own tech gadgets you’re fond to bring along in your travels? We’ll be very happy if you could share those with us

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