What to do waiting at the airport or checking into the hotel, when only one outlet is available?

Before getting on the plane for a long flight, it’s useful to charge all your electronics. But often it’s hard to find even one free outlet.

On a recent trip to Europe, after checking into our very nice hotel, we were dismayed to find only one outlet available in the room.

So many things to plug into one outlet! Cell phones, tablets, camera batteries, laptop, electric toothbrushes.

In a world-wide hotel chains such as Marriott or Hilton, there’s usually plenty of outlets in rooms. But commonly in Europe, or traveling in off-the-beaten track destinations, you may find one plug is all there is. In Guatemala, at our Tikal National Park hotel, there were no outlets we could use in our room, so we had to go to the hotel lobby to charge our electronics.

The solution is to bring along a travel power strip.

This is what we use, Bestek power strip with 2 outlets, 4 USB ports, tidy and compact, weighs less than half a pound, he long cord is very convenient an inconveniently located outlet.

If you need a larger family-size model, this Bestek power strip has 4 outlets, 4 USB ports, but is heavier (it weighs 1/1/2 pounds).

Tip: Remember, these travel power strips still requires an adapter plug to match the wall outlet (which varies in different countries). In France, Italy and Spain, it’s a round two prong plug, in England, it’s a rectangular three prong plug.

Also, the electronics we plug into the power strip (camera battery re-chargers, cell phones, tablet, laptops) are low power and dual voltage. Do not plug in a high power, single voltage 110v item (e.g. hair dryer) if the wall outlet is 220v (most of Europe), without a voltage converter.

For more travel tips, read “Packing for your trip: Part 2 – All the small stuff” – other essential items to bring, small containers for toothpaste and shampoo, flashlights, Ziploc bags, binoculars, fold up duffel, blanket totes, and more.