Essential travel gadgets

Whilst some feel taking gadgets away on your travels defeats the very purpose of going on holiday in the first place, many simply cannot live without their favourite technologies. To help you decide what to pack and what to leave behind, we’ve compiled a list of essential travel gadgets.

Netbook/Laptop

Flights can be long and boring, and in-room entertainment might not always be to your liking, so guarantee you’ll always have something to while away the hours on by packing your netbook or laptop. You can watch movies, listen to music, surf the web – remember, most hotels are Wi-Fi enabled in this day and age – you could even play a few computer games. We’d recommend a netbook for portability purposes.

MP3 Player

We can’t imagine going on holiday in 2011 without having at the very least our entire music collection in our pocket. Whether you are lazing by the pool or passing the time on a flight or transfer, a decent supply of your favourite music is practically a necessity. Don’t leave home without it.

eBook Reader

eBook readers such as Amazon’s Kindle are rapidly gaining in popularity – and for good reason. They’re portable, easy on the eyes, reasonably priced, the batteries last for days and you can carry pretty much as many books as you like with you on your travels without ever increasing the weight of your bag. Just make sure you don’t get it covered in sun cream.

Smartphone

The modern day smartphone is an excellent middle ground for those who don’t want to go the whole hog and lug a laptop on holiday with them, but also want to check their emails, do a spot of internet browsing and even play a few video games to pass the time. If you do decide to take your phone with you, think about possibly leaving it in your room during the day to avoid interference from the real world ruining your day in the sun!

Whatever you decide to take with you, remember that you’ve brought your gadgets along as a last resort to stave off boredom for whatever reason, and for the convenience of staying in touch with the world back home. Just remember to pay local sights and attractions a visit, and maybe get a spot of sunbathing in there as well!