I have done a lot of traveling for business over the last year and a half or so. This fact has had a few different impacts on me, not the least of which is (largely) getting over my intense dislike of airports. But it has also caused me to level up my travel game, to be smarter and better prepared for the journey.
I already had noise canceling earbuds in my AirPods Pro. I mostly use mine to talk on the phone or on video conferences, but they are indispensable for air travel. Roaring jet engines? Crying babies? Not a problem! They can’t make the noise go away completely, but they magically reduce it to a level that is easily ignored.
One of the most fundamental challenges that travel presents us is the dilemma of chargers for your devices. Fortunately it’s easy to begin addressing the problem by simply getting a second charger for every device you have. Do not under any circumstances unplug a charger from where it lives in your office or home and pack it for a trip. I cannot emphasize this enough. That way madness lies.
Sure, you can just get a duplicate of the same chargers you use at home to keep in your travel pack. But you can take things even further by shopping carefully. For example, this is the charger I use at my bedside. It charges my phone, my watch, and my earbuds, all without having to plug any of them into anything like a savage. Slick.
But it’s not ideal for travel. So I snapped up this little gem instead. It too charges all the things wirelessly, but it also has the benefit of collapsing into a disc roughly the size of a compact makeup mirror or an English muffin. (Although once its unique design got me in a spot of trouble when a TSA agent didn’t like how it looked in the x-ray machine.)
Another thing to consider is air travel itself. If you’re going to spend five hours in the air and navigate three airports, you’re going to burn through your phone’s battery in no time. It’s a fact that when you travel you use your phone more–and differently–than you do at home. But I have pretty much solved this issue with a large MagSafe battery. It’s 20,000 milliamp hours and snaps onto the back of my phone magnetically. Yes, it makes the phone a bit chunky and unwieldy, but you can’t beat the feeling of knowing for certain that when you arrive at your destination after a full day of travel, your phone’s battery will be at 100%.
Speaking of using your phone differently, I have discovered that podcasts and audio books are great for long flights. Nothing melts the time away like listening to Rachel Maddow’s shocking Ultra or Yuval Noah Harari’s mind-expanding Sapiens. They are the perfect things to listen to in your noise-canceling earbuds. Just remember to download your content in advance of the trip.
There are some other small details that make things better: extra long USB-C cables for every power adapter, including one for my laptop. Then there’s the little drawstring bags that I use to keep them separate and untangled in my backpack. But the latest improvement to my travels is simply a used iPad I picked up on a whim a few months ago.
Ever try to use a laptop in coach? It can be almost impossible, especially if you’re a large person. But what if you need to catch up on email in the air? What if you want to watch a couple of episodes of your favorite tv show? (Remember to download them in advance!) My version 9 iPad with a stand-up case is just perfect for it. (But this will drain the battery like crazy! I hear you say. It’s not as bad as you might think. Today’s devices are highly optimized for things like video playback. And besides, I can always plug it into my giant battery if I feel like it.)
Now that I have wised up and acquired all the right gear, air travel is no longer a thing I dread. Well, no. I still dread it. But I have significantly reduced the anxiety and frustration of it all. Bonus: if you’re traveling with someone less prepared, you’ll be a hero every time you have just the right solution for their dying battery.