I am a bit of a gadget guy, I like to have lots of different electronic gizmos with me. This can often lead to us traveling with more electronic gear than we really need which takes up space. Since we like to travel as light possible I have tried to consolidate the number of electronics that we have to bring.

I have separated travel electronics into three main groups: Photo and Video, Entertainment, and Work. I’m not breaking communication out on into its own category because I am assuming at this point that almost everyone is traveling with a smartphone and that they will be using that as their primary communication device.

Photo and Video

When we travel we are making memories. We want to preserve those memories in some form so it is good to have some photo/video equipment with use. There are a lot of different cameras that you can bring with you on a trip, and they can all do different things.

Bringing camera gear with you is great, but only if you actually use it. Otherwise, it can end up taking up a lot of space that could have been used for something else. So it is important to think about what camera gear you will use while you are traveling. Consider how committed you are to getting a certain quality of images or footage and also what activities you will be doing.

For example when we were traveling to Hawaii I knew that we were going to be doing water activities there, so if I wanted to get images and video of those activities I needed to bring the GoPro with me. But if I am going to bring it with me then I need to be committed to actually using it while we are traveling.

Likewise, if I want to get really good pictures I need to bring a DSLR or mirrorless camera, but I need to consider if I will be able to use the camera in the activities we are doing. For example on our trip to Disney World we decided not to bring a camera because we thought it we would not actually use it and we didn’t want carry it around the whole park for just a few pictures. Instead we just used our phones to take pictures that trip.

Entertainment

Depending on how you are traveling and for how long it might be important to make sure you have some time kind of entertainment with you. Often electronic entertainment can be space saving measure (e.g. a Kindle takes up much less space than a book or several books), but again only if you will actually use it.

Meagan takes her Kindle whenever we travel and she always reads it. I on the other hand often bring my Kindle but only rarely actually read it since I almost always listen to audio books or podcasts.

Items that I would put in the entertainment category are e-readers, tablets, and gaming systems. Depending on how long the trip is you probably don’t need all of them. For example I generally only bring my Nintendo 2DS with me if I know I am going to have long amounts of down time on a trip.

Work

While you don’t generally want to be working on your vacation, depending on your situation, you might need to. This might be work for your job, or it might be projects that you want to get done, and your trip is a good time to do them. As a graduate student I often need to be able to do some schoolwork while I am traveling as well.

Also not all trips are vacations, you might be traveling for work or school specifically, in which case you need to have the electronics required to do your work. For example our most recent trip to Minnesota was so I could attend a library technology conference there. I had to bring a laptop with me so that I could give the presentation I needed to give.

Even when I am not traveling for my day job, I still have lots of projects I need to work on, like editing the pictures and videos that we take on our travels. This means that I generally have to bring a computer or iPad, lately I have been opting for the iPad because it is much smaller and easier to use while in transit.

Consolidate When Possible

When you are making choices about which electronics to bring with you always consider whether you can consolidate. There are two ways to consolidate, you can either use one device for multiple functions, or you use one device for multiple people.

An example of one device performing multiple functions would be, if you decide that your phone can also be your camera for the trip, and your movie or gaming device, as well as doing its normal communication duties. There are probably many people who could travel with just their phone and be fine. If you find yourself packing a lot of electronics but mostly using your phone for everything you might try traveling phone only on a trip and see if it works well.

On the other side is using one device for multiple people. For example if Meagan and I both need to do school work we might be able to bring just one laptop instead of two. We probably won’t both use a laptop at the same time since one of us will always be watching Lucy, so we could consolidate down to one.

Power

Whenever you are planning to bring electronics with you on a trip you need to consider how you will power them. If you aren’t going to be able to power an electronic during your trip you might as well not bring it.

If you are going somewhere without power this means you will need to consider carrying an external battery to charge off of. This is one of our standard electronics to bring because we know we always need at least our phones to be functioning.

With power you need to consider how many cables you need to bring. Often you don’t need a different cord for every device you bring so this is a place you can consolidate. We always carry a multi-usb hub with us so that we don’t have to bring a separate wall brick for each cord.

Sum Up

I guess in the end what I have learned is to be realistic about how many electronics we are going to need on a trip. I am learning to bring the least amount I need to do what I plan rather than to try and be prepared for any eventuality.

In the comments below, let us know what electronics you take when you travel.