There is nothing worse than a dead phone when you are away from home, whether you need it for boarding passes, maps or a photo of the moment. A little planning goes a long way. With the right combination of a wall charger, a power bank and the correct cables, you can keep your phone and everything else charged from the airport to the hotel and back again. Here is how to build a travel charging kit that is light, reliable and covers every situation.
Start with one small, powerful wall charger
The heart of any travel setup is a compact multi-port wall charger. Rather than packing a separate plug for each gadget, choose a single charger with two or three USB ports so you can power your phone, earbuds and a tablet from one socket. Modern travel chargers use GaN technology to pack a lot of power into a tiny body, so a 65W unit that charges a phone and a laptop is barely bigger than a matchbox. That matters when hotel rooms often have only one or two accessible sockets.
Pack a power bank for the day out
A wall charger is useless once you leave your room, so a portable charger is essential for long travel days. For most people a power bank in the 10,000mAh to 20,000mAh range hits the sweet spot: enough to refill a phone two or three times, without being too heavy to carry. A model with fast charging and a USB-C port will top your phone up quickly during a coffee stop rather than trickling away over hours.
One important point for flying: airlines require power banks to travel in your hand luggage, never in the hold, and most cap the size at 100Wh (roughly 27,000mAh). A typical 20,000mAh bank sits comfortably under that limit, but it is always worth checking your airline’s rules before you pack.
Do not forget the right cables
Cables are the part everyone forgets, and a missing one can leave an expensive charger useless. Take at least two good-quality charging cables so you have a spare if one fails or gets left behind in a hotel. A braided cable handles the rough and tumble of a backpack far better than a thin plastic one. If your devices use different connectors, a single USB-C cable with a small Lightning or micro-USB adapter can save space and stress.
Check the plug type before you fly
Travelling abroad means dealing with different sockets. The UK uses its own three-pin plug, so almost anywhere else you will need a travel adapter. The good news is that nearly every phone charger sold today is designed to handle voltage anywhere between 100V and 240V, which covers virtually every country, so you only need a simple plug adapter rather than a bulky voltage converter. Check the small print on your charger; if it says “input 100 to 240V” you are good to go worldwide with just an adapter.
Keep it charged in the car too
If your trip involves driving or hire cars, a compact car charger keeps your phone alive for hours of sat-nav use, which drains a battery surprisingly fast. A dual-port model means a passenger can charge at the same time, and it slips easily into a glovebox or wash bag between journeys.
Your travel charging checklist
Before you zip up your bag, run through the essentials: a compact multi-port wall charger, a fast power bank in your hand luggage, two sturdy cables, the right plug adapter for your destination and, if you are driving, a car charger. Keep them together in a small pouch so nothing gets left in a drawer. Get the setup right once and you can reuse it on every trip, confident that a flat battery will never catch you out. Browse our full range of chargers, cables and power banks in the shop to put your own travel kit together.