Frequent international travelers have got the power thing figured out. When you travel from the US to another country the question becomes what do you need to charge/use your electronic devices. My friend Michele who was headed to the UK asked me this very question. So I thought I spend a few minutes here giving you some tips along with my favorite power adapter.
Converter vs an Adapter
Many of the electronics designed to be traveled with (like notebook computers, iPods, iPhones) are already geared to be used in different countries. An easy way to know is to look at the description on the power adapter for your gear. If it says that it can handle 100-240 volts then you're all set. All you need is a plug "adapter" so that you can plug it in the wall of the country you're going to.
However, if your power adapter has a max input of 120 volts. That means that it was designed to work in the US only and in order to use it in another country that has 240 volt wall outlets you're going to need a power "converter" something that can regulate the 240 volts down to 120 volts. Or you might just go with a compatible 3rd party adapter like the ones from iGo.
For your Mac, iPod or iPhone
If you have a portable electronic device from Apple, your supplied adapter already works in other countries. All you need is an adapter and Apple sells a nice kit called the Apple International Travel Kit. This kit has everything you need to adapter your MacBook/PowerBook adapter as well as a USB power adapter (actually it's there older version with the removable prongs) and sync cable With this kit you'll be all set in the US, UK, Australia, Korea, etc. You can get the Apple kit here.
Apple's Airline Adapter
I bought this when I got my first MacBook Pro years ago and I have yet to use it! As much as I travel I have NEVER come across a plane with these special ports. Well actually that's not true. I've been on ONE plane that had them. It was a newly upgraded NWA/Delta plane and I got upgraded to First Class.
I actually saw the fabled ports and couldn't' wait to try them out. As soon as we reached the proper altitude I plugged in and……nothing! Although I had green lights on both mine and my neighbor's ports, I got no juice with this adapter at all. Now it could be that either I have a defective one or the ports really weren't on? Who knows, but for as little as I've seen these ports in several years, I couldn't see buying this adapter unless your airlines has them on their planes. Mine doesn't! I get way more use out of my HyperMac battery which I LOVE!
For your other 100-240 volt devices
This is my favorite all in one "adapter" Think of as the "Transformer" of power adapters. It covers most countries and what I also love about it is that it has a built-in standard USB power port as well. So it can run two things at once like your notebook and your iPod. So this adapter covers all your USB powered gear too. You can get it here for about $17. Note: the USB port on this device is not powerful enough to charge an iPhone 3G/3GS so you will get the warning "this accessory won't charge your iPhone". However, you can plug your iPhone's USB charger right into the regular socket no problem. It charges other USB devices just fine including my iPhone backup battery. CORRECTION: Now it IS CHARGING my iPhone 3GS. The first time must have been a fluke, but it's working just fin plugging my 3GS in the USB port AND having my MacBook Pro plugged in the regular AC port.
Here's a Power Converter
Now I haven't actually used this one. The reason is everything I travel with already has a universal power adapter and very few of my travel gadgets are 100-120 volt only. However, it seems like it would do the job in allowing you to convert your US only device to work in other countries. Here's the link to it.
CAUTION: I'm not responsible if you burn out or blow up some device because you plugged it in somewhere. Please check and double check your device's power requirements before plugging them in to any foreign outlet!
The Bottom Line
When in doubt check your manual or the power adapter itself. Have a great trip!
I’ve been on a bunch of planes with them.. There usually under the seat and hard to see unless you look for them.
Sometimes it’s only a couple of rows so you should check this site http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-seat_laptop_power.php and call the airline and get put in one of those seats with access. Using this site and calling I’ve usually been able to get power.
I recently took a trip to Israel and had all kinds of problems. I’m not a Mac guy, so I took a power converter that my wife had bought at Brookstone with me. I had a hard time getting it to fit into the outlets in the Israeli hotels. When I was finally able to get it to fit, I made the mistake of leaving my laptop plugged in all night. What I didn’t know is that if a laptop isn’t draining the power from use or from charging the internal battery, the converter is sending so much juice to the adapter that it fries it. Luckily, there was someone else on my 10-day trip that had a similar computer, so we were able to share adapters. But that’s something that everyone should be aware of. Don’t leave an American computer plugged into an international plug overnight!
Terry,
Me too on the Mac airline adapter, I’ve been lugging it for years and never found a socket UNTIL this month! American Airlines equipped wifi jets have them under your seat but you’d never know they were there in a million years. A small decal above you next to the ROW numbers says that a power source is available under your seat. The socket is the large diameter opening that accepts what looks like a car 12v socket, but as we know it’s special. It worked GREAT. I also own the transformer you linked to and that worked perfectly in France and the UK.
Jim
nice tip! i travel too so i tend to bring something similar to “transformer”, of course, without the USB port. however, i also bring the belkin portable plug with me… it’s pretty useful when traveling.
also, for the macs, i suggest bringing the long extension cord that comes with laptops. sometimes, the outlets in hotels are hard to reach and it’s useful to have that long cord to charge the laptop.