10 Travel Tech Gadgets That Can Make Your Holiday Easier

Technology has become a surprisingly important part of travelling. Our phones have replaced paper maps, guidebooks, boarding passes, cameras and even some hotel room keys, while a growing number of small gadgets can make everything from getting through the airport to keeping your luggage safe a little easier.

You don’t need to fill your suitcase with gadgets, but there are a few pieces of travel tech that can genuinely earn their place in your luggage. Here are ten worth considering for your next trip.

1. Bluetooth Luggage Tracker

Few things can put a dampener on the start of a holiday quite like standing at the baggage carousel watching everyone else’s suitcase appear while yours doesn’t. A small Bluetooth luggage tracker, such as an AirTag or similar device, can give you another way to keep track of your belongings.

Placed inside your suitcase, the tracker can communicate with your phone and help you locate your luggage if it has been left behind, sent to the wrong airport or simply picked up by someone who has a remarkably similar suitcase to yours. It isn’t a replacement for the airline’s baggage tracking system, but it can provide some useful additional reassurance.

2. Universal Travel Adapter

A travel adapter might not be the most exciting gadget in your suitcase, but you’ll quickly appreciate it when you arrive at your hotel and discover you have three devices that all need charging.

A modern universal travel adapter can often handle different plug types while also incorporating USB-A and USB-C ports, allowing you to charge several devices from one socket. That can be particularly useful when you’re travelling with a family and everyone seems to have brought a phone, tablet, smartwatch and pair of wireless headphones.

One small adapter can potentially replace several individual chargers and adapters, saving space in your hand luggage.

3. Portable Power Bank

Your smartphone becomes considerably more important when you’re travelling. It might hold your boarding pass, hotel booking, maps, restaurant reservations, attraction tickets and translation apps, as well as being the camera you’ll use for hundreds of holiday photos.

That makes running out of battery considerably more inconvenient than it is at home.

A portable power bank gives you a way to recharge your phone while you’re away from a plug socket. This can be particularly useful during long days out, airport delays or sightseeing trips where you might spend hours away from your hotel.

For families, a larger-capacity power bank can also become a useful emergency charging station when several people’s phones are all approaching zero at the same time.

4. Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Long journeys are one of the easiest places to appreciate good technology. Noise-cancelling headphones can reduce the constant background noise of an aircraft, train or busy airport, making it easier to listen to music, watch a film or simply enjoy some peace and quiet.

They’re particularly useful on long-haul flights, where you could be sitting in the same seat for eight, ten or even more hours.

Even if you don’t use the noise-cancelling function constantly, a good pair of headphones can become one of those things you wonder how you ever travelled without.

5. A Smartwatch

If you’re already wearing a smartwatch at home, taking it on holiday is an obvious choice. If you aren’t, travelling can be a good opportunity to discover just how useful one can be.

As well as telling the time, a smartwatch can display notifications, track your activity, provide navigation information and, on compatible devices, allow contactless payments without having to get your phone out.

It can also become a surprisingly interesting holiday companion. A day of sightseeing might produce 20,000 steps, while a relaxing day by the pool might barely reach 5,000. By the end of the trip, you’ll have a rather good record of just how much walking you actually did.

6. An E-Reader

If you’re someone who likes to read on holiday, an e-reader can save a huge amount of space in your luggage.

Instead of choosing between three or four books before you leave, you can take an entire library with you in a device that weighs very little. That makes it particularly useful for flights, pool days, beach holidays and those moments when you’re waiting around for a transfer or reservation.

Unlike constantly reading on your phone, an e-reader is also designed primarily for reading, meaning you’re less likely to get distracted by emails, social media notifications or the temptation to check what’s happening at home.

7. A Portable Bluetooth Speaker

A small Bluetooth speaker can be useful for everything from getting ready in your hotel room to relaxing in a holiday villa.

For a family staying somewhere with a private outdoor space, it can provide some background music around the pool or while you’re having dinner outside. It’s also useful for road trips, where your phone’s built-in speaker isn’t always ideal for keeping everyone entertained.

Of course, there is one important rule: just because your speaker can be heard from three pool areas away doesn’t mean it should be.

8. A Smart Luggage Scale

Overweight baggage can be an expensive surprise, particularly when you’ve returned home with a suitcase full of souvenirs, clothes and things you definitely weren’t planning to buy.

A small digital luggage scale allows you to check the weight of your suitcase before leaving for the airport. Some are small enough to take with you, meaning you can check the weight again before your return journey.

It might be one of the least glamorous gadgets on this list, but knowing that your suitcase is safely within the airline’s allowance can be worth its weight in gold.

9. A Waterproof Phone Case or Pouch

There are plenty of holidays where a waterproof phone pouch would be useful, but few make a stronger case for one than a Florida holiday.

Think about what a single day could look like. You could be riding rollercoasters in the morning, spending the afternoon hurtling down water slides and then heading out for dinner in the evening. Your phone needs to survive everything from splash zones and water rides to swimming pools and sudden Florida thunderstorms.

A waterproof pouch can give you somewhere secure to keep your phone when you’re around water, allowing you to protect the device while still having access to it when you need it.

It’s particularly useful when your phone is doing so much more than taking photographs. You might be using it for theme park tickets, maps, mobile food ordering, reservations, directions or simply keeping in touch with the rest of your group.

If you’re heading to Florida, a waterproof phone pouch is therefore one of those inexpensive pieces of technology that can become surprisingly useful. With so many days combining theme parks, water parks and pools, it’s worth having something that protects the device you’re relying on throughout the holiday.

10. A Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot

Having an internet connection when you’re travelling can make a huge difference, particularly if you’re moving between different destinations.

A portable Wi-Fi hotspot can create a connection that multiple devices can use, potentially making it useful for families travelling with phones, tablets and laptops. Depending on the device and your destination, it can also provide an alternative to relying entirely on hotel Wi-Fi or paying for individual data connections.

It can be particularly useful on road trips, where you’ll want to stay connected while moving between destinations, although it’s important to check the costs, coverage and data arrangements for the country you’re visiting before relying on one.

Travel Tech Doesn’t Have to Mean Taking Everything With You

The best travel gadgets aren’t necessarily the most complicated or expensive ones. Often, the most useful are the small devices that solve a specific problem: keeping your luggage trackable, your phone charged, your suitcase under the weight limit or your electronics protected from water.

And you don’t need all ten.

Think about the type of holiday you’re taking and choose the technology that actually fits the trip. A waterproof phone pouch might be essential for a Florida theme park holiday, while an e-reader could be far more useful on a week spent beside the beach. A power bank makes sense almost everywhere, while noise-cancelling headphones could be the gadget you appreciate most before you’ve even reached your destination.

Technology shouldn’t get in the way of the holiday. Used well, it can simply make the whole experience a little easier.

Technology has become a surprisingly important part of travelling. Our phones have replaced paper maps, guidebooks, boarding passes, cameras and even some hotel room keys, while a growing number of small gadgets can make everything from getting through the airport to keeping your luggage safe a little easier. You don’t need to fill your suitcase…