5 Useful Tech Gadgets That Travelers Can Bring In A Carry-On Bag

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Travel tech has developed in leaps and bounds over the last few years. There have never been more options for the tech-savvy traveler to make their vacations easier, smoother, and more enjoyable with innovative, portable gadgets and helpful devices. Whether it's high-tech electronics, GPS trackers, or simple things like cable organizers, portable tech is a wonderful way to upgrade your travel experience.

The only catch with travel gadgets is that they can sometimes be bulky and take up space in your luggage, making them less useful tech for international travel. And when you are trying to cram everything you need for a week away into just a carry-on, every inch and ounce counts! Luckily, some of the most useful tech gadgets are specially designed to be portable and space-saving, meaning you can slip them into your carry-on without taking up too much valuable space. 

From more complex gadgets, like power banks to keep your devices fully charged, Bluetooth adapters to avoid having to use airline headphones, and e-readers to keep you entertained, to simple things like cable organizers and luggage trackers, portable tech makes a long journey more manageable. We looked at review websites and travel tech buying guides to put together a list of five of the most useful products you can take in your carry-on to improve your vacation experience. And for the budget-friendly, we focused mostly on products you can find for less than $50.

A gadget that enables other gadgets, you should never forget to bring a portable charger with you when traveling. A good power bank is one of the most important items on any travel packing list. There's nothing worse than arriving in a new city and realizing that the address of your hotel, the tickets to the tour you booked, or even just the list of restaurants you researched is on your phone, which has just run out of battery! A decent portable charger, like this Anker Zolo Power Bank, is a must, keeping your other devices powered up and functional even on long journeys. 

For longer journeys, 20,000mAh will be the best choice, but for shorter trips, you can probably manage with 10,000mAh, which usually means around 2 full charges for a cell phone. Don't forget that the TSA has fairly strict rules about power bank capacity, so you'll need to make sure you don't bring anything on board that has a higher capacity than 100 Wh, without prior approval from the airline.

In-flight entertainment has come a long way in many aspects, and passengers on long flights can enjoy the best music, films, series, and even games from the comfort of their seats. However, despite vast improvements in Bluetooth technology, most airlines still only offer wired headset connections, and the headphones they provide as part of the onboard service tend to be low quality at best. This can be immensely frustrating, particularly if you have a great pair of cordless headphones already in your carry-on!

This Twelve South AirFly SE Bluetooth adapter and transmitter is a superb workaround. This little dongle plugs directly into a 3.5mm jack, turning it into a Bluetooth-capable device, and allowing you to connect your headphones quickly and simply. It lasts for over 20 hours on a single charge, so you can enjoy the in-flight entertainment with full sound, avoiding tinny, unsatisfying audio. As a bonus, most Bluetooth adapters work as receivers as well as transmitters, meaning you can connect your music devices to speakers or traditional hi-fi systems wherever you go.

Keeping track of your belongings while on the move can be challenging, especially if you are traveling with kids or a large family. Trackers can be immensely helpful in keeping your belongings together and ensuring bags, wallets, keys, and even kids don't go missing!

Attaching a small tracker like an AirTag, a Chipolo, or a Tile to your carry-on means that if you accidentally leave the bag at the airport, in a taxi, or at the hotel, you can track and recover it without any trouble at all. The same principle works for other belongings, giving you peace of mind throughout your trip. Some trackers work using Bluetooth, meaning there needs to be a phone within a certain range of your item to make it locatable. Others use GPS, making it even easier to find your belongings. Attaching a tracker to your checked luggage is also a great idea, just in case the airline misplaces your bags during the flight.

Although cables don't take up too much space in your carry-on, they do have an unfortunate tendency to get incredibly tangled and messy, winding themselves up into remarkable knots and shapes. This can be annoying, particularly if you need to get a cable out of your bag in the middle of your journey. A cable organizer, like this travel bag from FYY, is a great way to keep your carry-on a bit tidier, tucking all your cables and cords neatly away and making them easy to retrieve.

This is, perhaps, stretching the definition of what a gadget is a little, but it is definitely a wonderful space-saver. Alongside cables, most organizers will have space for adapters, chargers, SIM cards, memory cards, and even battery packs. Cable organizers tend to be about the size of a small wash bag, and usually are waterproof, meaning your chargers and electronic accessories will stay safe even if your bag is caught in an unexpected downpour.

While they might be a little pricier than some of the other gadgets and gizmos on this list, e-readers are the original power players in portable travel tech. They allow you to reduce an entire library of books into the size of a small pamphlet and carry it with you wherever you go, meaning you will never be bored and will always have something to read, even on the longest of journeys. And best of all, even if by some miracle you read all your downloaded books, all you need is a wifi or data connection, and you can download more! Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite is the standout option, with weeks of battery life and a glare-free screen. Best of all, it's waterproof, so you can read by the pool without worrying about mishaps!

The first e-readers were genuinely just digital books, but these days, most e-readers also combine some kind of internet access and even audiobook playback capability. And while other devices might run out of juice in a couple of days, your e-reader will keep you going for weeks, with some devices boasting a battery life of over a month. Whether you are jetting off on a luxury escape or packing for a budget backpacking trip, an e-reader is a lifesaver.

In putting together this article, we have concentrated on small, portable, easy-to-carry devices and gadgets that are designed to pack easily and fit into small bags, without taking up room. We've focused on space-saving items and tried to choose gadgets that are affordable, with the majority costing under $50. To compile the list, we looked at reputable tech websites and cross-referenced with several review and rating websites, as well as taking into account personal experience.