Three travel essentials

There are three small items that are my absolute essential travel items.

100W 4-port charger

The first item is a Ugreen Nexode 100W GaN 4-port charger. With just one brick, I get an adaptive max 22.5W USB-A port, an adaptive max 22.5W USB-C port and two adaptive max 100W USB-C ports.

It’s a magical thing really. I can charge my laptop, tablet, phone, headphones, Kindle, powerbanks and whatever I happen to bring with me without having to remember to bring in specific chargers.

Often in hotels or trains or at other venues, you don’t have a lot of power outlets to use so only needing one to charge everything solves a lot of problems. And I can always help a friend out with it too.

The only downside of it is that it’s clunky and doesn’t fit into tight spaces. My local library has power outlets in a nook in a table and I can’t charge my laptop there.

Cocoon Grid-It

The second item is Cocoon’s Grid-It. They come in many sizes and my current one is the XS which is a good tradeoff between capacity and the space it takes in my bag. As pictured above, it comfortably fits my charger and two cables – and I’ve been able to arrange it with three cables as well when absolutely needed.

Having all those cables and chargers in one tidy item comes handy on trains and venues. I don’t need to dig through my bag and find items from different places and maybe different pouches but everything is available at once.

Its hook is especially handy when combined with the next item on the list as I can hang it when I’m using the items, making it easy to get access to cables and pack things back when I’m done.

I would kinda like to get one bigger one as every now and then I hope I had bit more space in the grid.

Heroclip

Heroclip is a carabiner with an extra hook. Mine is size medium and I constantly hope I had bought more than just one when I purchased it. I use it all the time.

On its base form, it’s a carabiner. You can hook things into it and clip it to something. I keep it on the handle of my backpack and often when I go around, I clip items I want easy access but not lose them: my headphones, my water bottle, my cap or my keys.

Once the hook is opened, its true power is revealed. I can hook my backpack on it and hang it from the edge of a table or chair or the bathroom stall when I don’t want the bag to touch the floor. When on a train, I gain an extra hook to hang things like the grid-it, water bottle, headphones or snacks. Since the hook is adjustable and hooks really well to things, any kind of handle becomes an extra hook.

Since I bought it, I’ve also paid extra attention to buy things that have hooks or rings so they can be hang from this.