Or, more accurately, are worth considering taking?
1. Travel adaptor
Skross World Travel Adapter MUV USB. Why? It is well made. It has an earth, many do not. It has the two USB sockets. In a perfect world, join it to Skross’ World to Italy / Switzerland / Brazil adaptor and gain two more USB ports. One adaptor, to charge anything and everything.
2. Long USB lead
Anker Powerline Braided. Why? It’s long enough at 3m to reach most out of the way power sockets. As it’s braided, it should last longer than the other tat and maybe even longer than your phone.
3. Multi-head USB lead
SDBAUX Multi Charger Cable 4 in 1, Retractable Fast Charge with Type C/Micro USB/ 2 iP Ports for Smartphones and Tablets. Why. One, reasonably long, retractable cable, to charge up to four things at once. Now you don’t need to bring four separate cables.
4. Charging ‘brick’
Why? You can charge things on the go. You can keep your phone going, whilst your bike in lying in pieces on the side of the road, whilst you make an invariably large number of calls. Anything with a decent amount of power, preferably with more than one USB socket and of the right type of USB for your device(s). If you are going to take a ‘brick’, why ponce about with one USB socket or something that will struggle to just about charge your phone only once? Find one that charges up via USB, not a dedicated transformer. Why? You don’t want to be carting the transformer and the brick.
5. A payage bleeper thing
Why? Bods moan like buggery about the entry / exit card the machine spits out. The cards are a bitch when it rains, dissolving in a soggy mess. Bods also moan about feckin’ around with coins. They panic if their credit card does not work. They moan about dropping their gloves. In short they moan and panic about most things. A payage bleeper thing, cuts all that shite out. It sits in a small freezer bag in my jacket pocket. The freezer bag is to keep it dry.
6. Travel clothes line
Why? Doing washing is easy and manly. It means that you’ll cart less stuff to wear. Find one (it’s not hard) with a double strand twist, it’ll make it much easier to hang things. Look at it and ponder, just for a moment, if you think you’ll be able to attach it at either end to something in the hotel bathroom or on the balcony or wherever you’ll think you’ll be. If you think it will do, buy it. If you don’t think it will do, think about something small to add, that will enable you to do so. If you don’t you’ll be holding a length of double twist line in your hands and still have wet washing.
7. One large’ish supermarket type bag
Why? They fold up to all but nothing and weigh feck all. I watched my bike depart on a low-loader. Before then, I’d changed into my casual clothes, piled all my bike clobber into the bag and given it to the pick-up driver, to take along with my bike. I wouldn’t be needing any of it for a day or two. Of course, I could have carried it, too. I then jumped into a taxi and went to my hotel. In short, it made things easy and tidy; which is all you want to do when the wheels have come off.
8. A decent quality multi-tool
Now we are getting into the real technical stuff. Why? Well, it’s a luxury, innit mate. Me? I happen to like the offering from Victorinox ‘Swiss Tool’ but that’s just me.
9. Large screen iPhone or similar
Why? It’s a camera, library, cinema, internet browser, TV, radio, jukebox, calculator, map carrier, address book, bank, ticket holder, route suggester and, if necessary, a GPS device.......the list goes on and on. Everything in one tidy package; just don’t forget the charger and certainly don’t break or lose it.
Will be getting one though.
