I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love technology. I love products that work intuitively and efficiently and that make life easier. I’m definitely not the millennial that is glued to their Snapchat and Facebook account but at this point, every facet of my life requires an internet connection. At this point, I am extremely satisfied with my lineup and thought I’d share them with you all.

As always, I’m not being compensated for my opinions or for any products mentioned or linked to in this post. 

Laptop

This is my baby. It’s the 12-inch MAaBook with 256 GB of storage in Space Grey. It cost a pretty penny but it is by far the best laptop I have ever purchased or used. It is incredibly light and small which is perfect since I usually end up carrying it around all day, every day in my messenger bag.

It has inarguably been one of the best purchases of my life and this is coming from a former PC lover. After having such a horrible experience shelling out big bucks with my Surface Pro 3 only to be constantly let down when I needed it most (an example being its inability to open the email “app” when I urgently needed to pull up a presentation in class). My MacBook is the epitome of reliability and as someone who plans to travel heavily in my future, it’s portability is incredible. 10/10 would recommend.

Cell Phone

OK, I admit it. I’m currently still toting an iPhone 5S, but considering that I’m going to be upgrading in a couple weeks, I think I’ll focus on that. I will be purchasing an iPhone 5SE even though it’s a little disappointing that it will look exactly the same as my old phone. Well, except I’m hoping to get it in Space Grey to match my laptop.

Anyways, I will be purchasing the phone outright and without a SIM card because I already have a German prepaid T-Mobile SIM card from last summer that I was assured would be able to “plug-and-go” whenever I returned to Europe. The plan cost me an initial 30€ for the SIM card and is only 10€ per month. Included is unlimited talk and text and 2GB of data. After the 2GB is up, I don’t lose internet though, rather it just drops to an unbearably slow speed. Since I plan on spending most of my time where there is WIFI, this plan should still suit my needs just fine.

Headphones

Yes I own Beats by Dre and yes I really do like them. I know they’re not everyones cup of tea and that many of them seem to have defects but I must have found the diamond in the rough. I have had mine years, use them every day, and I bought mine used from a friend who used them even more than I do! I have a really old Wireless pair (model number 810-00012-00 if you are interested). I love these things so they will certainly be taking the trip overseas again. In addition to these, I’ll also be bringing a cheep pair of in-ear headphones for those times I don’t want to risk losing or having my expensive pair stollen.

Gaming Device

I feel like an electronics post tells a lot about a person. So far you know I like Apple and Beats products so you probably think I’m the most basic person to walk the face of the earth. Well, let me break this stereotype by saying how sad I am that I cannot bring my PS4 with me and that I guess I’ll just have to settle for my crystal blue Nintendo 2DS instead. I’ve been a Pokémon fan since I can remember but Fallout has been stealing my precious time away from it. Now that I’ll be a country away, it’s time for Nintendo to steal my heart again.

Camera

Who (aside from YouTubers, super bloggers and grandmas) has actual cameras anymore? Not me! I am very happy to take my photos with my trusty iPhone where they can be faithfully stored in the cloud. However, for those rare moments when I want an actual printed photo, why not have one with the beautifully imperfect aesthetic of a vintage Polaroid camera? I bought a Pronto S off of eBay for a heck of a bargain and it works moderately well which is good because the film for these old cameras costs an arm and a leg. Thats ok though! It makes every photo I take more special and I know I won’t waste it taking meaningless selfies like the Tweens do with their Fujifilm mini’s.

Cables/Adaptors

I know, I know, this topic seems like a bit of a bore but I actually have some really good tips so hear me out! One of the biggest wastes of space and weight from my trip last year were power adaptors. This go around I spent a great deal of time thinking of how to solve this problem and this is my advice.

I thought of every device that I’m bringing and how they are charged and realized that all but a couple items came with USB cords and separate adaptors. The few items that didn’t I was either able to buy a USB cable for it or a cable with a European plug. Now all I have to bring is a handful of really light weight cords and one European multi-port adaptor. I bought the World Traveler adaptor kit from the Apple Store for my Mac and now I’m good to go. I highly recommend getting rid of all of your adaptors when you’re traveling. You’ll find yourself with less mess and more room for more important things.

Flash Drive

Ok, this is a bit nerdy but I was so impressed with the design of this product that I thought I’d give it a mention. If you have a device with a USB-C drive, you know how annoying it can be to have to dig out your USB adaptor just to use your flash drive. This product has both ports in one so you can upload your file with the USB-C side and download it on a school or work computer with the plain USB side, all without having to drag out a converter!

Power Bank

I’ll be bringing a power bank too of course. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have anything fancy to share though. I’ll just be bringing one I got for free at a conference. It’s not the best but it’s better than nothing and is very far down the list of things to buy/upgrade.

---

That’s it! All of the electronics that you probably noticed in my Packing List explained a bit further for you all. Let me know if you have any questions or want to know more about my personal experience with these products!

SaveSave