“Guess it will be a bad hair week.”
It’s so simple, it gets very
complicated. But for those that are traveling abroad, especially for the first
time, it’s very important. Electricity. We toss our phone chargers, curling
irons, electric toothbrushes into our suitcase and when we arrive in
Northern Europe there isn’t any way to
plug our stuff in! Our American two flat blade plug doesn’t go in their two
round holes! So you will need an special adapter. An adapter is a little device
that our plug-ins fit into, that will fit into the foreign socket. Adapter. Your set may include 5-7 little plugs of
different configurations that should be marked with the country they are
intended to be used. They are relatively cheap to purchase.
If yours came with an instruction sheet, I recommend you getting a
marker and labeling each adapter.
Here’s where it gets confusing. You
may need a converter too.
It is not too hard to find out if
you need an adapter AND a converter. To be sure, check the back of your
laptop, camera, (or any device) for power input markings. If all you need
is a simple adapter, then the power input marking should say, "Input:
100—240V and 50/60H," which means the device accepts variable voltage or
hertz (and it can accept 220 volts). If you see that, then it means you
will only need an adapter to change the shape of your power plug to fit into an
outlet. Most smart phones will accept 220 volts.
If you plan on bringing small
appliances like curling irons or razors, changing the shape of your adapter may
not be enough. While most all personal electronics in recent years will accept
both U.S. and European voltages, some older, smaller appliances do not work
with the hefty 220 volts in Europe. This means you will fry your Chi flat iron.
Trust me, I know.
Again, check the label near the
appliance's power cord. If it does not say 100—240V and 50-60 Hz., then
you will need a "step-down transformer," also called a converter.
A converter will reduce the 220
volts from the outlet to provide just 110 volts for the appliance. Converters
have a lot more components in them that are used to change the electricity that
is going through them. They have a tiny fuse in them. Adapters do not have
anything special in them, just a bunch of conductors that connect one end to the
other in order to conduct electricity. This is all I know about electricity,
but it has been learned from experience.
Due to the complexity of converters
and the simplicity of adapters, expect to find a big price difference between
the two. Read the package, a convertor
will cost in the $40 range where a set of adapters will be around $10. They can
be bought at most stores that carry luggage and also airport shops.
Some of the newer products are a
brick-like device that are convertors and adapters in one. The tricky part is
they are often too heavy to stay plugged into the wall, so you wind up stacking
books and towels and anything else to hold it in the wall. I suggest traveling
with a very short extension cord as sometimes the outlets in older hotels are
near the floor or other awkward places.
All of this information is to get
you “Good to Go.” Never travel with something you would hate to lose (or melt
down). Maybe buy an inexpensive
substitute or wait until you get to the destination and buy the appliance that
you know will work with their power system. Charge!
