We moved for a month again and I wanted to explain what chargers and cables I bring with me. I traveled non-stop for 3 years, mostly spending less than a month in a house, and median would probably be less than a week, so I have something to say.
Let me start with the hardest part. It requires preparations. If I started to pack for a trip in November and I didn’t read this article, I wouldn’t have enough time.
Type C everything
All my devices charge through Type C. My headphones, my phones, my laptop, my e-book reader support Type C. My powerbank accepts Type C, powers through a built-in Type C and has an extra Type C port.
That was a deliberate decision. In 2022, after I read Vitalik Buterin’s post about his backpack, I stopped buying devices which don’t support Type C. Some of the moves were stupid: the same year I updated my e-reader even though my old one worked well. Some of the moves were slow: I upgraded my laptop a few years after. Some things couldn’t be upgraded: I lost and broke my headphones and every time I was buying the same model because they are the only Type C headphones which don’t suck for me.
Vitalik and I aren’t the only people who are “Type C maximalists”. Terence Eden posts much about Type C devices, and I believe many Nomad blogs would mention it too even if it’s a SEO-optimized LLM-generated piece of garbage.
I have a few exceptions. These are things I won’t write online but there’s a specific set of devices in the specific industry which uses pogo pins, 2.5 mm monsters and other proprietary ports. I don’t travel with many of these but if I do, I take an extra cable.
Power budget
Now when everything runs on Type C, we can choose a universal charger. Actually, your laptop’s charger be the only charger on your trip. It obviously can charge the laptop but you can also charge the phone and most of other devices from it. Type C is smart enough to negotiate a required power so you device would only request as much as it can take. There’re still some ultra cheap devices which lack a Rd resistor but these won’t even charge. So yeah, go for it, insert your bulky scary laptop charger into your smartphone!