There’s a moment at the airport, somewhere between the gate and the first overseas connection, where you realise you’ve either packed like a professional or like someone who just googled “what to bring overseas” thirty minutes before leaving home. The wrong charger. A missing adapter. A roaming bill that arrives home before you do. I’ve seen it all.
International travel has actually gotten easier from a gear perspective, but only if you know what to buy. The market is full of genuinely useful kit these days, along with a fair amount of overpriced junk dressed up with travel-sounding branding. This guide cuts through to what’s actually worth putting in your bag.
eSIMs: Ditch the Physical SIM Before You Board
If you haven’t switched to an eSIM for overseas travel, you’re either still using a Nokia 3310 or you’re paying your carrier’s eye-watering roaming rates. Neither is a good look.
Think of an eSIM as a SIM card that already lives inside your phone. You buy a data plan online before you leave, and your phone connects to a local network the moment you land. No hunting for a phone shop at the airport. No swapping out tiny plastic chips over a hotel sink and immediately dropping one. No paying telco roaming rates that can hit $3 per megabyte, which makes checking Instagram at the departure gate a genuinely expensive hobby.
To put this in perspective: every time I flew to the US, my first stop after clearing customs was a T-Mobile store to pick up a prepaid SIM with data. Trips to India were even more involved. Foreigners couldn’t easily buy prepaid SIMs there at all, so we had to arrange for someone on the ground to sort one out for us in advance. If that person fell through, you were either on hotel Wi-Fi or paying through the nose. eSIMs have made all of that completely irrelevant.
Most phones made in the last four years support eSIMs. To check yours, go to Settings, then look for Mobile Data or SIM, and see if there’s an option to Add eSIM. If it’s there, you’re good to go.
The main providers worth knowing about are Airalo, Holafly, and Saily. Airalo is probably the most widely used, covering over 200 countries. Holafly’s angle is unlimited data plans, which sound appealing but usually slow down after you’ve used a certain amount each day, so read the fine print. Saily tends to offer solid pricing with a few extra privacy features built in.
One thing worth knowing: most travel eSIMs are data only, meaning no phone calls or text messages through the eSIM itself. You can still receive calls and texts on your regular number if you keep your normal SIM active at the same time. For most travellers, that’s fine. WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Google Maps all run on data anyway.
Buy the eSIM a few days before travel, install it before you leave, and set it to kick in automatically when you land. Easy.
Power Adapters vs Power Converters: These Are Not the Same Thing
This is the one that catches people out, and getting it wrong can ruin an appliance or a charger, so it’s worth understanding properly.
A power adapter just changes the shape of the plug so it fits into a different country’s wall socket. That’s it. Think of it as a physical translator for the plug itself. Australia, the UK, Europe, much of Asia, and most popular travel destinations all use similar voltage, so your Australian phone charger, laptop charger, and camera charger will work perfectly fine in most places around the world, as long as the plug physically fits the socket.
A power converter is a different thing altogether. It actually changes the electrical output coming from the wall. You’d only need one if you’re trying to use an older appliance that was built specifically for a different electrical standard, like a cheap hair dryer you bought years ago. If you look at the small print on any device and it says something like “100-240V”, you don’t need a converter. That label means it handles whatever it’s plugged into. If it says “110V only”, then you do need one, but honestly, most modern travel gear doesn’t require them.
For the vast majority of travellers, a good universal travel adapter with a few USB ports built in is genuinely all you need. The EPICKA universal adapter is a popular option that works in over 150 countries and has USB ports alongside the standard plug socket.
Compact Multi-Port Chargers: The One Piece of Kit Worth Upgrading
If you’re still travelling with the bulky brick chargers that came bundled with your phone a few years ago, you’re carrying more weight than you need to.
Newer compact chargers, often called GaN chargers, are significantly smaller and more capable than older ones. A single charger the size of a matchbox can charge your phone, laptop, and tablet at the same time, which also means you’re only using one power point instead of three. Brands like Anker and Ugreen make reliable options that won’t cost a fortune.
The thing to be aware of is that when you have multiple devices plugged in at once, the power gets shared between them. So a charger that can quickly top up one laptop won’t work quite as fast when three things are all plugged in simultaneously. Check the specs of whichever model you pick and make sure it handles your laptop’s requirements on the main port.
Power Banks: Don’t Buy More Than You Need
A portable battery pack is non-negotiable for long travel days, but people consistently buy too much or too little and then complain about the weight or running out of charge.
As a rough guide, a 10,000mAh power bank will give most smartphones around two full charges. A 20,000mAh bank will give four or five. Anything larger than that starts getting heavy and is probably overkill unless you’re genuinely off the grid for days at a time. For most trips, 10,000mAh is the sweet spot.
One rule worth knowing before you pack: power banks must go in your carry-on bag, not checked luggage. Airlines won’t allow them in the hold. Most carriers are fine with standard-sized power banks, but if you’re buying a very large one, check the airline’s limits before you travel.
Phone Cases for Travel: Pick the Right Level of Protection
Your phone is your map, boarding pass, translator, camera, and emergency contact when you’re overseas. Dropping it onto cobblestones somewhere where the nearest repair shop is a mystery is a very bad day. The right case comes down to how rough your travel actually gets.
For serious adventurers, hikers, or anyone who spends time near water, a rugged case like the OtterBox Defender is worth the added bulk. It’s built to handle drops, dust, and the general chaos of travel in a way that a basic case simply isn’t.
For city travel where you’re not doing anything particularly extreme, something like the Spigen Tough Armor hits a sensible middle ground. Decent drop protection, thin enough to fit in a pocket, and won’t add noticeable weight to your bag.
Slim cases like the OtterBox Symmetry offer a bit of scratch and drop protection without much else. Fine if you’re careful, but overseas is generally not the time to be discovering that you’re not.
If you’re heading to beaches or doing any water activities, a waterproof phone pouch is worth throwing in your bag. They seal around your phone entirely and still let you use the touchscreen, so you can take photos in and around water without the usual anxiety.
For iPhone users, it’s worth making sure your case supports MagSafe, Apple’s magnetic charging and accessory system. MagSafe-compatible cases let you snap on portable battery packs, car mounts, and wallet attachments without fussing with cables, which turns out to be more useful on the road than it sounds.
Travel Power Strips: The Hotel Room Problem Solver
Hotel rooms are notorious for having one usable power point in the least convenient location possible. A compact travel power strip fixes this immediately.
One thing to keep in mind: avoid surge-protected power strips for international travel. Surge protectors are designed for specific electrical standards and can behave unpredictably when plugged into overseas outlets. A simple, non-surge strip with a couple of regular sockets and a few USB ports is all you need.
The Baseus PowerCombo is a well-regarded option with multiple USB ports and regular power outlets in a compact build. Plug it into the one available socket in your hotel room and suddenly you’ve got enough ports for everything.
One note if you’re cruising: Royal Caribbean banned all power strips in 2025, including the non-surge variety. Other major lines still allow them, but check your specific ship’s policy before you pack one.
Cables: The Boring Bit That Actually Matters
Nobody gets excited about cables, which is exactly why people show up overseas with cheap ones that fray and stop working on day three.
Braided charging cables last considerably longer than the ones that come in the box with most devices. They cope better with being rolled up, stuffed in bags, and generally mistreated the way cables get mistreated on a trip. Buy a couple before you leave and keep a spare tucked away.
If you’re travelling with a group using different phones, a multi-tip cable that works with multiple phone types from the one plug is a handy thing to have. One cable in the bag instead of three.
Noise-Cancelling Headphones: Worth Every Cent on a Long-Haul
If you’re doing any long-haul flying and you’re not using noise-cancelling headphones, you’re making the experience harder than it needs to be. The constant engine noise on a 14-hour flight is genuinely draining, and a good pair takes most of that away.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort 45 are the go-to recommendations at the premium end. Both fold flat for packing and will last a full long-haul flight on a single charge. If the price is a concern, the Anker Soundcore Space Q45 delivers most of the benefit at a fraction of the cost.
One practical note: pack a small headphone adapter in your carry-on. Plenty of international planes still use the old wired socket for in-flight entertainment, and finding out yours doesn’t work once you’re already airborne is a frustrating way to spend fourteen hours.
The Short Version
There’s a lot of gear marketed at travellers, and plenty of it is genuinely unnecessary. The things that actually make a difference are connectivity (sort out an eSIM before you leave), power (a compact multi-port charger and a universal adapter), protection (a phone case that matches how you actually travel), and cables that won’t die on you halfway through the trip.
Get those right and you’ll spend a lot less time troubleshooting and a lot more of it actually being wherever you’ve gone.
