Yes, I know we've talked about travel gear before, and yes, I did an episode about non-photo stuff, but I just got back from a trip to South America with a group of photographers, and I've officially hit my limit. There's one travel item that keeps showing up on my trips like bad breath, and today we're gonna talk about it at length. And I'm talking about universal plug converters. You know the ones—big ugly plastic cubes with sliders and buttons,
like they're auditioning for Transformers 9, Charge of the Plastic Brigade. They sound really great, right? One cube to rule them all. I can plug in anywhere in the world because I'm a world traveler. Yeah, except they suck every single time. Look, I live in the US, so when I travel, I need to turn my flat two-prong plugs into whatever bizarre shape the rest of the world is into—
circles, slants, triple-decker monster prongs, whatever. I'm adaptable, my gear is adaptable. But my adapter? It's small, dedicated, and designed specifically for the place I'm going. What I don't bring is a toaster-size adapter trying to be everything to everyone. Why? Because they're massive, they're heavy, and half the time, they don't even stay in the socket. There's nothing like waking up after eight hours of charging,
only to find that your transformer brick popped halfway out of the wall at 2 a.m. And now your batteries are dead. And the failure rate, in my experience? About one in three of these things break mid-trip. Shocking, right? And then do you know what happens? Guess who ends up playing gear savior? Yep, me. Here's a simple solution: buy a small adapter that works specifically in the country you're going to. Buy two because you're responsible like that.
You never know when you’ll leave one behind or one might fail. Let's face it, everything fails at some point. Just get over it. But I've been traveling for over 30 years now, and I've yet to have one of these things quit on me. I've lost them, but I've not had one fail. The big universal bricks? They're bulky, they're expensive, and no one carries a spare. The little guys? They cost five bucks, and you can afford the space and the backup.
Unless you're backpacking through 17 different voltage zones in a month—which, news flash, you're not. You dream about it, but you're not. If there's ever an argument for one, it's me. I'm actually going to hit seven continents this year, and I'm still not buying one. What you do not need is a universal plug converter. You need common sense and a $5 country-specific adapter. All right, that's my rant for today.
If you've got a better solution, send them my way: Zim at nycphotosafari.com. And if you want to travel with me to an exotic location and try out your new plugs, visit boundlessphotosafari.com. I hope that was helpful. Until next time, stay sharp, stay charged, and keep on shooting.
