Tech Tips For Travel To Latin America

Tech Tips For Travel To Latin America

After a long journey visiting relatives back home in South America or the Caribbean this holiday season, it would be well advised to arrive to your hotel well prepared. I recommend traveling armed with the right gadgets and tech that save space, are light and have multiple functions. Below are a few suggestions for your next trip abroad.

For travelers who enjoy photography, instead of lugging around a big camera, you can now carry, just the lens. What do I mean? Sony just released the Cybershot QX10, a wireless zoom lens for your smartphone. It connects to the lens through
Wi-Fi and you can operate it using the Sony Play Memories app to take photos, videos and control the zoom lens. Once paired, you can see what the lens is capturing even if it’s not attached to the phone, providing an interesting perspective. The lens has a resolution of 18.2 megapixels and 10X optical zoom. It can be operated independently of the phone with its own shutter button to take pictures and control zoom, the photos or videos are saved to a micro-USB card and transferred to the phone wirelessly.

If traveling abroad, especially to South America, I recommend taking a power adapter such as the Plug Bug. Different countries use different power plugs, for example, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Venezuela use the same voltage and connector as the US but, if you travel to Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, or Uruguay, you’ll need the round European adapter since they use 220V, as in Europe. The tricky one is Brazil because they use both.

Although most adapters are only used when traveling, the PlugBug is a versatile adapter that you can use daily. It connects to the power adapter from your computer and it adds a powerful USB port to it. To connect, you just have to remove the tip of the Mac adapter that goes into the wall socket and the PlugBug is easily inserted. The additional port, frees one of the USB ports of your computer so you can use it for other devices. Why is this good? iPads normally need twice the power than a normal phone to charge rapidly, the USB adapter on the PlugBug outputs 2.7 amps, which is enough power to charge an iPad quickly, so you can travel and efficiently charge both a laptop and mobile device with a single outlet.

Finally, if you want to take your music with you, you can now hear it better, using the wireless speaker, Zooka. The Zooka is designed for use with any device that uses Bluetooth, especially tablets. It amplifies the sound of a tablet about 5 times and also serves as a base. The battery recharges with a micro USB connector for easy compatibility and lasts about 8 hours, depending on usage. It has a headphone jack, and volume controls that are easy to operate. It also has a microphone integrated for conference calls or to use simply as a hands free speaker with your phone.

These are some of the gadgets that make my life a little easier when traveling. While traveling can certainly be stressful sometimes, it definitely helps to bring some of the comforts of home along.

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