One of the downsides of being a tech-focused traveler is figuring out how to plug everything in. Advances in multi-voltage gadgetry have made it much easier to travel with your electronics, but there's still some difference between electrical systems around the world. At the very least, you're probably going to need a plug adapter.
Why Is It Such a Mess, Anyway?
North America tends to use 110- or 120-volt lines with electricity running at 60Hz, which was promoted by Tesla, Westinghouse, and eventually General Electric in the US. Many other countries use 220 or 240 volts and 50Hz, which was promoted by German firms after World War II. It's more efficient to transmit electricity at a higher voltage, but not enough more that it's worth retrofitting millions of existing appliances.
Much of Europe's electrical infrastructure was destroyed in World War II. Europe as a whole used the German standard as part of the overall European economic unification and rebuilding projects in the 1950s. Because Japan bought generators after World War II from the US and Germany, it has the unusual situation of hosting 50Hz and 60Hz current in the same country. Gizmodo has a more in-depth explainer from 2009, which is fine, because we're talking about ancient history.
Ultimately, the answer is inertia. There's no global standard, all the existing choices are good enough, and they're expensive to change unless your infrastructure has just been destroyed by a major war.
Fortunately, most gadgets don't mind anymore.
Voltage and Its Discontents
Almost all electronics sold in the past ten years can run on 100 to 240 volts and 50 to 60 hertz. (You can look at your power adapter, like the one above, to double check.) That means wherever you go, you probably only need to use plug adapters.
There's one notable exception: hair things. Hair dryers and hair straighteners/flat irons can sometimes be single-voltage for a few reasons: they count on the voltage to generate heat, and high-end flat irons are expensive enough that people don't replace them often.
In those cases, you can use a transformer to change the local voltage into the one your appliance expects, but I advise: don't. There are a lot of voltage transformers out there. None of them get particularly good reviews. They're all loud and heavy. It's by far a better idea to either pick up a dual-voltage travel flat iron and hair dryer before you leave, or simply to get one at a department store at your destination.
Travel and Leisure did a survey of travel hair dryers and recommends the $14.99 Conair Cord Keeper, which is dual-voltage and cheaper than a transformer. Bustle did a review of dual-voltage flat irons and picked the HSI Professional Glider, which is $36.99 on Amazon.
If you're staying in a hotel, you can also check the outlet near the light switch in the bathroom. Many international hotels provide a single 110-120v outlet (often marked "Electric Shaver") in the bathroom, which is appropriate for any of your US hair devices.
Plug It In, Plug It In
There are about 15 different kinds of outlets around the world, but there are only five you need to know about:
Two-prong US/Canadian plugs (type A)
Two-prong Europlugs (type C/D/E/F/H/J/K/L/N/O)
Three-prong UK plugs (Type G)
Australian plugs (Type I)
South African plugs (Type M)
The unique plugs used in many countries mostly differ in their third, grounding prong. Yes, it's safer to use grounded plugs, especially with larger home appliances, but short-term travelers with light-duty electronics can skip the third pin in a pinch.
For gadget-heavy travelers, the best bet is to carry a few plug adapters and then a power strip to stack all of your gadgets against in the evening.
I'm addicted to the Europlugs (formerly called Wonpro) universal power strips, which have special outlets that can take any plug. Some versions also have detachable cords on the end, which can be swapped for a bunch of different countries' cords, making the power strip completely customized for the destination country.
There are a few versions of the Wonpro technology swimming around; the best way to make sure you get the most recent version, which has easier-to-use safety shutters and support for multi-national grounded connections, is to go directly to the Europlugs site.
There's some drama around universal power strips. Certification authorities hate them for various reasons, and they're right. They're less safe than single-country strips. You can accidentally plug a 120v-only appliance into a 240v outlet (possibly setting it on fire), or you can potentially stick paper clips into the extra holes (which is why Europlug strips have safety shutters) and such. But used intelligently by traveling professionals who check the voltage on their gadgets first, they're perfectly safe.
Otherwise, plug adapters are cheap. You can buy Europlugs adapters from Europlugs.com, or Ceptics-branded adapters from Amazon. If you're traveling from the US to Europe, I find the adapters with large, circular bodies like this Ceptics model (similar to the one shown above) to work the best with the often-recessed European outlets; smaller adapters that just extend your plug can wobble in the outlet, especially if you're using a heavier gadget power supply.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Laptop Adapter
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