Traveling with Technology: Plan Ahead to Stay on the Grid
If you’re a blogger or traveler who enjoys taking photos, videos and sharing on social media, then you know the struggle to keep your phone, camera, and/or tablet juiced on daily excursions is real. Watching your power percentage drop as the minutes tick on can be seriously distressing. It can also be downright scary if you depend on GPS apps on your phone to get around an unknown city or area and have your phone power down, completely, before you reach your destination. There’s also the heartbreak of allowing memorable moments to go uncaptured for the sake of conserving the power you have left for more necessary actions.
I thought I had conquered these issues in 2015 when I purchased my first back-up battery on Amazon for as little as $40. The Anker 2nd Gen Astro3 12800mAh External Battery ($25.99 + $3.99 shipping) had the best reviews I could find anywhere on the internet regarding a portable battery. The fact that it came with THREE USB ports to recharge multiple devices was a bonus. I could power up my phone and digital camera, simultaneously (if necessary), at least 3-4 times while out and about in a single day. If you’re an adult traveler without a need to return to the hotel for nap breaks with the kids, this is a handy tool for out-all-day exploration. Who hasn’t been someplace special for the first time and felt the need to capture every amazing and magical thing?!
Having said that, portable external batteries can be the perfect travel companion when all devices are working properly. If your phone or its internal battery becomes old and worn, it can take longer to recharge and run down quickly during use. And if you’re using the portable battery for multiple aged items or sharing it with others who need a charge, it can become drained much faster than you’d like. My advice would be to have more than one handy.
On a Disney trip this past spring, my nieces, nephews and I were up early every morning and generally remained out at the parks until nighttime fireworks or park closings. It was Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot and I decided to document the trip for the first time as a lifestyle blogger (most of which I never got to blog about due to obligations offline; but shared photos via Instagram). Between capturing the gorgeous topiaries, delicious food selections, characters and the beautiful scenery around us, we ended each day with dead phones or just enough juice on someone’s phone to keep GPS operational back to our hotel. Oftentimes, even if you’ve hooked your phone up to the charging USB in the car, the battery will drain faster than it can charge. Trust me when I say you NEVER want to be stuck in the dark swampy area of Orlando where Disney World is located trying to blindly find your way back to civiliation by car. For someone who’s directionally challenged even WITH GPS (like me), you could easily end up on your way to Tampa. Despite the abundant signage all over the area, some of it isn’t the best. Missed turns and exits can be a problem, especially at night, if you aren’t familiar with the area.
In any case, that trip taught me I needed to up my game in staying on the grid. I had tried to purchase another Anker within the past 2 years as gifts, but it was always out of stock. But in my quest to find the next best thing for future trips, I was beyond ecstatic to discover the Anker 2nd Gen was finally back. With just $60 I purchased another Anker external battery and went the extra step to purchase THREE additional phone batteries for my smartphone.
Here’s the tea on phone batteries, though. Finding good quality ones are really hard, even on reputable sites like Amazon where reviews ranged from excellent to poor on the same vendors. In short, it’s a crapshoot as to what you’ll get. Also, the reviews on battery chargers (units that charge the batteries outside of your phone) were just awful. Ebay, however, turned up a vendor, samsal-smartphone-parts, with consistently good reviews on smartphone batteries. They even offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee and 2-year warranty on batteries sold. One battery for my Samsung Galaxy J7 was $8.98, but there was a 20% off deal if I purchased 3 ($23.70 + free shipping), so I went for the triple and prayed I didn’t get three lemons.
Within days I had the batteries. They arrived already partially charged, ranging from 57% to 65%, and charging them inside my phone(one by one) proved to be seamless. The chief complaints many experienced with purchasing extra smartphone batteries from other vendors were absent, here. There were no issues with the batteries causing my phone to overheat during the charging process or during normal use. And they all reached fully-charged status within 90 minutes each. They also haven’t drained at a rate any faster than the original battery. I hit the motherload with this purchase, but please proceed with caution when purchasing extra batteries for your smartphone. Feel free to check out the vendor I used, but do read the reviews associated with batteries for your particular phone. I had great success with mine, but the reviews and quality may be different for different brands. Just know they offer the warranty if you encounter any problems. My other advice when purchasing from any vendor is to make sure you keep your phone close by while charging so you can monitor problems such as overheating during the charging process. If it’s taking an unusually long time to charge or stalls at a certain percentage, disconnect your phone and remove the battery to prevent any damage. The battery might be a dud or faulty.
As for the Anker external battery, it’s about the size of a deck of cards. It has three charging ports so three devices can be charged simultaneously. Of course, you can purchase smaller external batteries the size of a tube of lipstick with more power than the Anker 2nd Gen, but you can only power one item at a time. My very 1st Anker 2nd Gen has been a lifesaver through thousands of charges over the past three years; for me and for others…even random strangers who needed emergency juice to add a few bars to their phone. I NEVER leave home without mine. It’s keys, wallet, phone and my Anker when I leave the house. Unfortunately, my old one had to be retired. The charging port (used to charge the unit), had become worn and unable to power up without some special jiggling of the cord for the sweet spot. The three USB ports still work efficiently, but the ability to charge the battery itself had become so difficult, I simply made the decision to purchase a second one. I knew the product would serve me well and with additional phone batteries, I don’t need to rely on it so much, which also decreases excessive wear and tear on the charging port.
During my last Disney trip, a few weeks ago, my $60 investment was tested and passed with flying colors. Most days ended with three dead phone batteries and a fully charged one available for the drive back to the hotel. My portable external battery was used mainly to charge the electronics of everyone else in my travel group throughout the day. Translation: Besides dodging those quick summer showers at the parks, everyone’s stress level was remarkably reduced on this trip. We didn’t have to sacrifice capturing any Disney awesomeness for the sake of staying on the grid.