Long journeys are tiring. The long hours spent sitting down, sometimes in a cramped space, sleeping, and waiting for the next meal to be served gets tedious. No matter how much transport companies try to provide onboard entertainment, with the latest movies, a wide selection of TV shows, music, and games, it is sometimes not enough.
Bringing along your very own sources of entertainment will guarantee that you will have something to occupy yourself with throughout your journey, including those times when you are waiting in the pre-departure gates.
Although it will take some investment in terms of preparation time on your part, I guarantee that having your very own entertainment collection all throughout your trip will be worth it.
The Gadgets
Tablet, Phablet, or Phone
You’ll surely be bringing at least one of these anyway, and you’ll be keeping it within reach all throughout your trip. Why not maximize its multifunctionality by making it your main entertainment device?
Headphones: Wired and Wireless
Bring along your favorite Bluetooth wireless headset for comfort. But as legs of your trip may be longer than your headphones’ battery life, take a wired set as backup for when you need to recharge your wireless headset.
Charging Cables and Powerbank
Make sure that you pack the correct cables for your devices and that you have your powerbank fully charged. I recommend a powerbank with at least 10,000mAh, that way, you can recharge your phone twice and your tablet at least once during your trip.
External Hard Drive
If you intend to bring a whole lot of video and audio files, it would be practical to pack an external hard drive. I suggest getting something like WD’s My Passport Wireless.
It has its own battery pack, so you can wirelessly stream audio and video to your phone or tablet for up to 10 hours on a single full charge, making it the perfect accessory. As an added bonus, you can also use it as storage for all the photos you’ll take throughout your trip.
Preparing Content
Make your phone and tablet travel-ready by making sure that the operating system is updated. If your phone has limited storage space, make sure to transfer files that you won’t need to your home computer.
Install and update all the apps you intend to use during your travels and make sure that you open each app at least once before departure just to make sure that they are fully loaded and ready.
When selecting what games to load on your phone and tablet, select the ones that will work even if you are not connected to the Internet or you’ll find yourself in limbo without any game if those in your devices all require internet connection.
For Audible and Kindle users, make sure that the books you want to listen to or read are downloaded into your device before departure so that you won’t get frustrated in case you encounter Wi-Fi trouble once you’re on your way.
If you intend to read the latest issue of Gadgets Magazine on your Magzter app, also make sure that you download them before you leave.
If you plan to bring an external drive like the My Passport Wireless, I recommend that you load your videos, music, and eBooks (in pdf format) in the external drive so that you can bring as much as you want.
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE July 2015 Issue.
Reviewed by Presy Alba