The Travel Tech Checklist

Most travel technology problems are not equipment failures. They are things that needed doing before you left and could not be done afterwards: a bank that blocks your card, an authenticator app you cannot reach, a booking that only exists in an inbox you cannot open.

Before you go

1. Check your two-factor codes are reachable. If verification codes go by text to your home number and you are swapping SIMs, you will be locked out of your own accounts. Move to an authenticator app, or make sure you can receive messages while abroad.
2. Download everything offline. Offline maps of your destination, boarding passes, booking confirmations, and anything to read on the flight. Offline maps are the single most useful item on this list.
3. Screenshot the essentials. Passport page, visa, insurance policy number, accommodation address, and the address written in the local language. Screenshots work with no signal and a flat battery on someone else’s phone.
4. Tell your bank, or check whether it still needs telling. Many no longer do, but a blocked card on day one is a bad start.
5. Back up your phone and confirm the date updated.
6. Check plug types and voltage for where you are going.

What to actually pack

• A power bank, in hand luggage, never checked. Around 10,000mAh is the sensible size.
• A multi-port USB-C charger, so one plug handles everything. This replaces three chargers and the adapter for each.
• A universal travel adapter with USB ports built in.
• A short extension lead or a small power strip. Hotel rooms have sockets behind the bed and nowhere else, and this turns one awkward socket into four usable ones.
• Wired headphones as a backup. They need no charging and no pairing, and they work with in-flight entertainment.
• A Bluetooth tracker in checked luggage. It does not prevent a bag going missing, but being able to tell an airline exactly where it is changes the conversation entirely.

The power bank rule

Lithium batteries must travel in the cabin, never in checked bags, and there is a capacity limit expressed in watt hours. The widely applied threshold is 100Wh, which is roughly 27,000mAh.

Buy a bank with the watt hour figure printed on the case. Several airlines now check, and an unlabelled battery is easier for staff to refuse than to assess. Rules on using power banks during flight have also tightened, with some carriers requiring them to stay visible rather than in overhead lockers.

Connectivity

An eSIM is now the easiest option for most travellers. You buy a data plan for your destination before leaving, install it over Wi-Fi, and switch it on when you land, keeping your home number active for calls and messages.

Check two things first: that your phone supports eSIM, and that it is not network-locked, because a locked phone will refuse a foreign profile.

Whatever you use, turn off automatic app updates and cloud photo upload over mobile data before you land. A phone that decides to back up a fortnight of holiday photos over a metered roaming connection is an expensive surprise.

Security while away

Public Wi-Fi in hotels and airports is less dangerous than it was, because nearly everything is encrypted in transit now. The greater risk is a network you join that is not the one it claims to be, so check the exact name with staff rather than picking the plausible one.

Turn off automatic connection to open networks. It is what causes a phone to silently join a hostile access point with a familiar name.

Set a proper passcode rather than a four-digit one, and make sure device tracking is switched on before you travel rather than after something goes missing.

The one that saves the trip

Put the essentials somewhere that does not require your phone: a printed copy of your accommodation address, one payment card kept separately from the others, and enough local cash for a taxi.

Every digital convenience on this list assumes a working, charged, connected phone in your possession. The paper backup costs nothing and is the only thing that helps on the day that assumption fails.

Three of these deserve their own read: choosing a power bank, finding a lost phone, and spotting the scams that follow travel bookings.

Travel permissions now need sorting before you fly too: our guide to the UK ETA covers who needs one and how to apply.