1. Voltage Check

One of the most common techie mistakes made when traveling is that people don’t make sure to check the difference in voltages between their home country and the country or countries that may be visiting. For example, North American outlets will provide 120 volts at 60 hz, whereas European countries give 230 volts at 50 hz. To ensure that all of your devices, appliances and accessories don’t get damaged, you need to have the right adapters with you.

2. Forgetting Adapter

And speaking of adapters, another of one of the most common mistakes made is that, even when people know that they need them, they forget them anyway! It’s not the end of the world, but it certainly does cause a holiday headache that you don't need to have, and you may end up having to take a trip to the airport store where the prices for things like that are intentionally sky high!

3. Roaming Rates

This one has become a hot topic over the last few years due to the rise in smartphone usage. You need to make sure that you are aware of all of your phone settings before you leave the country to ensure that you do not get charged for simply having a particular app open in the background or sending texts back home to your loved ones. There is nearly always a simple solution in the settings so make sure you know about it!

4. Not Telling Your Bank

It doesn’t always happen, but sometimes there is a risk that you will go abroad, start spending money, and your bank will see this as an irregular activity and suspend your account. Obviously, you do not want this to happen, so if you are planning an out of character trip where you will be spending a lot of money, it’s always a good idea to let your bank know in advance so they don’t flag the activity as suspicious.

5. Public Wi-Fi

When you are in a country that you are not familiar with, you should be somewhat cautious of all the different local Wi-Fi hotspots that come up on your phone or laptop. To be on the safe side and avoid any unfortunate hacking dramas, stick to the names you know like big phone companies that offer Wi-Fi services across the world.

6. Packing Tech in Hold Luggage

You should always make sure that any valuable tech you are taking with you is packed in your carry on luggage rather than the luggage that you check. You can handle losing a few items of clothing if your luggage gets lost, but it would be harder to take if you had a few thousand dollars worth of electrical gadgets to replace!

7. No Hard Copies

If you are travelling for a business trip, you should really all of your vital work documents in hard form as well as on your phone or laptop, it’s too big a risk to take if your technology fails you are left with nothing to show for yourself. Always have physical back-ups, even if it is 2016!

Now you know what to include on your packing list along with your clothes and toiletries.