Hi! I will be traveling to Italy with my family and our group will have 3 iPhones, 1 Samsung phone and a flat iron (which I now understand is a type of hair curling iron!). What do we need... converters, adapters, 2 prong, 3 prong etc. We'll be on the move a lot and want to conserve space and weight. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
the istuff and the Samsung are all rated for 110 - 240 volts and should only need an adapter - they are cheap and small.
The flat iron is another story - it needs to be checked if it is rated for 110 - 240 - if not you will need a converter capable of the wattage of the flat iron + 20% (always best to have a cushion) even with the converter there are varying stories of performance.
Leave the flat iron home. High wattage converters are heavy and bulky. Even with a proper high wattage converter, there is a good possibility that the flat iron could be damage and will not perform well. If a flat iron is critical, buy it when you get there.
My wife purchased a 240 volt curling iron specifically for European travel. You can too. Amazon.com
I don't recommend the butane/gas curling irons as the airlines don't let you take them on the plane.
You can buy European adapters from any store like Target or online for peanuts. Those will be sufficient for your telecommunication/computer devices which nowadays are compatible for both EU or US voltage.
Check the voltage capabilities of the curling iron. It must take the higher 240v in use in Europe. If not compatible buy one that is either online or when you get to your destination. They are sold everywhere.
Hi- I took my flat iron to Italy in May with just a 2 prong adapter. Worked fine.
We saw when shopping for adapters, I believe at Bed Bath & Beyond, an adapter that could have several things plugged into it at once. Or check Amazon with the reviews there for you to see what others thought.
Another tip: we put all our electronics in one clear pouch for going through security--in Paris they wanted all our electronics out of our bag. So, all adapters, phones, extra portable charger, cords and kindle in this pouch. They didn't seem to care about my flat iron.
Italy was amazing! You will have a wonderful time!
If you are staying in a hotel, electrical outlets may be at a premium. On our last trip, we took an Anker multi-port USB charger. The version we have charges up to 4 devices at a time in one outlet. You only need one outlet and one plug adapter, so it can make life a little more simple. Amazon sells the port version for about $25.
The thing that you need to know (if you don't already) is that the cheap plug adapters that you can buy for a couple bucks are NOT the same as a power converter. All they do is change the shape of your plug...they don't do anything to the electricity. Every electronic device will have a tiny label near the plug showing you which voltage it can handle. You need to make sure this matches the voltage in the country you're going to. For us, our cell phones and camera batteries were made to handle this voltage, so all we needed was the plug adapter, but be sure to check all of our electronics individually. I have heard horror stories of friends melting their curling irons in Europe because they thought they could just use the plug adapter and be good to go, but the curling iron wasn't made to withstand that amount of electricity. When I researched this a few years ago, I seem to recall that there was no good option for how to bring an actual power adapter on a trip (back then, I read that they were all big and bulky and impractical). I ended up just popping into a store and buying a cheap $13 flat iron to use for all of my European travels (I read that the dual voltage ones you can buy on Amazon don't work very well). FYI, many hotels we visited had spare plug adapters we could borrow, but obviously that isn't a given...worked for us though.
nospam,
It's generally prudent to check the chargers or power adapters of each device you'll be travelling with to determine the Input Voltage ratings. If the ratings state "Input 100-240 VAC", the products will work fine in Europe with just an inexpensive Plug Adapter such as THIS model. These are available from various retailers including travel stores, Radio Shack, WalMart, Target or other stores. It's a good idea to pack along at least two as they're small and easy to misplace.
As someone else suggested, you could also pack along a USB Charger that handles multiple devices, so you can charge all the phones at once from a single outlet. THIS product is one device that can be used for that.
I assume you've checked to ensure your cell phones will operate in Europe, and checked with your home cell network to determine the costs for that?
Your iPhone chargers will be designed for multi-voltage operation, and I assume the Samsung will be the same. The flat iron is a different matter, and you should definitely check the Input Voltage label on that. If the flat iron is only designed for operation on 115 VAC, it can be used with a Voltage Converter but that's not advisable. It should also be noted that some manufacturers of flat irons specifically prohibit use of their devices with Voltage Converters (I believe Chi is one of the brands).
I'd suggest leaving the flat iron at home and either buy one in Europe or just dispense with it completely during the holiday.
