Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Nothing too complicated about today’s post. I travel enough that I’ve run into most of the plug types that are out there and have gotten into the habit of carrying the various travel adaptors with me. I do this primarily so I can plug in my computer where ever I happen to be in the world. Now if I was actually a bit more organized I’d actually swing by a handy dandy on-line resource to check which plug type(s) I’d need for any given trip, but two of the three adaptors in the picture above are small enough so that I just have them tucked into a small case that carries various cables and connectors for the electronics that I fly with.
On a recent trip to India I ended up spending about five hours in Hong Kong Airport on the way over and even longer on the way back. The great thing about the airport in Hong Kong is that you can tap into a free wifi connection which is awesome. The tricky think about a five or more hour lay over is the fact that my computer’s battery was pretty tapped out by about the two hour mark. Hong Kong’s plug (the white one in the picture) is the same as that in England and although I had already picked one of these up in my travels I totally spaced on the fact that I’d need it for the layover in Hong Kong.
Thankfully there was an electronics shop in the airport that sold the adaptors, so I picked one up and was away at the races in terms of charging up my battery and plugging away at the seemingly endless amount of internet-ing that needs to be attended to on a daily basis. Actually it was the layover in Hong Kong on the way home where I was able to catch up on about a week’s worth of blog posts… I seem to have been running a bit behind on my self-imposed blogging schedule, but somehow I seem to be able to get the posts up eventually and am more or less on track with things…
Anyway… Travel adaptors… Check where you’re going before you fly and make sure you pack the right one(s). Most AC adaptors will convert the input voltage so that when you actually plug it into your machine it doesn’t fry the circuitry but I did experience a pretty odd phenomena while I was in India… The voltage coming out of the outlets in India is 230 volts, the voltage in Canada is 120 volts. The increased voltage didn’t have an effect on my computer’s power adaptor’s ability to recharge the battery and run my machine, but the aluminium body of my Macbook Pro seemed to vibrate when I touched it… It was as though the additional voltage was making the whole machine quiver… When I’d unplug the machine the vibration would go away, when I plugged it in I could literally feel the voltage running through the aluminum casing of the computer in this weird sort of way. Imagine running your hands over a velvet surface and that feel of the little hairs of velvet running underneath your hand… That’s about the closest way I can describe it… Very odd to be typing away on my machine and have this sensation occur. It was almost like the machine was alive… I got into the habit of unplugging the adaptor when I was working, working until the battery died, then taking a break while the battery recharged… It was just a little odd…
Anyway… Keep in mind that countries around the world run on everything from 110 volts to 240 volts and although most AC adaptors can accept inputs in this range you’ll need to carry a collection of adaptors to ensure that you’ll be able to keep your electronics juiced up!
