I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t get all excited about Black Friday sales. Every once in a while, I’ll see a great deal and splurge on something I’d like to have but couldn’t bring myself to pay regular price for, like when I stacked several offers and bought a pair of Bose headphones for under $80.
Instead of splurging on items that I want, I’ve changed and now most of my Thanksgiving weekend purchases are more things that I need. The sort of thing that you’ll think to yourself, “I wish I had an XXXXX right now.”
The items I just ordered from Amazon fit into this category since there have been several times this year that I wished that I had them during our limited travels.
What item did I keep forgetting to order? Long charging cables for my phone/tablet.
The typical cable that comes with an iPhone is 1 meter long (a little more than 3 feet.) That’s fine if your hotel has a plug right near your bedside, like this one.
But what if the nearest plug is located on the back wall?
Or on a wall that’s a distance from the bed like what happened here?
And here.
When faced with these situations, you may be able to keep your phone close to you to charge and use as an alarm, but you wouldn’t be able to use it in bed without unplugging or rolling to your side.
Not to mention what you would do if the nearest plug to the bed was located in a horrible spot like we found at this hotel.
And yes, that was the nearest outlet to that side of the bed. With a three-foot cord, your phone would be dangling from the wall plug all night.
Thankfully, they do sell longer charging cables. The next longest size is 6ft/2m, which would be plenty for these situations. Amazon sells a plethora of cables but I decided to spend a little extra and get the 6 ft. Anker charging cable.
They cost a little more than the basic cables available but they’re built better and the last thing you want is to have your charging cable split or break when you’re away from home. I’ll lump a decision like this to spend more money if it makes life easier into the fifteen dollar rule I’ve adopted for when we travel.
You can also find longer cables for purchase, up to 15 feet and more, but I’m not sure how functional or necessary they would be. Maybe if you’re staying at a B&B or cabin, that might be useful and spending a few bucks to have one in your bag might make sense. Be aware that the longer the cable, the worse the performance and the higher the risk is that it’ll break.
That’s going to be one of the things I’ll get for myself this Black Friday. Maybe I’ll think of another thing or two that I’ve needed over the last year. Hopefully, 2021 will see us traveling more and I’ll come up with a bunch of new things that I need to make our trips better.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Cover Image by Yvette Fang from Pixabay
