How I Travel & Charge my Devices Worry-Free

The image above is was created by Google’s Gemini AI tool on my Pixel 9 Pro. It’s mostly accurate except what is that thing in the lower right? 🤔

I’m not an exceptionally well-travelled person (I have a friend who has flown 60 times so far this year; I’m at 10% of that), but I’ve travelled more than some. I consider myself an intentional traveler; someone who thinks about and plans for the act of traveling. Each time I travel, I find it strangely enjoyable to look at what I use — everything from tech to cables to clothing — and figure out if there’s a way to pack less or pack smarter by bringing something different. Travel can be very stressful, so I try to not be like the guy in the image above. I control what I can control (my choices of what to pack, when to leave for the airport, etc.) and try to flow with the rest that I can’t control.

For a techie like me, keeping my electronics — MacBook Pro, iPad Pro 11, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel Buds Pro 2, Kindle PaperWhite, and FitBit Charge 5 — powered up is critical. I was chatting with a friend about what each of us carries and the resulting messages to him were a good portion of this blog post. I figured why not share with the world?

One important point in understanding why I carry what I do is that I have a deep-seated need to never NOT have the right adapter/plug/solution to solve my own problem or help someone else. I was never a Boy Scout, but I do have an “always be prepared” mentality when it comes to technology and traveling.

It’s amusing to me that four of the six devices I travel with have “Pro” in the name — apparently, I need to seek out a “pro” e-book reader and watch!

Up until recently, my one and only charging solution was what today I have dubbed the Max Charging Pack (it needed a name for this blog post). A couple of trips ago I was on a flight, and it was packed in my carry-on suitcase. I wanted to charge my phone (I’d used it much more than normal) and I was irritated that I didn’t have my charging gear in my backpack — but I’d purposefully put the Max Charging Pack into my suitcase because it made my backpack much heavier. When I returned home, I decided to create a minimalist charging pack, something I could always have in my backpack. What’s the difference between the two? Let’s dive in…

Max Charging Pack | 44 oz (2.75 lbs.) / 1247g

The Max Charging Pack has a lot, and weighs a lot.
  • Alpaka Elements Tech Case Mini in Ocean Blue | X-Pac RX30 (I carry the shoulder strap with me so I can use it as a mini sling)
  • SlimQ 100W USB charger with interchangeable travel heads (3 x USB-C, 1 x USB-A)
  • Zendure X5 15,000mAh battery (45W output)
  • VOLTME 30W travel charger (one USB-C port, and the best size to watts ratio I’ve seen so far for the price; I love this product!)
  • Anker 6 in 1 USB-C hub
  • Travel Ethernet cable + travel HDMI cable
  • A Fitbit Charge 5 cable (proprietary cables can 🔥 burn in hell 🔥, but I do get it for a watch)
  • A variety of USB-C cables, including a three-foot Thunderbolt 4 cable, a long six-foot cable, and a variety of shorter 6-12 inch cables (and one USB-C to USB-A cable)

The SlimQ charger is really the star of the show here because it can be connected to a wall socket directly, or with an included cable that allows me to keep the charger up on the hotel desk/table and use short cables. It also has international heads that can be swapped out, though I have yet to use it internationally (which will change in November).

Mini Charging Pack | 14 oz (0.87 lbs.) / 396g

I carry the mini charging pack in my backpack so it’s within easy reach for charging on the plane via seat power or using the battery if that’s my only choice.

Everything fits nicely, as I place the Anker battery vertical, the Anker cable and VOLTME charger horizontally, and I have some room to spare. It was important to me that this pouch not get too thick and bulky. This configuration keeps the Zip Clutch fairly thin and it slips into the pouches in the backpacks I use (mainly the Alpaka Elements Travel Backpack, or the Alpaka Metro Backpack for office trips).

Image: on the left, my old Anker 45W adaptor replaced now by the 65W VOLTME Slimline on the right.

Additionally, because the Alpaka Zip Clutch has a decent-sized front pouch, it works well to carry all my small to medium-sized adaptors. So that’s a CF Express Type B card reader (for my Nikon Z6 III), an SD/microSD card reader, a SIM card ejector (though in this era of eSIMS, increasingly not needed), microSD to SD adaptor, a small USB-C adaptor I put on the end of a USB-C cable to see wattage levels, and a variety of any-port-to-USB-C adaptors. Many of these I carry just in case someone around me needs to connect an older device.

I could probably get rid of some of these and not notice until that ONE time I needed them…

I also carry a variety of flash storage: a 512 GB flash drive, 400GB and 256GB microSD, and a 64 GB SD. The former for file movement, the latter for extra device storage (my drone). I can’t remember the last time I had to use these storage devices, but better to have them than not (seeing a theme here? 😂).

What goes where?

I tend to keep the big charging pack in my carry-on suitcase, and the mini pack in my backpack. I’ve discovered I am much happier pulling weight than having it on my back. 😄 So the max goes into the suitcase, usually a carry-on, but sometimes checked if it’s a family trip and we carry a big, checked bag.

It’s easy to see which one is the mini and which one is the max. 😆

Resisting overkill wattage obsession

As GaN chargers have proliferated over the past few years, chargers have gotten smaller and smaller, which is amazing for travel. They’ve even managed to increase the wattage without making them huge. This has led to a “wattage war” where every year the major players try to out-do each other with more watts. Currently that seems to be 140 watts, which frankly is overkill unless you are charging two laptops simultaneously and you need to charge them quickly.

Most people don’t really understand how devices top out in their ability to accept incoming power. I’m fond of cables and adaptors that tell me how much power a device is using to charge, and it’s less than you’d guess. My MacBook Pro 14 tops out at 96 watts, and that’s only when it’s extremely low on power. Usually, it charges at about 50 watts or less. If it’s got a nearly full battery, I can work on it all day while connected to a 30-watt charger and it will remain at full charge. My iPad Pro 11? 34 watts, then ramps down to 10 watts or less as it gets close to full. My Pixel 9 Pro? 27 watts max, then down to under 5 watts.

I’ve considered carrying a few of the $10 VOLTEME 30-watt cube chargers to give to people who I see at airports charging their iPhones or iPads from the old 5-watt charger, which, when you’re looking for a quick charge, is almost useless unless you’ve got an hour to spare. I’ve yet to do this because random generosity could be taken the wrong way, and they might not have a USB-C iPhone/iPad. But I still think about it as I watch people charge oh-so-slowly. 🫠

I’ve been trying to be thoughtful about how much wattage I really need and that has changed how I think about charging. On two recent trips, I brought the Max Charging Pack with me, yet left it in my suitcase, using only the Mini Charging Pack and guess what? It did everything I need, even with the previous version of my pack topping out at 30 watts with the VOLTME. I have yet to travel with the 65-watt VOLTME, but it will do all I need for solo travel.

Time to pack!

I don’t know if I’ll ever truly be “done” optimizing my tech charging gear, but this recent iteration feels like it’s about as good as it’s going to get barring new breakthroughs in GaN charging. I’ll never say no to smaller, but I will say no to anything that offers more power than I will realistically use. I have my first international trip with this new charging gear coming up in November, so I’ll see if my choices allow me to continue being a relaxed traveler. Stay tuned. 😉

Object Collection: Hawaii Vacation Artifacts

18 years ago, I went on a Hawaiin cruise with Ashley, and would you believe I still have some scans of memories from that trip I have yet to do anything with? I’d originally planned on doing a vacation book, but after 18 years I think it’s time I admit that project isn’t going to happen any time soon. 😂

What I did find though are two files that I scanned and meant to share as part of my Object Collection. They are one side of a Maui Trade Dollar (why didn’t I scan the other side? No idea.) And one ship room key.

Be sure to check out the whole Object Collection category to find more scanned objects. These objects are free for personal use, but commercial use is prohibited without permission. Please see my Creative Commons License for further usage details.

The Ridiculous Cost of Convenience: DoorDash vs. Ordering Directly

I didn’t grow up with gig economy delivery services, so what might seem normal to some in 2024 seems absolutely insane to me: paying a ridiculous price for convenience.

How much of a price? I had an opportunity to do a direct comparison on the same order from Five Guys (who make tasty burgers and fries) because I happened to have a $50 DoorDash gift card. It was my first time using the service, and likely the last barring injury or some other blocker to me going to get food directly.

My Five Guys order directly placed with the restaurant.

Three cheeseburgers, one grilled cheese sandwich, and two large fries: a meal to feed my family of four. $47.04, with tax ($4.78) and a 20% tip ($9.29), that’s a total of $60.52. Now let’s look at the same order with DoorDash…

My DoorDash order.

This is a bit convoluted because of fees and credits, but here’s how it breaks down:

  • $61.14 for the food. This is 30% more expensive than ordering directly 💸
  • Because I am a Chase Sapphire credit card holder, the $12.10 delivery fee was waived, but let’s assume that most people ordering don’t hold this particular credit card, so add the $12.10 fee 😕
  • What makes up the “Fees & Estimated Tax” of $9.55? The state tax should be $4.78, so there’s an additional $4.77 for…something 🤔
  • My $50 gift card makes the order $30.10, but without it we’re looking at $80.19, which is 33% more than ordering from Five Guys directly 💰
  • If you were to pay the $12.10 DoorDash fee, it’s 52% more expensive than ordering direct 😲

Everyone’s time is worth something, and ultimately the use of money is about saving time. If you have the ability to pick up food from a local restaurant (which I know is not the case for everyone), you need to ask yourself if your time is worth paying 52% more for the same end product. If someone’s being rational, the answer is no, it’s most definitely not.

Eating out is expensive enough, but delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats make it even more so. Save money, give the restaurant more profit per order, and go pick up your food yourself. And hey, it will probably be fresher as well!

Compound Growth is Indeed a Wonder of the World

There’s a famous quote attributed to Albert Eistein that came to mind as I thought about writing this post:

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.”
– Albert Einstein

Whether or not he was the one who said it is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that this statement is absolutely true; compound interest/growth is one of the most powerful tools someone can deploy to build long-term wealth and retire with dignity…and I daresay joy if you have enough saved to enjoy your final years. I am planning to be in the latter group with my wife, traveling the world. 🌎

It’s not often that life offers an individual a pure economic laboratory, but when I moved from Canada to the USA in 2011, a very specific limitation was placed upon me: I could no longer make contributions to my Canadian retirement savings account (we call them RRSPs). My investment accounts were/are made up of Fid. Special Situations Series B and Fid. Canadian Asset Allocation Series B.

This meant that unlike most retirement accounts that benefit from regular contributions and growth over time, my account would not get another penny of mine added to it. So, what have the results been after 12 years? If ever a picture was worth a thousand words, the one below is. ⬇️

I’ve removed the numbers, as this post isn’t about my personal finances, it’s about how powerful compound growth is. The web site showing the data doesn’t allow me to go back to 2011 for the above chart, but that was the year I transferred money into this investment account, then I left for the USA. My investments grew 15% by the start of 2013, the first full year of growth.

The dark blue line on the bottom of the above chart that stays constant is the total amount of my initial investment. The upper light blue line shows the growth of that investment over a 10-year period. You can see slow but constant growth from 2014-2017, a market crash in 2018 that hurt*, then a strong rise from 2018 to 2020. 2022 was a rough year, then it’s been rising strongly ever since. Will it crash again? Yes. Will it rise again, even higher than before? Yes, that’s very likely.

The bottom line? My initial investment has, via means of compound growth in the stock market and continual re-investment of dividends, increased by 346% from 2011. That’s an average of 28.8% growth per year.

It breaks my heart 💔 when I see financially illiterate people talk about how they don’t trust the stock market or investments and believe cash in a savings account paying essentially nothing is the best way to plan for their future. It’s not. Anyone who takes this approach is robbing their future self of economic benefit.

If you’re not sure where to start, I’m a big believer in automated investment platforms such as Wealthfront or Wealthsimple if you’re in Canada. They combine friendly, easy technology, automated investing, and low fees.

So go forth, invest, and be patient. 🤑

* A critical mistake some people make is reacting to financial pain in the market by taking their money out. When they do that, they miss out on the inevitable upswing that always comes after a crash. I’ve watched this play out in my investing lifetime twice, once in the 2009-2010 era, and again when Covid19 hit.

When automated eagerness creates an inefficient mess for customers

Since I work for Amazon, you can take this whole post with a grain of salt (I’m biased toward my employer), but even still…it’s hard for an objective person to not look at this situation with Target and think “This is the way it should work”.

I needed to order some paper for our printer, and when I look on Amazon the options and prices were a bit lacking. I jumped over to Target.com, and found some recycled paper at a good price. I needed to hit $35 to get free shipping, so I bought three packs of paper (which will last a long while), but I was still short of $35 and didn’t want a fourth pack.

So, I purchased some liquid water enhancers, five in total. There was only the free shipping option, so I paid and went about my day. What I expected to happen was to get a single box in a few days with everything in it. The next few days were truly odd as I watched what Target did with my order.

  • They sent four shipments in total, one of which had a single water enhancer in it, two of which had two each. Did they think this was insulin for a diabetes patient and someone would die if they wanted to bundle all the water enhancers in a single shipment?
  • The shipments arrived across four different days, so this wasn’t simply a matter of illogical packaging.
  • The emails. THE EMAILS! Does Target’s email team get paid by the email? 😱 Three emails per shipment = 12 total emails plus the original order email. Do I need to have an “your order will arrive today” email plus the email I get when it’s delivered? No, I do not.
  • The three reams of paper coming in a single box was the only logical part about this order.

I know that now and then Amazon will do something bizarre with a shipment, such as shipping a single small item in a large box. But overall, nothing can touch the lunacy of Target’s wasted shipping and packaging, let alone their almost-spam level of customer emails.

A quick financial tip: embrace automation

August 14th is Financial Awareness day, and unlike some of the other silly “holidays” – I bet National Left-Handed Scissors Day is on the list somewhere – financial awareness/literacy actually matters.

Financial literacy is generational: unless you come from a family where credit, debt, interest rates, and income are discussed, you may have grown up without an understanding of these topics. Our first paycheque should come with some instructions on how to manage our money, but it doesn’t, so most of us are left to muddle our way through our financial journey on our own.

One financial tip I can share is to embrace the human trait of laziness. By that I mean don’t pretend that you’ll always have the mental energy to think about savings and set money aside. Instead, take human nature out of the equation and automate your savings by pulling money into a high-yield savings account on your payday. I use Wealthfront myself. There are many options, but none of them are likely to be with your bank. The day you get paid, the money is taken out. You never see the funds in your bank account for more than a day.

It doesn’t have to be a lot – it should be an amount you can handle not having and won’t go “Ouch!” and re-think whether you should save it. Maybe it’s $50 a month. Automate it and pretend that account doesn’t exist. Ignore it entirely if you can. Do this for five years.

$50 a month over 5 years at 4% interest is $3381. Imagine yourself “finding” that money five years from now and being thankful to your past self for making that choice. What if you could save $100 a month? That’s $6763 after five years. Could you maybe do $300 a month? That’s $20,291 after five years.

Compound interest is nice, but what’s even more impactful is automating your savings and taking human nature out of the equation.

Our Lady Peace: Rockin’ like it’s the ’90s

While Our Lady Peace never got that big internationally, in the ’90s they were a mainstay of Canadian rock when I was in my 20s. I had a chance to see them live last month in Calgary with a friend and Raine (their lead singer) still has a great voice. I’m impressed as well with the microphone on the Pixel 7; it didn’t distort and recorded decent sound. 🤘🎸🎶

Young Men are Not OK

I’ve been on a bit of an “avoid CNN” bend for a while after you-know-what, but I’m a big fan of ProfG (Scott Galloway) and this video is absolutely worth watching if you have a son, brother, or husband under the age of 30 or so. As a dad to a teenage boy, I think about this kind of thing quite a bit.

The young men of America (and I’d add Canada in here too) are not OK. They are confused, broken, disillusioned, and it does not bode well for the future of either nation or the world.

And if the idea of being worried about the state of young men triggers your brain in a negative way, I’d encourage you to ask yourself why. As Scott says in this video, compassion isn’t a zero-sum game, and being concerned for the state of young men doesn’t mean you can’t also be concerned about other groups just as much.

Here’s the Washington Post piece written by Christina Emba that shone a fresh light on the issue.

How to fix the Tesla Text Receiving Issue

The first time my wife texted me while I was driving our new Model Y, I was baffled when, instead of the car’s text to speech software simply reading the message, it began reading me off her phone number, date, time, phone number, etc. This effectively made receiving texts impossible, making my experience as a Tesla owner much worse. I was confused at first, because the week before when driving our Model 3 this wasn’t happening. What was going on?

Here’s the root issue: as of May 2023, Tesla’s vehicle software does not understand RCS messages. That’s why instead of the car reading the text message, it reads the date/time/etc. effectively making it useless. This info is part of the header in the RCS message (think of it like an email). In our case, her phone app had a software update that made sending RCS messages the default. It had nothing to do with the Tesla car software.

Until Tesla supports RCS messages in their software, the only workaround is for the sender to turn off RCS messages to the phone number you as the Tesla driver are getting your messages on. This is done in the person’s messaging app, usually in the details of the individual person’s details.

For example, my wife uses Messages, Google’s texting app on her Android phone. If she looks at our texting entries in the app, goes into Details then selects “Only send SMS and MMS messages” and toggles that on, it will force “old” style texting and not RCS. Here’s what that looks like in the software:

Depending on the software the person texting you is using, there may be slightly different working, or possibly a global setting that applies to all messages sent from that phone.

Making this change 100% solved the problem for us and I hope it will solve the issue for you as well.

Sometimes it’s fun to be fun on Twitter

I know that Twitter is a vile cesspool full of anger, hate, and Russian trolls stoking fear and dissolution, cracking the very fabric of our society…but sometimes it’s also a fun place to interact with brands that have a sense of humour and hire funny people to do their social media. 😜 [Link to first Tweet]