What You Need To Know About Travel Converters & Adapters
This is the best page on the site about the subject and the distinction it draws is still the one people get wrong. What has changed is the answer, which is now simpler than when this was written.
Adapter or converter:
- An adapter changes the shape of the plug so it fits the socket. That is all it does.
- A converter changes the voltage, between 220-240V and 110-120V.
And here is the update that matters: you almost certainly only need the adapter. Look at the charger for anything you own and find the small print. If it says "100-240V" or "input 100-240V~", it is dual voltage and will work anywhere on earth with nothing more than a plug adapter. Every phone, laptop, tablet, camera, e-reader and electric toothbrush charger made in the last fifteen years qualifies. This was substantially less true in 2010, which is why the post existed.
What genuinely still needs a converter, and it is a short list: things that make heat. Hairdryers, travel kettles, curling tongs, travel irons. These draw far more power than a small converter can supply, which is why cheap converters get hot and occasionally fail. The better answers are to buy a dual-voltage version of the appliance or use the one already in the room.
What to actually carry: one high-wattage USB-C charger that runs everything you own, and one or two country-specific plug adapters rather than a universal block with sliding pins, which fall out of worn sockets.
Two things this post could not have said: check whether the socket is earthed and whether your plug needs to be; and spare batteries and power banks travel in the cabin, never in checked baggage.
Part of the guide to gadgets and power.