Over the last two years, I have traveled to multiple countries with a single beefy USB charger, even though those countries use a variety of electrical plug types.

How? I bought a power cord for each kind of plug:

• USA + Canada: Type A
• France, Portugal, Sweden: Type C (the Euro plug)
• Ireland + United Kingdom: Type G
• New Zealand: Type I

Each of these power cords has the same connector: the figure-8 C7, since that's what the USB charger accepts.

Similarly, I bring clover-leaf C5 power cords with different plugs for PC laptop chargers.

Obviously, I could use travel adapter plugs instead, but I find it convenient to bring the right power cords. And a selection …continue.

Thanks to Tom Limoncelli, I became acutely aware of USB charge-only cables and condoms. If you plug your phone into an unknown computer to charge the battery, you run the risk of having your phone hijacked by malware. USB transfers data as well as elec­tric­i­ty and you're es­sen­tial­ly giving the computer un­re­strict­ed access to your phone.

Certain USB cables are charge-only and will not pass data. There are also “USB condoms”, which are inserted between the cable and the computer. They not only block data, but they can po­ten­tial­ly charge the battery faster, as they can switch the device into a fast-charging mode. I've ordered a pair from Amazon, as we're …continue.