Over the years I have definitely spent my share of time dealing with all of the power options needed for all of our family’s electronics while traveling. It can become a huge challenge and create stress on your trip.
In the United States you have no problem finding an outlet to plug all your devices into. While traveling in other countries you will find that their are far fewer outlets and that you have to be very careful with the voltage delivered to those outlets.
The good news is that many devices are fully able to handle a range of voltage being delivered. I have also found some ways to minimize a need for many outlets by utilizing USB hubs to charge multiple devices. Here are some of the tools I use.
Travel Power Adapters
Travel Power Adapters are not the same as a Travel Power Converter. We will examine Converters next. A Travel Power Adapter is a way to take our type of outlet plug and convert it to the format needed to go in the outlet of the foreign country we are in. There are several types of outlets you will encounter traveling around the world. They are listed by a letter designation from A to O. In the U.S. we use type A & B.
I found a website called World Standards that has good information regarding many areas that vary as you travel around the world. One of these is plug & socket types, voltage by country, and many other categories.
Here is a link to that area of the site showing Plug & Socket types.
World Standards – Plug & Socket Types
Type A 
Type B 
Type C 
Type D 
Type E 
Type F 
Type G 
Type H 
Type I 
Type J 
Type K 
Type L 
Type M 
Type N 
Type O
Here is a link to a great resource that shows which plug options are most likely in your destination. Just click the link and it will open up in a new window. You just scroll down to a country name and click the arrow to the left of the flag to expand the section.
IEC – World Plugs & Sockets by Location (Country)
In order to convert your plug over you just need to make sure you have the right combinations of adapters. If you search Amazon for Travel Adapters you can see some that are universal adapters. That allows you to extend the correct plug that goes into the wall plug and you are able to plug your Type A or Type B plug from the U.S. into the adapter. This link is an example of one of those type of adapters. This is actually a nice one because it also contains 4 USB ports.
International Power Adapter Example (on Amazon)
Power (Voltage) Conversion
In the United States we use 110-127 volts in our outlets and most of our devices. Most foreign countries use 220-240 volts. In order to use our devices in a foreign country we sometimes have to use a Power Converter. This is different from an adapter in that it plugs into the wall outlet and decreases the power passing through from 220-240 down to the 110-127 that our devices generally use. Without doing this your device may suffer damage and stop working.
The first thing you want to do is look on the plug you use for your devices. If you do you will find a notation of the power capability of the plug. The picture below show an Apple Iphone power block. You can see the writing shows the input range as 100-240v. That means a USB based device plugged into this block can be used in a wall outlet from 100 volts to 240 volts. That also means you won’t need a power converter.
Powerport
In order to charge multiple devices you can use a Powerport USB charger. They range in the number of ports available. I like bringing a 10 port Powerport when I travel. That will allow me to charge 2 Iphones, a portable MiFi, a GoPro, a digital camera, and a few portable battery packs. All of these items charging off of one wall outlet, without even needing a power converter since the Powerport is rated for 100-240 volts as well. Here is a link to one 10-port Powerport on Amazon.
Anker – 10-port Powerport
This is just one example of a Powerport. Be sure to do your research and find one that you are happy with.
Appliances (Like Hairdryers)
Hairdryers, heating pads, coffee pots, curling irons, and other devices may be higher Wattage items. We have been discussing volts but the Wattage can be important as well. You can cause electrical damage if you plug a high Wattage device into a lower Wattage outlet. You may want to check your accommodations to see if they have a hair dryer and curling iron available. You could also pick one up in the country you travel to so you shouldn’t have any issues plugging it in there.