Essential Tech And Gadgets For Travel Bloggers For 2020

Are you a blogger that loves to travel? Maybe you've just started your journey as a full-time travel blogger! Well, I'm not one myself as such, but I think being able to fund your travels through blogging must be one of the most rewarding career experiences ever.

That said, I am a fulltime blogger, and although I work mainly from the comfort of my home, I like to go on vacations throughout the year with the family, and, of course, when time and finance permits.

Whenever I'm traveling, especially if I'm heading out on a long family holiday for more than a few weeks, I like to make sure that I pack not just my board shorts and suntan lotion, but also some essential gadgets and various tech that will enable me to manage my blog whilst being away.

Yes, taking your work with you on holiday might sound like a horrible tactic, but when you're passionate about your blog, and it's an important part of your business, or even your business, you need to make sure you're able to manage it even when you're away enjoying time out with your family and friends.

OK, so below I've outlined a few of the essential gadgets and technology I think all travel bloggers should consider packing in their backpacks or suitcases! These pieces of tech also happen to be the things I carry myself when I'm traveling.

Let's get to it!

Essential Tech For Travel Bloggers Quick List

1. Bags For Travel Bloggers

Let's start with one of the most essential items for all travel bloggers, and that's the travel bag.

A good quality travel bag will go a long way in securing your gadgets and tech.

Personally, I like to carry a small and lightweight backpack with me at all times. I don't travel with any tech or gadget stored in any other bag or suitcase for obvious reasons. All of those things stay close to me, so a decent and secure backpack is essential.

The one I'm currently using a lot for short trips or long weekends is the Samsonite Paradiver Light. I've had this bag for a little over two years now and it's been super awesome. I can fit my laptop, leads, a small camera, and a portable tripod, along with some other essential items.

For longer trips away I tend to take my laptop and full camera gear. Naturally, I'll need the extra storage and for those kinds of trips, I have a YuHan Oxford large capacity gadget travel bag. You can find it on Amazon here.

In this bag, I can pack everything I need, including my Macbook Air and leads, full camera kit and lens, gimbal, and even a small drone.

2. Laptops For Travel Bloggers

I try not to take my main work laptop with me if I can, so my Macbook Air is light and thin enough for me to slide in the pack.

If you're not a fan of taking any expensive laptops on the road either, there are some decent lightweight and affordable laptops available, take a look at the Asus Zenbook 13" or the Dell Inspiron 13.

At the end of the day, when it comes to traveling with laptop computers, it really depends on what you're going to be using them for. If you're purely going to be updating your blog and going on social media and nothing else, then either one of the laptops mentioned above will do fine.

If you like taking photos and videos with anything other than your smartphone, then you'll probably want a laptop ideal for storing photos and editing videos on the fly. Something like the Acer Swift 3 or Macbook Air should do wonders for you.

Personally, I don't do much video or photo editing until I'm back from my trips, so I use my laptop mainly for storing photos and video footage, as well as accessing my blog, writing new posts, and keeping up my social media appearances.

3. Portable Storage Devices

There are hundreds of makes and models of portable external storage devices about these days, but the best one by far, in my opinion, is the Samsung T5 SSD external hard drive. You can pick these up with 500GB up to 2TB.

I have a few of them myself, I like to have a couple with me in my bag for backup as well.

SSD's, in my opinion, perform a lot better than HDDs. A little pricy, sure, but they're also durable and extremely lightweight if you can find a great deal.

There are some even smaller USB storage sticks like the SanDisk U46 Ultra USB Flash Drive with 128GB that might be worth looking at too.

4. Photography & Video Camera Gear

If you're planning on using your smartphone for capturing videos and photos, then this part shouldn't really matter much to you. If you're thinking about packing some better tech and perhaps more expensive camera setups, here's what I usually bring with me on long trips.

Panasonic Lumix G7 Mirrorless Camera and Lens - This is my main vlogging and photography camera and has been for the last year or so. It's light, it takes incredible photos and shoots video in 4K! What more do I need?

Rode VideoMicro - Super lightweight external microphone that attaches to my Lumix G7 for vlogging. For me, the quality of the audio in my videos and vlogs is super important. More so, actually, than the quality of the video itself, I should add.

DJI Ronin SC - Unfortunately, the stabilization on my trusty Lumix G7 model is non-existent, and I like to have smooth footage in my videos, which is why I love the DJI Ronin SC. It's kinda light, portable, easy to carry around and whip out whenever I need!

Mavic Air - Nothing beats having some breathtaking drone footage of the locations you travel to, I think that's a pretty big deal as a travel blogger creating video content.

And for that reason, I like to have my Mavic Air with me on my own travels. The Mavic Air is not the lightest drone to carry around at over 400g, there is the Mavic Mini, of course, which is a lot lighter and smaller too, but I prefer to have a little more tech and better quality footage in my videos so I can justify the weight and size.

Smartphone - This is a must and probably a default for most people, whether traveling or not. I have my trusty iPhone 8 with me at all times. Sometimes when all I want to do is take a quick photo or capture a short video, I use my smartphone. I don't need to mess about setting up my full camera kit just to get a quick shot or to capture some simple footage to use in a vlog later on.

Most, if not all, smartphones of today have incredible features including the capacity to shoot 4K video quality. Sure, the audio quality might not be all that great, but it will do for most instances.

The smartphone provides a lot more than just a portable camera, though, it's also your access to the web, your emergency contacts, and social media which are all important for traveling.

5. All-in-One Adaptors For Travel Bloggers

There's nothing worse than going abroad only to find that you can't charge any of your devices because the power sockets are different.

Solution?

Grab yourself an all-in-one adaptor. I use and recommend the VGUARD or equivalent worldwide travel adaptor. This particular make and model can be used in the US, UK, EU, and Australia.

It also comes with safety IC chip, auto cut off if it gets too hot, 4 USB sockets, useful for charging up smartphones, tablets, and rechargeable batteries, and more.

6. Portable Chargers For Travel Bloggers

One other absolute essential travel piece of tech is a portable power bank! You never know when you'll need to charge a device, and if you are in a remote location with no access to power or electricity, then at least you've got the assurance of some backup power to charge up your phone or tablet.

I use and highly recommend the Vinsic 20,000 mAh power bank. They're not the lightest of power banks and can be quite bulky, but I can charge my phone a good half a dozen times with it. Check it out here on Amazon.

7. Smartwatches For Travel Bloggers

I know what you're thinking, why on earth would you want to bring with you a Smartwatch? Well, it certainly has its benefits beyond just telling you the time when traveling. Notifications are a must, but other important features such as GPS, navigation, SOS, etc.

I used to be entirely against Smartwatches, but these days, my Apple Watch Series 4 has become the default tech in my life, and I probably wear it for around 80% of the time during the day. If you enjoy walking or hiking on your travels, the ViewRanger app is something I recommend checking out.

Other tech stuff for travel bloggers

Generally, when it comes to the bulk of my tech stuff, the above is all I bring with me on any lengthy trip. With these tools, I can vlog and blog on the go effortlessly, and just as long as I have access to the internet somewhere, at least.

Other tech stuff might include a small compact tripod, some cables, spare batteries, a small torch, camera lens filter kits, Bluetooth headphones, etc.

You don't actually need any of these things

OK, so for me, I love my tech and when I get the opportunity to travel, I love to take as many cool things as I can.

In reality though, even if you're a full-blown, pro island hopping, nomad travel blogger yourself, you don't actually need any of these glamorous and expensive toys to create content or to manage your blog on the fly.

You can be just as productive armed with a simple Chromebook and a Smartphone. That's it. If you like to pack super, super light, and don't want to stress over keeping track of all your expensive kit, then that is all you need.

Whether you're planning for your next long trip away or just starting your travel blogging career, I hope this post has been both resourceful and inspiring for you. Best of luck and happy travels and happy blogging.

Image credit: YuHan Travel Bag and Acer laptop picture from Amazon

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