The Travel Adapter That Stopped the Great Charger Hunt

A couple of years ago, when Dale and I flew to Arizona to see his brother, we landed in Phoenix with exactly one working phone between us. Mine was at 12 percent. His was dead, because he had left his charger on the kitchen counter in Knoxville, again. We stood in the rental car lot like two people who had never traveled before, holding a map on a dying screen and trying to remember which way the hotel was.

That trip cost us an hour and a half. We stopped at a gas station for a cheap charger that died before we got back to Tennessee. We argued about whose fault it was, which is what we do when we are both tired and hungry. And I made a promise to myself: before our next big trip, we would carry one thing that could charge everything, no matter what country we landed in or what kind of outlet the hotel had.

That one thing turned out to be the EPICKA Universal Travel Adapter. I did not buy it for the trip to Arizona. I bought it ahead of this past January's cruise out of Florida, with the two weeks in Ireland we had been saving for since Dale retired coming up that spring. I wanted to walk into a cabin or a Dublin hotel room, plug in our phones, our camera, and Dale's tablet, and not think about outlets for the rest of the trip.

What I did not expect was how much it would change the smaller trips too. The EPICKA adapter has become the first thing in the suitcase, the thing I check for before I check for my own glasses. It is not glamorous. It is a small block of plastic with prongs that slide out. But it ended the great charger hunt that has been a tradition in our marriage for thirty-eight years.

We landed in Phoenix with one working phone between us. The EPICKA adapter ended the great charger hunt that has been a tradition in our marriage for thirty-eight years.

The first time we used it was in our cabin on that January cruise. The cabin had one free outlet down beside the desk, the kind you have to reach around and feel for. I plugged the EPICKA adapter in, and suddenly we had room for both phones, my e-reader, and the little fan I carry because cabins and hotel rooms are always too warm. Dale looked at it and said, "Well, that is a lot of holes." That is Dale's way of saying he is impressed.

On the Ireland trip last spring, it earned its place a dozen times. The bed and breakfast outside Galway had one outlet in the corner, behind a dresser. The pub we stopped in for lunch had a socket by the door that fit our adapter but would not have fit a single American plug. The airport in Shannon had a row of outlets where every other traveler was waiting for one spot. We charged both phones, the camera, and Dale's tablet at the same time, and we still had a port left over for my e-reader.

I am not going to tell you that a travel adapter makes a bad trip good. It does not. A delayed flight is still a delayed flight, and a stiff neck from a long plane ride still hurts. But the small things stop being small when they go wrong. A dead phone in a rental car lot is a small thing. A dead phone when you are trying to find the bed and breakfast in a town you cannot pronounce is a bigger thing. The EPICKA adapter took that whole category of small disasters off the table.

Dale still forgets his charger. I do not think there is a gadget on earth that fixes that. But now it does not matter. The EPICKA adapter is in my carry-on, and it charges everything we bring. He can leave his charger on the kitchen counter every single trip, and the only thing that happens is that I give him a look.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

If you were sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee, I would tell you this: buy the adapter before you need it, not after. The trip where you need it is the trip where you cannot get it delivered in time. I would tell you to check the current price on Amazon, because it changes, and to read the listing carefully so you know exactly which ports you are getting. And I would tell you that this is one of those rare travel purchases that works exactly the way it is supposed to, no fiddling, no instructions, no learning curve.

I would also tell you the honest part. The EPICKA adapter is not the smallest travel adapter you can buy. It is a little heavier than the single-plug ones, and it takes up a corner of the suitcase. For us, that is a fair trade. I would rather carry one slightly heavy block than three separate chargers and a prayer that the hotel room has enough outlets. And I would tell you that if you travel with a lot of devices, the difference between one adapter and a handful of single-plug ones is the difference between a calm evening and a scavenger hunt.

So that is my kitchen table advice. Pack the EPICKA adapter, pack a backup charger for your own peace of mind, and let your husband forget his. Some traditions are worth keeping, but the great charger hunt is not one of them.