Cell Phone and Power Adapaters for Europe
 

Hey everyone,

I'm going to be spending three weeks in Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Spain, and Italy) next month and had a couple questions. I'm going to bringing my iPod and will obviously need an adapter to charge it. I thought I remember apple selling one on their website but I couldn't find it.

My dad also wanted to get me a cell phone that I can use over there, any suggestions?

Thanks......

This may be a late reply, but if you are going to the UK first you might want to buy a voltage converter there, and good place to buy would be at a store called Curry's or Dixon's (same company). As for a phone, you'll probably want to buy it there also and get a Vodafone card, which can be done at CarphoneWharehouse, and Vodafone has the best coverage in Europe, in my experience. Also be aware of the the different plug outlets on the continent and in the UK.

I've had bad luck using adaptors with my mobile in the past, so I've just acquired the geographically pertinent chargers as need be.

I have the adaptors as well, but I'd rather get the country specific device for peace of mind.

mobile
 

People visiting both Rep of Ireland and the UK should note that prepaid mobile rates for an Irish phone roaming in the UK are generally much better than for a UK phone roaming in Ireland.

Some places in Italy have these three prong plugs that look like:

o o o

And the normal European plugs don't fit into them. (Also some UK chargers have plug (i.e., prong) arrangements that won't work in most places on the continent without a plug adaptor.) So far I've not picked up an adaptor to handle that " o o o " type plug.

Most cell phone chargers can handle 110-220/240v just fine. (Read the charger to know for sure). But you may need a plug adaptor so that the plug can fit into the socket.

I carry a Kensington plug adaptor with built-in fuses (i.e., like this http://us.kensington.com/html/7207.html )for items where the charger can handle 100/110/120-220/240v. I also carry a dual-voltage converter that can switch between handling 50W & 1600W to convert from 220/240v to 100/110/120v.

You must be referring to these outlets: http://www.kropla.com/images/plug_l.gif

Most of them will accept a "normal" European [non-grounded] plug ...

If you have a laptop then get a USB charger

The ones in the public areas of some Italian airports and a number of Italian hotels in Italy wouldn't accept the standard plugs I use in the EU Schengen zone without a plug adaptor. Maybe I just got unlucky in Italy. :o

The Kensington plug adaptor I noted above has a USB charger built-in. Works nicely as long as the battery on the laptop is good and/or as long as I can find a place to charge the laptop with one of the three plugs that I can use with the laptop charger brick.

Here's a bit about the various plug types that exist and where they may be used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesti...gs_and_sockets

I think the Italian one -- in some places -- was a version of the Type L noted therein.

iPod travel kit

Would this be what I need? I might be better off getting something else though that will charge a cell phone as well?

Was the outlet recessed by any chance? If so, a simple adapter like http://www.boxwave.com/images_bw/pro...er_euro_lg.jpg (which can also be used in conjunction with the one you have) should do the trick ...

I have a lot of those kind of adaptors along, interestingly enough to principally deal with recessed sockets, and I still couldn't get things to work. At some of the Italian hotels, the sockets were definitely recessed; at MXP landside I think they were too but don't quote me on that. (A number of the landside MXP sockets worked with different plugs, that being the more standard European ones, and I had no issues airside.)

Maybe I just had a bad day the last times. :o Next time I'm at MXP or the same hotels in Milan or Rome, I'll try again.

This is an excellent suggestion. I've always used these while traveling.
it might be little challenging to use them in a 3 prong outlet, but
a pen cap can play the nice trick to make it work in those outlets.

And IIRC, the default chargers with most phones and IPOD these days
work from 100-240 volts (Check the specs carefully) if this is the case
you do not need to buy a voltage converter. Just the pin converters would do.

could be a few reasons.

1. those adapters come in two different widths. sometimes they can
on both types of outlets. but not always.

2. the socket may have an inbuilt safety feature.. some tab somewhere
that needs to be pressed before the pins could be inserted.

A plastic pen cap could come in handy at times.

3. Just a bad luck.. bad outlet.

A combination of two or all three of those probably, but Item 2 definitely arose at some hotels.