Modern day travelling brings with it demands for recharging portable devices. So many hostels provide minimal power points so we're glad to have brought a multiway short extension lead.

Memories of splicing and joining a multiway lead with an international plug attached one very late night, five years ago on a learning technology trip to Thailand reminds me of this top tip.

Luckily with iPhones and iPods in our bags, they share a universal charger which leads me to wonder why we brought so many!? Oh well.

It's a pity that even though we both have Canon cameras, the battery formats are subtly different and therefore require separate chargers, sigh.

USB has provided us with a huge advantage of sharing common connectors and cables. Lets hope that technology manufacturers will follow the European Commission's lead who have already agreed a standard for phone chargers. About time.