Whenever you’re on the go you always seem to end up needing to charge more gadgets simultaneously than at home - or at least you do if you’re me. Along with the standard devices there are backup battery packs, and of course, if there are any long journeys you want everything fully charged before you depart! One handy little thing I’ve been carrying in my travel bag for over a year now is the AUKEY 5-Port USB Charger. As the name implies it has 5 ports, and each of them should charger at 10A (the power of the old iPad chargers). While it’s not perfect - it certainly won’t charge my massive 12.9” iPad Pro in a hurry, it’s more than good enough for nearly everything else. I can charge my phone, both iPads, headphones and a battery pack simultaneously - and if I plug in the behemoth of the iPad Pro overnight it’ll be 100% come morning too.

The best part of this though, at least for me, is that it uses a standard figure of eight lead - the same ones used on Apple’s Airport range, the Mac Mini and the Apple TV - plus a plethora of other gadgets. This means you can buy alternative cables easily. As it’s 110V-240V it will work around the world, all you need to do is plug it in. I personally prefer having different cables to take with me vs a regular cable and an adaptor - it takes up less space. Additionally in some places I visit frequently, I have a spare cable there - just to reduce on packing a little.
Of course, this isn’t the only charging solution I carry. As mentioned above I have battery packs, and as well as that I have the 29W USB C charger from Apple with the Lightning to USB C cable, and a standard Apple iPhone charger. These come in handy when plugs are inconveniently placed, more gadgets need charging, or I need to use my iPad Pro whilst charging it (it usually maintains battery life on the Aukey charger, but it certainly won’t increase). Both Apple chargers are also ideal for use on a plane which has a charging socket too.
I hope that at some point soon Anker will come out with a charging block with a well powered USB C port on it which will allow me to ditch the 29W adapter when travelling at least.