GoodcallIT'S A WIDE, wired world: phone reception is better in Dubrovnik than in Dublin 13, and finding free Wi-Fi in most parts of Manhattan is as simple as turning on your computer. But the hardware that keeps you connected is nothing more than expensive ballast without charged batteries.
Maplin ( www.maplin.com), which has a store in Dublin, makes cheap universal travel-adaptor sets (€6.20) and a world travel adaptor with a USB cap (€18.60) that will charge any USB-compatible devices, such as iPods, phones and travel speakers.
If you're heading somewhere without wall sockets, the Freeloader portable solar charger (above, www.solartechnology.co.uk, €38) will power an iPod for up to 18 hours or a mobile for almost two days.
The panels fold out of a compact silver case, and if the sun is shining the device's solar panels can recharge its internal battery in about five hours.
During a sodden weekend on the Wicklow Mountains the SideWinder mobile-phone charger (above, www.amazon.com, €19) may be of more use.
It's a small, lightweight unit with a crank handle. Turning the handle at about two revolutions a second will charge a phone at about half the rate of a regular wall charger. Two minutes' cranking will give six minutes of talk time and about 30 minutes of standby time, which will encourage you to keep your calls short. You can even use it with a dead phone, as long as you remember to keep winding.