We will be traveling soon and one of the things that I am terrible at is overpacking, particularly with my electronic gadgets. I have a desire to reduce what I pack and one area that I’m focusing in on for our next trip is the cables. The devices that I typically travel with, use various USB charging cables. My devices use USB C, micro USB, mini USB, and Apple’s USB lighting cables. The chargers also have USB A and USB C connectors. That is a combination of 2^4 or 16 combinations of cables.
In addition to powering my devices, I like the option to connect to an HDMI monitor if one is available or I bring one along. The addition of HDMI increases the cable count as there are three types of HDMI connector: HDMI, mini HDMI, and micro HDMI. In addition to the three types of HDMI there is the option of USB C to HDMI.
As you can see, it is very easy to pack way too many cables on a trip if you want to be able to support these various options.
There is an option to support all of these combinations while carrying a small number of cables. The option is to only pack USB C cables with adaptors. The only option not covered is the HDMI Cable but as most devices support Display over USB C, this is not an issue. One way around this limitation is to use a wireless HDMI adaptor.
The image shows the items that I have in my kit. Links are affiliate links to Amazon products. (paid links)
- USB Power adapters
- USB C cables
- USB C Monitor Cable 6 ft (Needed for USB C to HDMI Adapter)
- JSAUX 100W USB C to USB C Cable [2-Pack 10FT]
- JSAUX 100W USB C to USB C Cable [2-Pack 6.6FT]
- USB C to USB A adapter
- USB C to micro USB adapter
- USB C to mini USB adapter
- USB C to Apple Lightning adapter
- Apple pencil adapter
- USB C coupler – Used to couple to USB C cables for long USB C runs
- USB C to HDMI adapter
NOTE: Make certain at least one of the USB C Cables is a display cable! - HDMI to HDMI micro adapter
- HDMI to HDMI mini adapter
- Not shown: Power plug adapter for the area(s) we will be traveling to, if needed.
- Not shown: Wireless HDMI Adaptor
It may be possible to travel with less, by carefully planning what is needed and carrying cables that will work with just the devices you have. Unfortunately that typically does not work for me. I usually get asked if I have a cable for another device that someone else brought or I forgot about the one device that still has mini USB. Being able to adapt to nearly any need is best and the ability to only use USB C cables will make it much easier. I hope you find this useful and if like me, you find you may not always have the cable you need, you too will travel with a similar assortment so you always have the cable you need.
