As the summer holidays approach I thought I’d share a story of managing tech for a non techie and how to make you next trip stress free and save yourself some money. I spent nearly €50 euros on tech kit I didn’t actually need in a panic my phone was about to die. If only I’d packed my Earldom charging block and kept a cable in my hand luggage.

Tech cables, charging blocks, plugs and adapter are expensive in the airport even duty free.

On my last outboard journey, I left early in the morning, my phone had been charging overnight and when I arrived at the airport I had no problems accessing boarding passes on my airline app.

On the return flight, it was a completely different story, even though my routine had stayed the same, use my phone during the day, charge at night, my phone had been running out of charge during the day. The flight was in the middle of the day, I had been using my phone in the morning and on the taxi to the airport I noticed the low power mode come on.

I have an older iPhone and my battery health is significantly degraded at 77%, the measure of the battery capacity compared to when the phone was new. I could get a new battery installed for £109 from Apple but I have a charger in my car so it never runs out during the day. On holiday of course when I am using my phone throughout the day this was a very different situation.

I’d recommend you want to check your phone battery health before you leave on holiday. Open your iPhone's Settings app. Scroll down and tap Battery. Tap Battery Health or Battery Health & Charging (this varies depending on your model). Look at the Maximum Capacity percentage. This tells you the battery's current capacity relative to when it was new.

The one thing I didn’t take on my trip that would have been so easy to pack was my Earldom charging block. It’s small and would have provided the peace of mind I needed. I also had packed all my cables and adapters and by the time I thought about actually retrieving them my bags had been checked in.

I didn’t realise how fast your power diminishes when you are on 10% charge or less, seriously in the red.

I realised abruptly no phone, no boarding passes, no flight and had to buy the necessary equipment a cable and European charging plug in duty free which frustratingly cost me €45 euros when I had a cable, a plug and an adapter in my luggage.

Then came the challenge of finding an electrical outlet in the airport. Of course just my luck every one was being used. By this point I was sweating. What should have been a relaxing end to my vacation had turned into a stress fest, constantly looking at my phone to see if the inevitable had happened.

It wasn’t until I got to the gate I found a charging station surrounded by people with cables and ports of every variety, no €45 spend necessary to plug in my phone.

I had asked airport staff and retail assistants in duty free about something like this I’d seen in other airports and no one seemed to know.

The moral of the story. Keep a cable, plug and adapter if you need one handy in your hand luggage and even better if you own a charging block, like me, take it with you. If I had had mine with me, none of this would have happened.

Also check your phone battery health before you travel. It may be worth investing in a new one.

Some might say you can never have too many plugs, adapters and cables. I now have two more pieces of tech kit to add to my collection. Two things had I known about the charging station at the airport gate I didn’t need to invest in.

One thing we rely on our kids for is tech. If you are travelling alone, make sure you have what you need. No kids, no help, when it comes to tech. Certainly in my case.