Best travel item? One that is small, useful and only costs you £1.34. Oh and did we mention it might save your phone?
Intrigued? Then read on.
We had travelled for over a year before we discovered this cool hack, so we are now spreading the word!
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Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.
After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆
During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia.
And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful tips and info with you!
Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own adventures too!
What does the travel hack look like?
It doesn’t look like much, we know. But bear with us, these two small things are actually super useful.
In fact, you can use them in 2 different ways!
But first, some basic info:
What is it called?
You can usually find these little things under “dust plugs”.
Where can you buy it?
This might surprise you, but we, actually, struggled to find these in person, in Southeast Asia. Admittedly, it might have been just because they are so small and at that point we didn’t even know what to ask for!
Later on, we discovered them on ebay (where we got ours), though you can buy them on Amazon too.
Just make sure, if possible, that your shipping isn’t more than the dust plug itself!
How much does it cost?
The cost ranges from a couple pennies to a few pounds, depending on where you buy from and how many plugs you get in a pack.
Ours came as a set of two items (not all dust plugs do), as you see in the picture above, and we paid £1.34 for the set. It came in a small box, which we reused for other travel things.
If possible, try to get a dust plug set which includes a charger plug (the wider item) and a headphone jack plug. Both are useful – read on and we’ll explain everything.
If you can’t find a set, you can source the two different plugs separately.
Why should you get one?
The most important part – why should you care? We’ll tell you the two uses of these plugs as well as two true stories from our travels. This will show you why dust plugs are essential for you, whether you travel long-term, occasionally, or not at all.
Use no. 1
Protect the charging port on your phone from humidity, dirt, dust, sand etc.
True story no. 1:
During our Southeast Asia explorations, we ventured into Laos, which was beautiful, but for Mirka’s phone too humid. It very randomly started showing warning messages about water being present in the charging port, acting up, and generally being a pain. Not what you want when you are constantly on the go and the phone is your only device for communicating, booking things, taking pictures etc.!
We had it looked at number of times at small mobile phone repair shops and were advised to keep the charging port cleaner and drier. Easier said than done, when you don’t have a plug for it, the climate is humid and you are often in dusty places (or the beach!).
So here is the problem: dirt and humidity getting inside your charging port.
And here is the solution: dust plug.
At that point, though, we didn’t even know dust plugs existed; we only managed to find one much later, but it definitely would have been a lifesaver in Laos.
Since we got the plugs though, neither of our phones has ever had a warning message about its charging port.
If you are struggling to visualise how these plugs work, make sure to watch the short video on our Instagram.
Warning:
The biggest con of this dust plug?
It’s easy to lose it.
Since it’s so small and you have to take it out when charging your phone, it is easy to misplace it.
We are already on set no. 3 (probably), having lost the previous ones on our travels.
The solution?
Find a good place to keep it when you are charging your phone and stick to putting it there so you get into a habit of doing so.
Randomly putting it on a bedside table in your hotel room will just lead to you losing your dust plug, trust us.
We have discovered that a good place to store our plugs is other devices, which have the same port – we currently plug them into our power bank when we are charging our phones.
Alternatively, if you get one, you can store it in the little box you receive the dust plug in.
Use no. 2
Headphone jack plug that acts as a sim card remover.
The pin part of the set keeps your phone’s headphone jack safe from dust, water etc., just like the charging port plug.
But it also doubles as a sim card remover.
Which is sooo handy when you are travelling and constantly changing your sim card for a local one.
Know how you get to the airport, pick up your new sim and then struggle to get your old one out of your phone? Forever looking for a safety pin or fishing for your stitching kit at the bottom of the backpack? (if you are cool enough to travel with a stitching kit, of course).
We present you a pin that literally lives in your phone, until this precise moment when you need it. And then it’s there. Like magic.
Note: as we mentioned, not all dust plugs come with the headphone jack plug too. Make sure you get a set which includes both, or get each separately.
True story no. 2.:
We just landed in Bratislava, after one of our adventures, and were getting our luggage from the conveyor belt. Suddenly, a South Korean girl approached Mirka, asking her whether she has something to take a sim card out of her phone with.
Mirka excitedly whipped out her phone, took out the pin and gave it to the girl.
The girl then took out her sim card and replaced it with her new Slovak one.
Quick and easy!
She clearly could see we are very prepared and organised travellers, who carry things like sim card removers with us, which is why she approached us. 😎
Bonus tip
You can get the dust plug in a variety of colours. This means you can either choose to match your phone’s colour, so it blends in, or you can go for the opposite approach and get something that stands out.
For example, Mirka went for rose gold to complement her lavender phone, while Daniel went for dark red to contrast with his white phone case.
Hopefully these two stories show you why you need to get dust plugs too.
They are ideal for travelling – we always see people blowing into their phones at the beach, trying to dislodge the sand. You don’t have to be like them anymore!
As we said though, the dust plugs are useful for every day life too – we always have them in our phones.
Does it rain where you live? Is it humid? Is it dusty? Do you take your phone into the bathroom with you when you shower?
If you answered yes to any of these, you could also benefit from getting a dust plug. Your phone will thank you.
Something to think about
For any emergencies, accidents and incidents, it’s best to be protected by travel insurance.
Did you know we researched 23 insurance providers when choosing the right one for our full-time travels?
Yes, we are that crazy. But it was worth it. In the end, we actually found two companies whose insurance we are happy with.
If you are not sure who to go with, definitely check out SafetyWing or True Traveller. They are both great, both created by travellers for travellers, and both offer amazing value for money.
Have you seen dust plugs like these before? Would you get one?