One of the challenges when traveling with our mobile devices, is that while the devices themselves get smaller and lighter, their accessories don't! AC chargers, car DC chargers, sync/charge cables, batteries, headphones, BT earpices, BT GPS "pucks" etc. take up more room in our luggage than the devices themselves. One of my fellow Mobile Devices MVPs jokes that his friends rib him for traveling with 75-pounds of electronics all in one-ounce pieces!
There are a few fairly obvious, but still worth mentioning, tricks to lighten the load. First, is to try and "standardize" your equipment as much as possible. The ubiquity of mini-USB charge ports had made this easier than ever. For example, while it's not my "usual" BT earpiece, I bought a cheap Motorola HS350 on sale for $10 just to take on vacation. At $10, if I lose it I could care less, but more importantly, it charges via a mini-USB connector, so I can charge it with my WinMo phone charger, meaning one less charge "brick" to lug around. When I used to use a BT GPS "puck" (before using my current phone which has built-in GPS) I made sure to buy one with a mini-USB charge port as well- that was three devices sharing a charger. (well, two chargers- one AC, one 12V DC for the rental car.)
Another trick is to stop bringing dedicated chargers at all! Using generic AC and DC chargers with a USB socket for output instead of a device-specific cable, and then just bringing sync/charge cables for all of your devices that plug into the generic "bricks," rather than their dedicated chargers really reduces the amount of gear to lug around. This is also helpful for the equipment with proprietary charge ports like iPods and Zunes that refuse to share your mini-USB charger. A single AC and DC charger and a half-dozen sync/charge cables takes up a fraction of the space of a half-dozen dedicated charger bricks would! If you also bring a notebook or netbook PC with you on your travels, even the charger brick becomes optional- you can charge your equipment off of the PC's USB ports, so the only charger you need is the laptop's, (which you have to bring anyway!) (Of course, I rarely travel with a notebook or netbook- that's what my Windows Mobile device is for, so that option is out for me!)
My AC charger brick of choice is the very useful and affordable (~$20 US at Amazon.com) MusicPower Encore- it's an AC charger with two USB outputs to charge two devices at a time, plus an internal 2200mAH Li-Ion battery pack that charges whenever the Encore is plugged in and allows you to use the brick as a portable battery pack when not plugged in to AC to keep your devices charged on long flights or anywhere AC or DC power isn't readily available.
You might be surprized at how many portable devices have USB charge cables available, even if the device didn't include one- "dumbphones", BT headsets, even many digital cameras; almost any portable device that uses 5V or less for power often has an OEM or third-party USB charge cable available.
Happy traveling!
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