25 best travel gadgets

TripIt

£free, tripit.com

This handy little app helps you stay on top of your flights and accommodation with little effort. Simply forward your confirmation emails to its magical server and TripIt will automatically create the ultimate tailored itinerary which you can also share with nosey family and friends. Get it for iOS and Android.

Sony PlayStation Vita

£200, playstation.com
You want to play Angry Birds on the plane? Fine. Use your smartphone. But if you’ve got real gamer’s blood squirting from the place where your avatar’s head recently stood, you’ll want to pack a PS Vita. And a copy of Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Trust us, you won’t care what country you’re in.

Joos Orange

£175, soarjoos.com
Solar chargers and British summers go together like British skin and Mediterranean sunshine: badly. Slip a Joos Orange into your luggage before you jet off to the Med, though, and you’ll have week-long power without having to worry about leaving your £500 phone plugged into the dodgily-wired socket at a thief-magnet tourist hotel. Don’t forget your suncream.

Olympus Tough TG-1

£315, olympus.co.uk
You can come back from a holiday with lots of things you didn’t expect – a humourously-named product from the local supermarket, for instance, or a bout of food poisoning (possibly from sampling said product). Whatever it is, don’t come back with a smashed camera – take the Olympus Tough TG-1 and it’ll look after itself if you drop it (even in the pool) so you can carry on taking pictures once you get better.

JCB Pro-Smart

£320, play.com

Holidays and phones have a tricky relationship. On the one hand, they’re often essential for finding the way from the bar back to the hotel. On the other, they’re easy to break and expensive to use abroad. Pick up the hard-as-a-Greek-windsurfer JCB Pro-Smart and you’ll be able to drop a local SIM into it on arrival. Job done, as people with JCBs like to say.