When traveling in Mexico and thinking about staying in a hotel for a night or two always carry one of these:
Mexican hotels hate putting in more electrical outlets than they need. I guess they are afraid you will bring your own microwave or hotplate. One of these low tech devices will come in very handy for plugging in a laptop, shaver or hair dryer. Thanks John!
As my own addition, also carry a couple of these:
Most electrical outlets in Mexico are of the two hole variety and when you try to plug in your laptop, you will be one hole short. These are cheap, easy to figure out and work well in conjunction with John's adapter above! My computer bag has both.
The other piece of cheap test gear you cannot do without in Mexico is one of these:
It plugs into the outlet and tells you if it is safe. It identifies lack of ground and wiring errors. When you find a problem you can move to another spot before you hook everything up and then get a shock from the door knob! Very handy.
Hey Croft where do I pick up that last gizmo and what is it called????
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link on Mexico Insurance, that will come in handy!
They are called an Outlet Circuit Tester and should be available in any well equipped hardware store for $5 - $7, maybe less. Just tell them you want the "yellow thingy with the three lights that tests outlets".
ReplyDeleteThe lightbulb gizmo and the adapter have saved us many times and has also allowed us to hookup the rv when there were no outlets. Priceless!
ReplyDeleteAnd take some toilet paper!
ReplyDeleteThe circuit testers are available at Home Depot for cheap.
Of course there is an open ground with a two prong only SOCKET - so the tester needn't advise - however if there is a HOT and NEGative reversal this is good to know - Advice on a that condition: don't use that socket.