Laptop

that is a sight to see but the funniest have to be my brother managing to put the flight sock on upside down and the womans face when he took them off in manchester airport when we landed what a picture

 

haha they're funny as anything those socks. you feel like you're still wearing them about 5 days after you've taken them off they're that restricting!!!
I'm not going to buy any..I'm sooooo going to take a pair of surgical stockings from work instead (size yellow, half leg)!! Now THATS fetching lol

 

yes very fetching ours were also courtesy of the nhs

 

lol i'll make sure to NOT pick the pair thats got the hospital stamp right accross them

 

Haha you're like my mother... my first pair of flight socks were from her hospital (not HER hospital, I'll point her, rather her place of work). But my ones right now are from Boots and they're black. Mum has a skin coloured pair though..... sexay!

 

Do any of you guys know if the rooms have wireless?
Or can I bring my own router?
What's the deal?

 

Rooms don't have wireless (unless your roomates already have one) so you'll need an ethernet cable to connect. However, if you have your own wireless router, then go for it! You might want to think about setting a password for the connection, otherwise all and sundry will use it.

 

Hum.....dont mean to dampen your spirits but the last time i was in da US my GHDs definitely wouldn't work!!!!it was a bit of a disaster! the voltage was soooo low that the red light wouldnt flash even after plugging them in for a half an hour!!!! maybe the newer ones work though!lets hope so

 

ok im putting on my nerd glasses (wait where are they? can't find them... oh already had them on ... ) but i THINK (note:think) that there is transformers and adapters that you can buy when travelling the difference being adapters let you plug osmething in but transformers help to cretae the right voltage or whatever to run your item effectivly/safely, i think laptops have them as tsanard and al lyou need is an adaptor or the appropriate country's cord (i could detail how the manfuaturing aspects make sense but i really dont wanna type too much but basically by only having to customise a cheap cable it makes manufacturing laptops very easy hence they include at transformer as standard)... please feel free to correct me if im wrong

 

I'd definately buy my own straighteners from Walmart rather than take them out with me. When I was out there on holiday with my boyfriends family, his Mum bought some straighteners and a hair drier for us to use cuz the voltage is so low they take forever to heat up, and my converter was rubbish, it wouldn't stay in the plug

 

Slightly unrelated story but 1 year for xmas my dad got me an amazing stereo from the US and I was so excited to plug it in I forgot the transformer and blew it up

 

Ok so lets see if ive got this, my laptop charger will be ok to take with me to the states as it already has a transformer (im assuming thats what the big box on the charger is) so when i plug it in it will still work? I remember taking my ipod dock station over to america with me and the charger didnt work, it was annoying, just had to use batteries.

 

That happened to me too, was a bit gutted but got over it lol. As long as you have a transformer you'll be fine

 

The "big box" you are talking about (AC adapter) is in fact a charger and a transformer. Every adapter needs a transformer, or else your batteries would quickly turn into something that could resemble an overbaked pizza.
Now the only thing you need to worry about is if your adapter (transformer/big box/converter/charger, if you will) can change the right range of voltage.

You're from Scotland, which means you normally use a 230V/50Hz source of power. In the US this will be 110V/60Hz.
Check the label on your transformer/big box/converter/charger/what have you, and look for INPUT. If it says
something like 100-240V / 50-60Hz (and I bet it does), you can use it in the US. If it says 220-240V, however, you will have to get a new adapter. Alternatively you can get a standalone transformer (230 to 110V), and use it on your laptop as well as any other piece of electronic equipment you might want to use that does not accept US voltage.

 

heya, sorry to bring this back up, but what exactly will i need transformers for? i mean, is it just electrical equipment that require a lot of power, such as a laptop. e.g. my skype phone, my mobile phone charger etc, i'm assuming just one of the usual adapters (like for holiday) will do? just don't wanna blow anything up :/

 

Laptop - check the box attached to the power plug. See previous post for details.
Similar details should also be on your phone charger, although I'm guessing they'll be ok. Big suggestion though... don't call home using your mobile, you'll be charged stupid amounts. And buy a pay-as-you-go phone once over there to contact other friends who're over there.
Your skype phone, I'm guessing that attaches to your laptop somehow? If not, why not just get a mic that does, and use skype through your laptop? The only other reason I can see to even take a laptop is to store digital photos on.

Not sure if I've helped, hope I have.

 

yeah i'm defo gonna get a phone over there, and also the skype is through my laptop, but it's like a plug to the base to a usb cable if you get me. hope nothing blows up, cheers for your help vikki

 

I plan on buying a new laptop down there because mine well... lets put it this way Hikaru ( as I fondly knew my laptop by... and yes I had named my laptop XD)... died about a week ago and in case I ever had problems with my next laptop I would want to be able to just bring it in and not have to ship it up to Canada ... plus there seems to be quite a cost difference for the ones I am looking at and I will need a laptop to survive ... its where my music and photos will live