If done badly, with poor planning travelling any distance can be a nightmare. Geeks know good gadgets so when it comes to your next trip take a leaf out of their book and make your life easier with a geek gadget or two.

Travelling can throw up all sorts of issues that can be solved with a few gadgets here and there. So what better reason to have a look at some of the newest gadgets on the market before we go anywhere this summer.

There are a few common problems faced on every journey and we can put most of them into four categories ; entertainment, energy, security and safety. We will cover each category in turn and suggest an area of geek gadgetry to look at.

Entertainment can make the difference between a tedious boring journey or a relatively relaxing one. The good news is you are spoiled for choice when it comes to entertainment gadgets. It wasn't so long ago that if you wanted to watch a film on a long road trip you had to use a portable DVD player but now you can carry with a whole bunch of films on your phone. Books are still a popular choice for any holiday destination. There is nothing nicer than reading a good book while soaking up some sun. The problem with books is that they take up lots of room in your suitcase, eBook readers are becoming more popular because you can carry with you hundreds of books all on one device no bigger than a hardback book. You can also download new books wirelessly too.

No matter how many awesome gadgets you have they are all useless if they do not have any power. Batteries may have gotten better over the years but so too has gadgets demand for power. As a result battery life has not gotten much better. Until some geek at MIT works out how to use carbon nano-tubes in batteries we are stuck with mediocre battery life. Not so, thanks to the latest wave of portable recharging gadget devices. Now you can recharge your gadgets on the go. Some of the newest power gadgets now have solar cells so you can charge your gadgets whenever the sun is shining. Never again will you have to worry about being away from a power socket for too long.

You are most vulnerable when you are travelling because you are in an unfamiliar location with people you have never met before so security is never more important than when you are away from home. Thankfully there are gadgets out there than can help and you do not have to be a geek to enjoy these gadgets. There are clever alarms that fit to hotel doors to warn you of unexpected and uninvited visitors. Some of the more sophisticated ones have built in smoke detectors and other life saving gadgets that are invaluable when abroad.

Safety is paramount these days and fortunately there are lots of gadgets out there that can help us to stay safe. I can not recall how many holidays to Mexico I have had ruined from drinking bad water. Luckily there is a new gadget that can sterilise water in a matter of seconds. Long gone are the days of putting chemicals into your water bottle to cleanse your drinking water. Now there is a device that emits a high energy UV light and when placed directly into the water will neutralise any bugs contaminating it. The Ultra-Violet light works by destroying the DNA of any water-borne nasties.

I have outlined here some of the main areas that can help, not just geeks but anyone wanting to make their travelling experience a more relaxing and enjoyable one.