There are lots of small speaker sets you can buy for your ipod — although your roommates won’t necessarily appreciate your taste in music, so I’d plan on using the ear buds in dorms. You can also buy a charger for it. Just be sure the charger accepts 220 volt input — the Ipod brand chargers do, I think. Somewhere on the plug or the charger (molded into the plastic or on a permanent label) it will list acceptable inputs. Look for 110 to 220 volts. You’ll need an adapter plug to fit the European wall outlets. There’s one plug for UK and Ireland and a different one for the rest of Europe. You can buy a world wide set of 4 adapter plugs at the big box discount stores — that’s usually cheaper than buying the 2 plugs you need individually at a travel or electronics store.

I was thinking a private room for me and a friend, in a hostel. I like to keep to myself.
So that’s why I wanted something to play my music without headphones.
I will look for something small!
Thanks for your advice!

Well, you won’t always be able to find a private room. If you want to see what ipod speakers are out there on the market, take a trip to an electronics store or even a big box discount store, and see what’s out there. There’s a variety of products, some might be small enough to suit your luggage space needs. Does you Ipod have a standard headphone jack? (I don’t know Ipod’s too well. I know that many have a unique jack that only Apple speakers and headphones can hook up to. But if there’s also a standard headphone jack, that gives you a wider range of speakers that you can buy).

Do you have any additional questions on the chargers, adapters, and voltage?

I know I wont be able to always find a private room, so my other option would be a hotel
My Ipod seems to be able to use regular headphones with it. I have never used the ones that came with it, so I am assuming that’s what you mean? That means I can look for some speakers that plug into the headphone jack then.
I was going to go and look for something that will be able to both play it and charge it. Hopefully I can find something small enough that can do both. If not, I will just leave it at home.
I am also looking in to buying an adapter, so I can plug it in. The voltage is different? Or is it just the shape of the plug itself. I don’t know much about those kinds of things. Whatever I do buy though I will need to make sure that it will plug into their sockets.
Thanks for the info!

There are also small “docking stations” with speakers.

I think you’ll need a charger, too but if you find one that accepts 220 volts (the IPod brand ones do) you won’t need a converter, just adapter plugs to fit the wall outlet. There’s a bunch about electrical issues in the “travel tips” tab at the top of the page. Look under “packing.”

Yep, exactly.

Right, so not only is the shape different, but the voltage is different. Electric outlets are 110 V in North America, 220 in Europe. An adapter only helps your device fit into European outlets. A converter does that and also converts the voltage. A lot of electronics, however, only need an adapter because they can handle from 100 to 240 V. Take a look at the thread oldlady suggested.

For Pete’s sake, luv-the-beach, if you don’t know ipods too well, then why on earth would you even try to assist Kailar with this particular question? You might as well say, “I don’t know Ipod’s too well…but, if you have another topic, or if I can ask and answer the question I think you should have asked and that oldlady already answered, I’ll be more than pleased to share my always apparent to me, ever-knowing, all-knowing, always-knowing, more worldly than anyone else on this site, semi-advice.” Don’t get me wrong, I know that some of your advice is helpful, but often enough, your comments seem to be just for comment’s sake. You don’t have to be the self-proclaimed expert on everything, or do you?

I’m going to step out on the limb here…do you win a prize or something for being the member with the most posts? Bragging rights, a t-shirt, another eurotrip symbol, what is it that you’re after? Isn’t this the same sort of commentary that sent you and others off to “Backpatters” several years ago? Since I obviously cannot control this run on rant, and while I’m at it, could we just stop with the Rio ad already? I’m sick of looking at it; it seems like every post I visit, you’ve commented and left your mark. It’s really kind of tiresome. Chicago 2016!

Why not?

Because it’s been driving me nuts for months. Had to get it off my chest!

Crystal,

Wow, you’ve certainly been keeping all of this bottled up for a long time haven’t ya?

I really don’t give a rat’s ass what you think of me; Kailar wasn’t annoyed one bit by my participation in her thread, so why do you care? No, I don’t know Ipods too well, but I do know that they have a special jack that only Apple speakers and headphones can use, and having recently done a lot of research on mp3 players (because I recently bought one for myself) and having recently bought speakers that I can hook up to either my mp3 player or my laptop, I had something to contribute: pretty obvious advice, but Kailar appreciated it. Oldlady gets to many questions before I do, but rather than repeating what she says, I supplement her advice with additional advice. Likewise, she does the same to questions that I answer before her. We’ve had this “relationship” for years now, so why does it bother you? I think you just need to get your head out of your ass, and if my Rio 2016 sig bothers you (which none of the mods are admins have ever complained about), then disable images from this website. It’s that easy, rather than being a total bitch about it.

The other folks that left for Backpatters and Eurotrek used to consider me far too patient and polite to repetitive and stupid questions. I was known as the guy who would take the time out of his day and give people thorough advice for questions that have been asked hundreds of times before, while all the other posters would get frustrated and angrily reply “DO A SEARCH”. (Of course, 90% of the time, keep in mind, advice we give here at Eurotrip is not taken. Most newbies have already determined what they want to do and where they want to go; they only come here for “experts” to reaffirm their plans, and when we don’t do that, they just ignore the advice, and do their own thing anyways). This is why and how all the others finally gave up and left, and now I find myself in their position, although I still have the decency to politely advise people to browse some books, read up, and figure out what interests them most. After all, vague questions merit vague answers, and if it really bothers you, you’re always welcome to add some of your own advice, rather than just lurk here without contributing and then bitching and moaning because you don’t like someone else’s advice. Get over yourself, and quit whining.

Lastly, no I do not “post in every thread”. If you take a lok at all my posts, almost all of them fall into the following categories:

1. advice on South Europe (particularly Greece, France, Spain, Italy), which is the region I know best
2. threads that receive no answer from anyone else after several days. I hate it when people’s posts go unanswered, it looks like that person is being ignored, so I try my best to direct them to someone or something that can answer their question better than I can (like a consulate, guidebook, library, store, website, whatever)
3. working and studying in Europe (since a lot of these also tend to go ignored and since I have lived and studied in Europe, and half my relatives also live there, I try my best to answer, and/or direct them to someone/something that can better answer their questiobns)
4. current events and general questions on the EU, EEA, Schengen, Euro, since I am well-read and caught up on these
5. Questions that are vague, such as “I’m goin to Europe, where should I go”, in which case, I advise them to open a book and find a place that interests them

Threads where I almost never contribute:

1. Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, Central Europe, Balkans, Benelux
2. Eurail (I give up on this, and give it entirely to oldlady)
3. flights (very rarely will I contribute)
4. packing (very rarely)
5. hostels (again, very rarely)

Again, if you don’t like my advice that’s your problem. Like I said, you’re welcome to contribute rather than lurk around and read threads and get pissed off about it.

Thanks.

Glad to see that I struck a nerve. Precisely the point of my post!

You’re the one PMSing, sweatheart. But now you’re backtracking and pretending it was all a ploy to annoy me.

Nice one!

luv_the_beach says:

Really? Then why go on about it?

luv_the_beach claiims:

This is not a ploy. The intent of my post was quite intentional. Your posting for the sake of posting annoys me.

Your condescending nature is evident throughout this board and in your above replies. In a forum intended to assist those of all experience levels in planning a Eurotrip, I find the use of the term “newbie” terribly condescending. If you’ve appointed or anointed yourself the savior of those asking repetitive questions, then why refer to members of your herd with the condescending label? Of course you would aim condescending remarks at someone directly challenging your rationale to post on a topic, but also at those you feel you’re leading?

Here’s an example of your condescending nature aimed at Kailar:

Kailar replies with, “I know I wont be able to always find a private room, so my other option would be a hotel”.

You claim:

In my view, Kailar’s response seems to be flavored with an air of annoyance. Although I haven’t checked in with Kailar to confirm this alleged air of annoyance, my reading of the reply places emphasis on the fact that Kailar is well aware that if in a hostel and wanting to play an iPod with speakers, a private double is more than a good idea. The matter of hostel etiquette is not presented in Kailar’s post about iPod speakers, but you take it as an opportunity preach about hostel etiquette.

luv_the_beach says:

The question seemingly becomes whether or not you’re really offering advice, or if you’re only trying to appear more wise than others on this board. Here’s an example of your “advice”:

This is typical of the semi-advice I referred to in my earlier post. Isn’t this alleged advice like advising someone to go to a clothing store or to a mall to look for clothes? You acknowledge that your “advice” is obvious, but you also pat yourself on the back for offering little to nothing:

Did Kailar appreciate it, or did Kailar feel compelled or obligated to make it seem so?

In my view, you’re posting for the sake of posting. That is the intended message of my post; Not to annoy you, but to express why some of your posts annoy me.

Lastly, I never made this accusation, so who exactly are you quoting here?

Kailar,
Not to be condescending or anything else, be sure not to leave your i-pod and new speaker system laying in your private hostel room, if you get one or in a hotel room when you go out for the day or at night. Petty theft on trains, hostels and hotels are on the rise and every summer, I hear hundreds of travelers stories that their valuables were stolen from their rooms. In most cases, people act like it was there bedroom at home and left valuables all over their room. Be sure to lock them up or carry in your day pack each day.
Just a tip from an experienced traveler. If you ignore my tip, thats ok.

It’s good advise from packer, Although thefts are rare because hostel’s are generally full of like minded traveller’s, it can happen.

Crystal, I think most people would appreciate if you dropped whatever objective you have in trying to initiate arguments over message boards. You are accusing LTB of all types of things, and then you yourself go and make ridiculously unfounded assumptions on how others on this site feel.

“In my view, Kailar’s response seems to be flavored with an air of annoyance. Although I haven’t checked in with Kailar to confirm this alleged air of annoyance, my reading of the reply places emphasis on the fact that Kailar is well aware that if in a hostel and wanting to play an iPod with speakers, a private double is more than a good idea.”

I mean, why would you read into that? People are having a conversation here and you have taken over the board to air your frustrations with someone who really is integral in why this site is so awesome. Sure sometimes the info seems much, but just don’t read it. I’m sure you have a bunch of experience and a lot of this is simple, but this is not the place to have wars of words. This is a site to help people have the best possible time in Europe, and LTB offers a lot of good advice. He also does make a point of trying to answer as many questions as possible so people dont go unanswered, which is unique and quite genuine.

I’m sure you just needed to air your grievances and that has now been done, so cool, lets carry on with helping people on the site.

Do hostels have safes in their rooms? I have never been in a hostel before. If not I am sure hotels do right?!

Also I am sorry for maybe asking something that someone may have asked somewhere else in another topic.
The only reason I did it was because I didn’t want to have to sift through a bunch of topics that may mention ipods within it to hopefully find the answer I was looking for.
Sorry to any people I have maybe have annoyed.

Kailar,
You certainly did not annoy me. I am only annoyed with luv_the-beach’s posting for posting’s sake.

Ask away on this board. It is likely that many people will have good advice for you.

Some hostels do have safes, either in your double room or at the front desk. Likewise, many European hotels have in-room safes or a safe at the front desk for your use.

I suggest that you try an in-room safe first (lock it and open it) before you store any of your valuables in it. Instructions for use are usually located in or on the safe itself.

As said some hostels do have safes, most hotel’s also do. Some hostel’s have communal safe in Reception watched over by staff that you can leave stuff at, this is usually common in HI hostel’s.

Also you don’t need to worry about annoying anyone, you have asked reasonable question’s. Your welcome to continue to do so. You will just need to avoid the handbags getting throwing around.

Another thing to bear in mind which I don’t think anyone’s mentioned is that if you’re planning to go to the UK during your trip, the voltage and plugs are different there again, i.e. different from the rest of Europe! However you will definitely be able to find a sort of “multi-feature” travel adapter with more than one “setting” so you have both the UK and the Europe adapters.

Since no one else has linked it, I will… oldlady wrote a very good article that outlines a lot of what has been discussed in this thread. You can check it out here…

Voltage shouldn’t be an issue with an Ipod charger, since it’s a DC device, just adapter plugs to fit the wall outlet. That was covered in the answer to the initial post.

Sorry oldlady I’m not sure how I managed to miss that – perhaps I was distracted by the..discussion later on in the thread! My hairdryer and straighteners work less well in Europe, but I guess that won’t affect someone coming from the US.

Sometimes in hotel rooms if I want to listen to music but not disturb, I put the headphones at the bottom of an (empty..) glass. Most of them are larger at the top than the bottom so it amplifies the sound, but not so much as to be a disturbance! This may just be me being a cheapskate though..

I have never thought of that! That’s a really neat idea! Maybe I should try that!

http://www.bestbuy.c… Its a great speaker and docking syestem charging to

your really not going to want to carry speakers everywhere you go. thats my opinion, but its not something i would want to be packing all over europe.