When our son was little his favorite super hero was He-Man. Our miniature He-Man loved to run around the house with his plastic sword in the air yelling “I HAF Da POWAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! He thought he was pretty hot stuff.

I thought of him as I sat in the airport in London and realized that for the first time ever I had left home WITHOUT the power! I have a trusty power converter that has been in my “I can pack and get out the door in 1 hour” bag for years. But not this time. Somehow I had managed to leave it behind. I groaned as I remembered the smell of burning plastic in China when I plugged in a new power converter - to my laptop - and there was smoke and sparks! I’ve never again trusted any other power converter with my precious electronics than the one that was sitting on the shelf at home — 5,000 miles away.

I started the search in an airport luggage shop. SURELY in England they would have converters that would work with US electronics. But no, the shop girl was very clear “These are just plug changers. They are NOT current converters!” Uh-oh. If not in England, the chances of finding one in Spain were not good.

As soon as we landed I explained that my first priority was finding a power converter. My friends laughed; my typical first request is to get to the nearest tapas bar. Not this time. If I couldn’t find a power converter I was dead in the water.

We stopped in Alicante at two electrical stores (in Spain most types of consumer products are still sold in specialty shops). In the first store, the proprietor was calmly chatting with the only other customer as I impatiently tapped my foot (good American that I am). After 15 minutes I gave up and went back to the car. In the second shop they shrugged apologetically and told me that they only had the plug-in changer thing-y. No power converters.

Now I’m getting nervous. Maybe this was an even bigger screw-up than I realized. When we got back to the apartment I used my friend’s computer to do a quick search. I could order a converter from Amazon UK and pay for it in British pounds, which is now double the cost of American dollars — so about $100 — AND wait for at least a week for it to arrive. Or I could keep looking.

One friend called another who called another and we were directed to the best little electrical shop in Dénia. The shop owner nodded and assured me he had the solution. He handed me a heavy gizmo that looked like a piece off of a power station, and then an adaptor that goes with it. For a more $25 I walked away, totally freaked out that I was going to blow up my laptop with this Frankenstein contraption.

Mini power station

When we arrived at the apartment I went straight for the “office” and set everything up. I held my breath as I realized that — ta-da!! — the damn plug-in didn’t fit the plug-in in the apartment! My friend grinned, handed me a glass of wine, and disappeared to dig in her junk drawer. She returned with a Spain-to-Spain plug converter. Now I’m REALLY worried. How many pieces-parts does it take to replace my wonderful little travel converter? I’m practically hysterical.

I close my eyes and hand the plug to my husband. “You do it. I can’t bear to look.” So he did, and I waited for that nauseating smell. But nothing happened other than my laptop buzzing to life. I took a gulp of my wine and vowed to never let my little travel converter out of my sight again.

Ah, but that’s not the end of the story. I decided I needed to have a back-up converter, so I renewed my internet search. As I hunted I thought “You know, I wonder why so many shops sell plug changers instead of power converters — that’s awfully dangerous to the electronics of foreigners. Why would they sell those things?” Suddenly a little voice in the back of my head started giggling quietly. “You know what? You’re gonna feel REALLY STUPID if it turns out that those $2 plug-in changers are all you really need!”

“NOOOO!!! Shut up! That’s not possible! What about China?”

“But we’re not IN China! This is Europe. I think you need to check this out.”

OK, ok, so I checked it out. Five minutes of research on the internet revealed my worst fear / fondest hope. Almost ALL American electronics are capable of working on European voltage. All you really need is a stupid $2 plug changer. Just shoot me.

Cheap Power