I'm traveling to France and want to be able to charge and use my cell phone and laptop. I'm confused on the converter and adapter issue, last time I guess I used only a converter and blew up my hair dryer - HELP

You will almost certainly be able to get by with just a converter. Most laptops and cell phone adaptors are dual voltage. Just look at the fine print on the adaptor itself and it should list the voltages it accepts, if it says something like, <b>110v-220v or 100v-240v</b>, then you are all set and only need the adaptor for the plug.

Hair dryers are another issue, most are not dual voltage, but some are. Again, the voltage will be printed on the device, usually near the power cable. Note that some hair dryers have a physical switch that you will have push over to change the voltage, but this is becoming less common.

You only need a plug adaptor to make your plug fit into the outlet. Laptops and cell phone chargers are dual voltage.

No converter necessary for dual voltage electronics, only a plug adapter.

"<i>You will almost certainly be able to get by with just a converter. Most laptops and cell phone adaptors are dual voltage.</i>"

Wrong. That would be an <B>Adapter</B>. A <u>Plug Adapter</u> is what fits on the end of the cord to fit the wall socket. (That is what travelgourmet correctly describes farther down the post.)

A <u>power converter</u> converts/transforms the electricity.

So if the items are dual voltage (most chargers are dual voltage - look for the numbers travelgourmet mentioned) then what you need is a plug adapter.

You probably blew up the hair dryer because it was single voltage and you just used a plug adapter. You are lucky if that is all that happened. But once in a long while - even a dual voltage hair dryer will have problems.

<i>just a converter</i>

Should read: just an adaptor.

THANK YOU!!!