I just took a long trip to Asia, 20 hours on an airplane roughly, both ways, and numerous 30-120 minute cab rides. Before my trip I decided I was going to bring a pair of nice headphones, and a pair of travel speakers. I also brought along my iPhone 4, which I loaded up with music, since wireless internet would not be available during the flight, and who else knows where & when; I couldn’t rely on streaming my music through Pandora.

For this particular trip my weapons of choice, the Sony MDR-V6 headphones from Sony, and the X Mini Max II speakers by XMI.

The Sony MDR-V6s are one of Sony’s most popular model lines, especially amongst professional audio engineers. The MDR-V6 features a sealed ear design, with very comfortable ear pads, which I knew would be great for blocking out all that airplane ambient noise. The comfort ability of these earphones would also be instrumental, since I would be using them for long durations of time during the flight, and beyond. Another great feature of these headphones is that they fold up very compactly, and come with a nice carrying pouch, which makes them great for traveling.

Something else I bought before the flight was an adapter, that I could plug my 3.5mm headphones into, that would then be able to plug into the two prong airplane audio jack on the airplane arm rest. This worked out great, because I could then watch the onboard movies, and television shows using my headphones, instead of the ones they pass out for usage. Let’s just say the audio quality of these headphones blows away the little freebies they hand out for you to use during the flight. The audio quality of these headphones in general is excellent, and I would recommend them to anyone who doesn’t already have a pair of traveling headphones.

The X Mini Max II speakers did not play a big role during my flight, or transit, but were instrumental when I arrived at my destinations. These speakers are a stereo pair of mini speakers, which adjoin together through magnets on the bottom of each, and then fit into a nice traveling pouch that comes included. The fact that they join together, and roughly fit in the palm of your hand makes them ideal for traveling as well. These speakers are also great because they have rechargeable batteries that seem to last forever.

If in fact they do need to be charged, they can easily be charged through USB, through the computer, or in my case using my iPhone charger. I found myself constantly using these little portable speakers when I was in the shower, or getting ready to go out for the night, and then also when I would get back to the room at the end of the day, or night. Instead of flipping on the television, I would just play some music, and relax. Although these speakers are small in size, don’t be fooled, they are large in sound, and sound quality.

In conclusion, I’m not saying you need these particular models (of portable speakers & music headphones). However, I am saying both of these items made for a much more manageable, and enjoyable trip. As always these two items have been, and remain to be necessities for myself when traveling. If you don’t already own some headphones, and traveling speakers, I would highly recommend considering getting some for your next big trip.

For more help, or information when buying traveling headphones, or traveling speakers, check out my website.