Travel Kettles

[jack]

The last time I went to Europe, I vowed I would never again to stay in a European hotel without bringing a travel kettle, because I always want tea without having to negotiate in a foreign language for it, and many hotels don't have a kettle in the room, and don't have tea available at breakfast.

However, now I'm looking online, I'm annoyed. Surely travel kettles (ones with actual plugs, not ones designed for camping) are used almost exclusively by british people travelling in Europe?

So they should all (a) be sold in England and (b) be sold with European plugs.

But that does NOT seem to be the case. Who the hell sat down to make a travel kettle, and thought "What kind of plug should it have? A UK plug!" Everyone in the UK I ever want to visit ALREADY HAS a kettle, and doesn't need me bringing 0.4 more kettles!

Non-eponymously, most small kettles don't even use a kettle lead, which more convenient, but you can't swap that out for a european kettle lead.

Or am I just using the wrong search terms? I'm going to stop ranting and buy a normal travel kettle, unless anyone has a better suggestion?

Comments

[gerald_duck]

Oh — a safety addendum. If using a kettle in Germany or other CEE7/4 countries that wasn't originally designed for them, whether through a travel adapter or by replacing the plug, be aware that the plugs and sockets aren't polarised so there's a 50-50 chance you'll be running the kettle with live and neutral swapped.

What with globalisation and all that, most kettles will have been designed to be sold in such markets anyway, but there is a risk that the thermostat will be cutting neutral rather than live, leaving more of the kettle's innards live when "off" than expected. This can't be a big deal, since the kettle's expected to be safe when entirely live, but if in doubt it's worth being a bit careful — unplugging it when not actually in use, etc.