With dark miserable January days upon us we can be excused for allowing our minds to wonder, picturing ourselves on a white sandy beach with a cocktail in one hand and a good book in the other. When we finally take the plunge and book our yearly break we need to make sure we have the tools at hand to make our travels as relaxed as possible.

From the best in entertainment to those little gadgets that make life easier; here are a list of some of the must have gadgets to make your holiday run as smoothly as possible.

CallUma Tag’n’Traq

Now there is no worse a feeling than being stood at the baggage carousel at the airport anxiously waiting for your luggage to appear. At first you’re calm, but when half an hour has passed and the crowds have dispersed and all that seems to be circling the carousel are a buggy and a few questionable boxes you start to panic. Now I have never been unlucky enough to have lost my luggage whilst travelling (touch wood) but I was once the last one to be reunited with my bag when travelling with a party of 20 and it was certainly nerve wracking.There’s no way to avoid the stress that it would undoubtedly cause if your baggage were to go missing but the CallUma Tag’n’Traq can help to put your find at ease a little.

Simply attach one of the tags to your luggage with your unique tracking number and if your luggage doesn’t turn up call CallUma with the number and they will do the rest, keeping you updated via text or email as to where your bag has got to. A great way to keep your mind at rest that if your luggage were to go missing it will be back with you as quickly as possible.

Wi-Fi finder

We’ve all been there, we’ve just stumbled across the best view we have ever seen or we happen to be at the most exciting tourist attraction and we are desperate to share this (show off) to all our Facebook and Twitter followers. But overseas in an unfamiliar place it can be difficult to know where we can get Wi-Fi. With the Wi-Fi finder you just point and click this little gadget and a series of LEDs will tell you where your nearest Wi-Fi hotspot is. Perfect AND easy to use.

Sony Bloggie 3D camera

When we go away we want to be able to capture the images we’ve seen in the best way possible so we can re-visit them again as many times as we want when we get home. The Sony Bloggie 3D camera allows us to capture images and view them back in 3D – what could make you feel more like you were back in your holiday paradise than watching it back in 3D?!

The light-weight pocket size camera has two screens and offers dynamic 1920×1080 3D HD video, you can even view your videos back immediately in 3D without the need for 3D glasses.

The camera also has the capability to take videos and still photographs in 2D should you prefer and is a must have for those who want to remember and share their holiday in as much detail as possible.

Top Tip

If you are planning on going away this year with these or any other travel gadgets, make sure you take out an adequate travel insurance policy. There’s nothing worse than facing a hefty loss if any of your more expensive possessions were to be lost or stolen whilst you were away. Price comparison sites such as MoneySupermarket.com can help you find a great deal on your travel insurance so it doesn’t have to cost the earth to protect your favourite holiday gadgets.

Today’s tech-connected kids live in a high-definition world. They are bombarded by sound from music players, game consoles, tablets and in-vehicle entertainment systems. Studies show that overexposure to loud sounds leads to hearing damage seen later in life. Parents can take steps to help their kids hear for a lifetime with Etymotic’s ETY·Kids™ Safe-Listening Earphones for Apple products. The ETY·Kids3 headset features three-button control and a mic designed for use with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Sound heard through ETY·Kids earphones will not exceed safe levels, so parents can rest easy. Even at the maximum volume setting on portable players, kids can listen safely for up to four hours per day. ETY·Kids earphones also block out background noise, and provide high-definition sound quality so kids will be able to hear every detail, and won’t complain that the volume is too low.

ETY∙Kids are available in two versions – the ETY·Kids3, a three-button control headset with mic designed to work with Apple products, and the ETY·Kids5 universal earphone that works with any portable device.

The ETY·Kids3 headset will feature AWARENESS! for Etymotic, an app that “listens” to users’ surroundings and mixes any noise louder than normal background sounds directly into the earphones, so kids can hear traffic, announcements or any other important sounds while they are listening. Both products provide clear, high-definition speech and music reproduction and come with kid-friendly eartips to ensure a seal that blocks outside sound.

Pricing and availability – ETY Kids 5 –  £59,  ETY Kids 3  - UK pricing and availability is to be confirmed.

Two thirds of us will excitedly unwrap a gleaming new gadget on 25th December, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. It’s been a bumper year for big technology launches from Nokia’s Lumia 800 Windows phone to the beautifully retro Fujifilm Finepix X100 camera, but as all sharp eyed tech fans will know, it’s Apple’s competitor-trouncing line up of iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and the incredibly slim MacBook Air which have topped Santa’s wish lists for 2011.

So, for all these new Apple converts, how do you make the leap from Windows to iOS with minimum effort? And how do you transfer your beloved pictures, videos and content over from your battered PC to your nifty new iPad?

A crafty piece of software called Parallels comes in handy here. Getting new tech to sync is much easier than dropping those extra Christmas pounds, with a little help from desktop virtualisation software.

Software such as Parallels Desktop 7 Switch to Mac edition helps when changing from a Windows laptop to Mac or iPad, by transporting files and programmes from one laptop to a Mac – it will even remember things like webpage favourites and book marks or your stored downloads. Rather than struggle to check your post-Christmas bank account on Safari, which many online banking sites don’t support, Parallels can create a virtual machine on your desktop so Internet Explorer can be used on a Mac.

Parallels is really simple to use and compatible with Mac’s, iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch. The Parallels mobile app allows users to access everything on their Macbook remotely – that means films stored on your Macbook at work can be watched on the sofa at home and music libraries can be accessed wherever you are in the world. Perfect!

Simple to use this is a great gift for the golfing dad to help him finely tune his golf swing and ultimately improve his game. The Sensoglove is the first and only golf glove with built in sensors that measure your grip pressure when you are holding the club.

It helps you attain a smooth, consistent swing that delivers greater distance, enhanced precision and lower scores. It has a small 1.2 inch detachable digital monitor on top of the glove which analyses the pressure of your grip throughout every stage of your golf swing. You then get audio and visual feedback if you exceed your target level of grip pressure. Ideal for golfing fans at every level.

Available from www.sensoglove.com Price £50

Let’s face it most of us just love our Facebook and Twitter and what better present for a social networking addict than these ‘Like’ and’ Follow’ fleece cushions. These handcrafted cushions are emblazoned with either the word ‘Follow’ alongside a regulation ‘Add’ icon or with the globally recognised ‘Thumbs-up’ icon and its accompanying four-letter word ‘Like’. They are even filled with highly squishable polyester fibres, making them perfect for snuggling into after a hard day of tweeting utterly pointless 140 character status updates into your gizmo of choice!

Available from www.firebox.com Prices start at £24.99