A few years ago, I got caught in a hurricane in Cabo San Lucas.
For a couple of days, we had no power.
No internet.
No way to contact the outside world.
The storm shut everything down. Flights were canceled. Roads were a mess.
And while I was trying to rebook flights and figure out how to get home, the most basic problem hit me:
My laptop was dead and my phone was dying.
No electricity meant no charging.
No charging meant no communication.
No communication meant isolation.
And when you’re in a foreign place during a natural disaster… isolation feels heavy.
I was lucky.
Before we lost power, I had the presence of mind to pull cash out of the ATM. That decision ended up mattering more than I realized.
The only places open were small mom-and-pop shops that opened for the neighborhood residents.
They had no power, but they opened anyway, because people still needed to eat.
No credit cards. No tap to pay. Just cash.
Thank God for those shops.
Thank God for local resilience.
And thank God for one kind stranger.
There was a guy trying to repair the electricity at the hotel. I asked him if there was any way I could charge my phone.
He let me plug it into his car while he worked.
That small act of generosity meant everything.
It wasn’t technology that saved me in that moment.
It was community.
This hurricane taught me three things.
1. Community is everything in a crisis.
When systems fail, people matter.
For even more security, this external charger by Jinepin, also uses solar power to recharge itself.
2. Always travel with a portable charger.
A small power bank could have kept my phone alive for days.
That means access to:
Flight changes
Emergency contacts
Weather updates
Maps
Family
It’s a tiny piece of gear that carries massive peace of mind.
3. Always carry cash.
I now recommend traveling with at least one $100 bill tucked away for emergencies. When the grid goes down, cash still talks.
The bottom line is…
Storms happen. Power goes out. Airports close. ATMs stop working.
Preparedness isn’t paranoia.
It’s respect for uncertainty.
Not because I expect disaster.
But because I’ve seen what happens when you’re not ready.
And I’d rather never feel that helpless again.