If you’ve ever seen the movie Congo about a high-tech African safari, you probably know where the latest technology in travel gadgets is: air conditioners for tents, laser detectors to catch animals that wander too close, etc. There is also another way to travel, and that involves having a hard time. You head out into the wild with nothing more than a couple of rubbing sticks to make a fire, and maybe a tube of mosquito repellant. But for now, for the rest of us, let’s go the other way: with travel gadgets that cost no more than $50, the ones we’d really need if we weren’t Crocodile Dundee.

You can find travel gadgets at your local travel store ranging from their ubiquitous iPods equipped with noise-canceling headphones, to Olympus’s Tough range of indestructible digital cameras and portable GPS trackers. The thing is, these devices need a certain amount of care: they’re heavy, you have to carry them around, and you have to worry about how to power them. And of course these are expensive to buy and easy to drop (not that those Tough cameras care). What we’re talking about here is stuff for the frugal traveler, one who doesn’t have a tribe lugging his pack behind him, one who needs to do everything himself. For those self-sufficient travelers, these are the best travel gadgets he’ll ever need, so he won’t have to break the bank.

Let’s start with what is needed to pack for a trip. It has your standard 22-inch carry-on and has a week’s worth of clothes to pack in it. How do you do it? Of course, using Travel Space Bags. What these bags do at about three bucks each is they allow you to suck all the spare air out of your garment bags so you can pack more into less space.

Now that you know what to pack your things in, let’s see what you can pack. Most travel devices are electronic or very smart. Here’s one that is neither, but is still extremely useful. It is an all-in-one tool, a Swiss Army knife. When you’re in the foothills of the Himalayas and squirting out, you’ll probably kill for one of these. Watch the Leatherman series for great action when you need it. Some of the models come with pliers to help you remove electrical insulation, a screwdriver to help you fix a broken suitcase handle, a pointed tip to help you press the Reset button, and so on. The best part is that they won’t set you back more than $50 on Amazon, if you go for the high-end stuff.

When you travel anywhere, in the Third World or the First, you simply need to carry a lot of cash to last you the whole trip; But what about when pickpockets attack? You don’t want to be left stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to pay for your next drink, do you? Get a money clip; I’m sure there are thieves out there who know how to outwit this one, but personally I’ve never had a break-in since switching to one of these. If you buy one of those newer ones with a built-in flash drive, you’ll also have a little extra preparation on your hands. And while you’re securing things, why not get yourself a nice cable lock to store your suitcase somewhere or anything else? The Kryptonite R4 is a great option, because it not only gives you your standard cable lock with a 3 foot extension cable, it also gives you a flashlight built into the body. After all this, you will not spend more than $20.

Now you have to take care of the few equipment you have: phone, camera, etc. Just buy yourself an adapter that allows you to plug your stuff into a foreign receptacle; but how many of these can you take? Grab a mini power strip that also supplies power to a couple of USB ports. Belkin has a great variety here. You’ll also need a small collapsible tripod like the GorillaPod. They make it so you can balance your camera on just about any surface, even a tree. And, of course, let’s not forget that you yourself need to be taken care of; grab one of the several medical kits they have on the market, like the Adventure Medical Kit with a bunch of perfectly cute, ready-to-go first aid stuff. So there you go, everything you need, to stay safe and keep going.