PART II: Success.
As you probably know, European outlets kick out a mean 220 volts of electricity. American appliances, like my now-deceased electric razor, were only designed to handle 110 volts. I was told by several people my appliances would be ruined if I tried them in Europe, so as soon as I arrived, I did my very best to brick my razor. Nothing bad happened. Then I tried my razor for a longer period of time while in Munich. Like, long enough for a full, manly kind of shave.
This video is the result:
And this is the first video, when my razor was still alive:
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Oh God, My Wife Is German. 
Well, considering that Germany has a 50HZ/ 220V electrical system, then it is no wonder that your razor is totally toast. The outlet adaptor in use on this video is not a voltage adaptor would have saved you trusty old razor. Even with an adaptor, anything with electric motors will tend to run slow and possibly burn out due to improper Hz (50HZ Germany Vs. 60HZ U.S.).
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Riveting! Here I was waiting for some fireworks. After all, it’s New Year’s Eve. Oh well.
All the best for a fun New Year with loads of adventures with the wife in Germany.
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I learned my lesson after frying my Nintendo DS charger when we first moved here. No need to worry, the DS was not harmed and I am still able to play Millionheir and Professor Layton. lol
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Ohhh man, time to go full-on native.
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No fireworks? Lucky you. If the razor still works put it away so you have one when you come to the States.
Frohes Neues Jahr!
LG
~Anja~
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Did you survive your x-mas? I’m sorry about your razor. I guess you’re forced to get a proper German one now?
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Christmas was fantastic! Opening presents on Christmas Eve was completely new to me, as was attending church, but it was all good!
How was your Christmas?
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Uhm… I have to admit… I quit using electrical units in Europe that were designed for the U.S. – and the other way around…
It does actually save me a lot of money – even though I have to lady shavers, epilators, hair dryers and hair “irons” in the meantime… still… it helps…
It as well helps to buy an expensive adapter. LOL
Thanks for sharing this… It made me giggle… I wasn’t laughing about you – I laughed about the experiences I know so well!! :-)
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Awesome! Glad you liked the post, Raani!
And I would totally buy two of everything, just like you, but the doubles wouldn’t fit in our tiny flat! :)
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Oh dear. I too have a Philips/Norelco, and I too intend(ed) to use it with European 220/50 power. The “brick” that plugs into the wall says “Input: 110-240v, 50/60 Hz.” I figured I would be safe when I travel to Europe this spring. Now that I’ve read your post, however…
A fellow Portland traveler,
Tom
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It might be okay if it can handle 240v! My old razor said no such thing.
If you want to be super safe, just buy one of those universal adapter kits. They’re a little spendy, but they leave no doubt.
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We have several Appliances that work on 110 – 240 V and figured that we should take a 6 plug Extension Cord with us when we went out our last trip to Germany, since we only have one Converter plug. So I (mistakenly) thought we could just plug the 6 plug extension cord into the Converter Plug and then all our chargers etc into the extension cord. Unfortunately we packed a Surge Protector instead of a plain cord. Need I tell you what happened?
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