I recently bought a power adapter kit for my Mac's charger block, which works as a transformer as well, and it's made my life much easier travelling in the EU and US. (Except that I can't plug the block directly into the wall in some cases due to size. D'oh.)

If more plug adapters supported interchangeable ends, life would definitely be simpler. You can pick up kettle leads or figure-eight leads for $country quite cheaply, I guess. The transformers are the biggest pain. But as the article says - we're pretty much stuck with the system...