Tips And Tricks For Staying Connected While You Travel
To be honest, I’m not one for traveling. I tend to enjoy doing this locally, and rarely leave town for any other reason besides work. The last two months, however, I’ve been in 3 different time zones, 3 different hotels, slept in the bed of my truck, and logged a total of about 6000 miles in the air and on the ground. Throughout all of that, I maintained as much (or as little) connection with my office, my home, and my life. Whether it’s on the road or in the air, you can always keep in tune with your life back home. Here’s a few things to think about when you’re traveling.
- Decide What You Need Before You Go
Where are you going? What are your plans? Is it for fun, business, maybe both? The purpose and length of your trip can often dictate what you bring. At a minimum, your mobile phone and probably your laptop are coming with you. You may also want to bring a digital camera.
- Decide On How To Connect
If you plan on checking your on-line life occasionally, then either your host’s computer or the hotel business center should suffice. But for those working, knowing the internet connection situation is critical. Many hotels and airports don’t offer free WiFi anymore, so you could be stuck with paying $10 – $15 dollars a day (or worse, for a few hours) if you’re not prepared. It’s a good idea to contact the hotel and determine what their policies are. If you travel a lot, you may want to invest in a mobile data card. I personally use a Sierra Wirelsss Card from Sprint, due to the fact that it works with Windows, Mac, and Linux. As always, check with your provider to see what’s available.
- Batteries, Cords, And Plugs
Much like death and taxes, it’s a given that batteries will, at some point, die. And it’s a good chance that most electronics won’t last the length of your trip. Always make sure that you have the appropriate chargers for whatever you’re bringing. If you assume that it will last, rest assured that it won’t. It’s a good idea to get a charge wherever (and whenever) you can. I find that it’s good to get a seat in the airport close to a plug, so you don’t have to worry about losing juice before you get on the plane. Why planes don’t have plugs….I can’t say.
For someone that doesn’t travel for business all that often but does tour on occasion and visits friends out of town from time to time, my Acer netbook is probably the best investment I’ve made since upgrading from a crappy Samsung flip-phone to a Blackberry. Although my BB is handy for checking email and staying connected to the outside world there’s just something about having a tiny netbook that fits in any piece of luggage I decide to bring along. Not only that but upgrading the 3-cell battery (2 hours) to a 9-cell (8 hours) makes charging a (deal with it when I get to where I’m going) non-necessity. I can watch movies on it too without it dying right when I’m about to find out that Jack Burton does in fact conquer Lo Pan.