Handy Help for Road Warriors (and Wannabes)

Let's face it.  If you don't have a laptop computer now, you very likely will within the near future.  It you travel at all, their convenience makes it inevitable that you, too, will be forced to learn the ins and outs of hotel phone systems (and hidden charges!), inadequate airport power outlets and modem lingo.  Here are a couple of pointers from someone who has been at it a while and learned lessons the hard way! 

**Carry a "Sanity Bag".

If you are leaving your own town, it's best to take along everything you may need.  Pack a small cosmetic bag or extra shaving kit bag with these essentials: 25-foot standard telephone cord with jack plugs on both ends, a three-prong-to-two-prong electrical adapter, a telephone cord  connector/splicer with a standard RJ11 hole on each end, model and ID numbers for your computer, your modem and any other pieces of equipment, telephone numbers for reaching your hardware and software companies, local computer access telephone dialup numbers for each city you will visit, dial-up number for your ISP or your corporate network.  Accoustic couplers are now available in many stores again, and can be a useful addition for situations, such as traveling in Eastern Europe or even Miami, where phones in older buildings tend to be "hard wired" (without jacks) and you need to transfer data electronically.

**Join an airline club for the airline you travel most often. 

**Bring your own plug adapters.

If traveling outside the U.S., be sure to take a set of worldwide plug and telephone adapters.  Equally importantly, be SURE to take your own connector/splicers with the U.S. standard RJ11 hole on one end and appropriate international size hole on the other. Take a 3-prong-to-2-prong adapter everywhere.  You need them in older hotels.

**Take important phone numbers.

It's common sense, but remember--you cannot dial 800 (or 888) telephone numbers from outside of the U.S. Before you leave, get your local phone company to give you the number you need to dial *from* the country you will visit in order to make a U.S. telephone creditcard call.  (Be prepared--it may be a 35-digit number!)

**If you get a new computer, don't buy a new bag.  

**Back up your system before you leave. 

Pack a set of backup disks in your luggage.  Keep a spare set at home.  Carry your most important current working files on diskettes in your computer bag. If you have temporary storage space available from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), upload your critical files and software to the ISP, so you can download it and install it in case of a disk failure.

**Bring plenty of power.

Buy an extra battery and carry both fully charged batteries with you.  Airport power outlets are extremely hard to find, and to use one you are likely going to need to sit on the floor in the middle of foot traffic.

**Power in flight for the well-prepared.

Some airlines now advertise that they have computer power outlets in first or business class.  Don't plan to plug your standard power cord in, though.  You will need to bring an adapter plug (similar to a cigarette lighter plug) to fit the special opening or rent one on the flight. 

**Verify charges for telephone time before you call.

Before you sit down in your hotel to work, dial an outside operator and verify that the local telephone dialup number for your computer system is actually local to the hotel.  Some cities have per-minute toll charges for calls outside a surprisingly small radius.  The hotel will typically charge you a $1.00 surcharge for a local call, but you don't want to be surprised by the addition of a per-minute toll charge at checkout.  (Tip: it's usually the larger hotels charging such fees.)

Got any other tips or suggestions?  Send an email to me and I'll send out some more.

Copyright 1997 by Kaye Vivian (kvivian@cloud9.net). All rights reserved.
Permission to reprint is granted providing this copyright notice remains attached and the article is not changed.

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