Mister Tech

By Lee Lup Yuen

Tips, tricks for the enterprise user

What to pack when travelling

Posted in Mister Tech by Lee Lup Yuen on Friday, May 18 2007 09:15 PM

This week, I'm bringing The M Files halfway across the globe from sunny Singapore to rainy Seattle. Here's what I packed for my trip:

Backups, backups and more backups: I always back up my e-mail and lock it up safely in the office before travelling. For those very important presentation files, I back them up to a CD, USB drive and portable hard disk. And I put them separately into my carry-on bag and my check-in luggage. So if I lose my laptop and/or my carry-on bag and/or my check-in luggage, I still have my important files with me. (Unless I lose all 3.)

Extra SIM Cards: I'm not confident that mobile roaming works 100 percent everywhere, so I bring extra SIM cards for other mobile operators. I can't afford to lose mobile contact with the rest of the world.

Extra Laptop Power Adapter: If my laptop's power adapter blows, there's no way I can survive on my laptop battery for long. So I bring an extra laptop power adapter. I bring an extra phone charger too.

Power Socket Adapters: I have a collection of power socket adapters for all places around the world. I bring the right one with me when I travel; I haven't seen an all-in-one adapter that works right for me.

Power Extension Cable: I'll be working around the clock because of the different time zones, so I'll have to extend the power socket to my bed where I can work comfortably overnight.

Network Extension Cable: The network points are always too far away from the bed, so I'll be using my extra-long network extension cable.

Blank CDs: If I need to share my presentation slides with my customers, I can burn them on CDs and give away the CDs. And I bring a CD marker too.

What do you pack when you travel?

Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's, and do not necessarily represent those of ZDNet Asia.

Talkback 5 comments

Wow, that's one hell of a list! How heavy does your luggage get? But i see your point... one can never be too paranoid about these things. I've never thought of carrying anything extra, except for my mobile phone charger. Perhaps it's time i did!
Posted by Not-so-mobile worker on Monday, May 21 2007 10:03 AM

Hi
I used to bring many socket adapters. The one that I like best is the world travel adapter from travelpac (www.pac.com.sg...). Very neat device. 1 device that can be used anywhere in the world.
Posted by Goh MH on Monday, May 21 2007 04:24 PM

Since I'm in the business of developing redundant, highly-available solutions for my customers, it's only fair that I bring along extra stuff to make myself redundant and highly-available too. :-)

The extra gadgets are not too heavy when I pack them into my trolley luggage. Nowadays with the restrictions on fluids/gels/pastes in hand-carry bags I'm forced to check in my luggage anyway.
Posted by lupyuen on Monday, May 21 2007 11:32 PM

Thanks Mr Goh for the suggestion -- I'll check it out now in Seattle :-)
Posted by lupyuen on Monday, May 21 2007 11:34 PM

Though we can rely on most Hotel & Service Appartment Phone jack or LAN jack, or our Bluetooth Phone. But if you forget to download your dial up or network call up arranagement roaming connectivity software and number, it can be a problem. Do this in advance with your Service Provider.
For charging handphone or PDA, you can use USB charger instead to save a bit of space. Regards.
Posted by KweeYong on Monday, June 25 2007 10:12 AM

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About the blogger

Lee Lup Yuen

Lee Lup Yuen is passionate about mobile phones and PDAs, as he is constantly buying new gadgets and programming them in J2ME, .NET, Symbian and AppForge. He has developed commercial applications with mobile technologies like SMS, MMS, WAP, 3G video streaming and location-based services.