Business or casual laptop power users, get your laptop road ready.
If you need to work while on the road or just can't live without the laptop here are some tips and essential laptop gear to put on your "Go" list:
WiFi hotspots have grown remarkably over the last couple of years. You'll find that on the road most coffee shops, even in out of the way places, many rest areas, service areas and most hotels and motels offer wifi. Sometimes free of charge, sometimes not. Both WiFiFreeSpot.com and Wi-FiHotSpotList provide impressive databases of hotspots by state and city. You can help out the cause, too, by correcting or verifying wifi access on the sites. For example, find a so-called hotspot that no longer exists or charges a fee and you can easily provide site feedback for travelers behind you. No annoying login to provide feedback or to suggest a new wifi location.
Don't leave home without all your laptop gear, especially power cords. Take along a jump or flash drive for small backups or a larger external hard-drive if you have big-time critical data backups to manage.
It's a good idea to carry a short piece of Ethernet cable. Stay in accommodations that only offer high speed internet over cable and you may need it. Most places provide a network cable, some charge you for one and some don't provide them at all. Also realize that if you're relying on other's internet service you may have to ante up a small fee for access. Of course you can always opt for subscribing to your own broadband wireless service and using a wireless card or USB card. I finally tired of relying on other's Internet service and wanted to assure that I had a reliable Internet connection anywhere I have a phone signal, so I bought a Sierra Wireless Aircard a few months back. Now I have no worries. I can pull over onto the side of the road in the middle of Iowa if I need to and reliably logon to my laptop and the Internet.
Conserve battery power when you're away from a power source: I use a MacBook and I've found a shocking difference between battery life when I'm using a couple of different applications, versus using one low demand app like Word. If I am working on Word I can buy a lot more battery juice when I shut down Internet access and all other apps, as well as shut off my Airport and Bluetooth.
Or, purchase extra external power: You may also opt to purchase an external laptop battery or portable power battery, which can give you an extra jolt of juice on the road just when you need it.
The office is no longer a cubicle in some mundane beige building--it's out there anywhere you want to make it.
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A cellular data card is also handy - you can get them from almost every carrier - doesn't have to be the same carrier as your cell phone. It works on each carrier's data network - some are faster than others - but all are acceptable when you are far from wi-fi, but have cell coverage. Saved me several times on the road.
www.roadtripdream.com for more road trip planning tips.
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