Road Warriors Survival Kit
 

What's in yours?

I'm one of those guys with just one carry on, a backpacker style laptop case with umpteen zippered compartments. I have to keep the laptop with me at all times. Anywhoo, over time as I've started travelling I've developed my own lil Road Warrior kit, and I was wondering what other things folks have...

For the laptop, I have an assortment of console cables that relate to what I do, plus both a straight through and crossover network cable and a telephone handset line. Why that? Because it's got the built in curls, stows easily and I can stretch it twice normal length.

For power: In the laptop case I have in a small bag A voltage converter with replaceable fuse (Spare fuse taped to the side). I also have a series of country plugs and a three prong to two prong converter. I also have a three outlet extender, which rounds out my power needs. I can recharge my cell and recharge/use my laptop at the same time.

For my personal needs, I also have a "converted" business class amenities kit (Which fits nicely into one of the laptop case pockets). In that I have the lil socks (which I use gratefully on quite a few longhaul flights), a sleepmask, good earplugs, a mini toothbrush/toothpaste kit, a couple of handiwipes, a small Braun electric shaver (best 15 dollars I ever spent), and a small self-contained medical kit I made with a few various asprin/meds, chewable pepto tablets, small bandaids and a couple of Q-tips to round it out. Oh, and I also keep one plastic mini-bottle of Jack Daniels... for medicinal use only of course... and two AM in Rome and no mini-bar after 23hrs of travel IS a medical emergency IMHO. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

To keep in touch I use my Motorola i2000plus. I can surf the web (in a limited way) on it in the US, but I can also use it as a modem in the US to connect my laptop at 19.2kbps and do real surfing/email/work. Overseas, to make a call I simply have to hit the 0 key until the little + sign appears and I'm ready to call back to the States or another country. In the country I register on one of their services, and from ANYWHERE to reach me you simply dial my US number. It is remarkably convenient to have one number for people to reach you at. You end up being a point of contact for everyone on your team. It easily tosses anywhere in the laptop bag.

I also have a travellers wallet that I use for keeping the passport and all those FF club cards. I also have my international drivers license, tickets, a copy of my itinerary etc. It fits into an interior zippered pocket of the laptop case.

BTW, Dunno if most people know this but I reccomend the following very seriously:

I keep a *photocopy* of my Passport elsewhere. I actually have three..one in my wallet, one in my travel wallet, and one someplace else in my luggage.

If you travel internationally the fastest, easiest way to replace a lost or stolen passport is to bring a photcopy to the US Embassy. If you do NOT have this you can be in a world of hurt.

As a pure precaution it's the best form of protection you have.

Hmm.. I guess that's about it really. So how about you?

...What's in your "Must Have" kit?

Regards,
-Bouncer-

[This message has been edited by Bouncer (edited 11-11-2001).]

Wow ... they should call you Bouncer MacGuyver!

I never travel without my:

Laptop with US/UK/European power adapters
Ericsson T39 GSM phone
"Adapted amenity kit" includes pain killers, eyeshades, earplugs, moisturiser
Toiletries kit
Alarm clock
Litre of water
Noise reduction headphones
Collection of FF cards
Psion Revo (Palm Pilot-ish thing)
Sam's Club phone card



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Please visit The Mileage Runner's Toolkit and Unofficial United Airlines Guide

I also include phone charger and palmpilot charger that plug into your USB port. Its a great space saver. I also include my targus plane adapter and bose noise redux phones.

Extra ziplock bags. I pack anything with the potential of leaking in Ziplocs already - have been for about three years now - but now I bring a few extras for dirty underware and socks, and for the hotel amenities and whatever foodstuffs I might want to bring back.

Ever had a jar of jam break in your handluggage? I have. It wasn't pretty.

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 11-12-2001).]

On me, all the time, whenever, wherever..

Ericsson T39m+HBM10 bluetooth headset
Nokia 9210
Swiss Cybertool

+For long trips in my trolley

Toshiba Satellite Pro4600
Sharp portable DVD
Collections of DVD films and software
Sony NC headphones+extension cord

In my Tumi trolley I have a Tumi toiletries bag that carries:

Ethernet cable + crossover block
Pocket RJ11+line tester
Firewire cable
Leatherman Wave
Targus Powersupply/Empower
Pocket optical USB mouse
Panasonic USB Laptop light (way cool!)
IBM Microdrive (with ALL my important stuff)
Extra Toshiba Battery
Electric Fuel emergency charger + Ericsson/Nokia cords
Collection of CD's and Bootable restore (ghost) cd's
Portable USB and Parallel cables (roll-ups)

For trips longer than 2 weeks I also bring my Iridium phone, now that it's reconnected I suddenly found out I really never ever use it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Although in the light of the recent events I think I will keep carrying it with me, as long as I don't go near Afghanistan with it...

You may want to rethink taking the Leatherman on trips. A co-worker had his supertool "liberated" from checked baggage last week. He's hopping mad and is taking it up with AC for reimbursement.

[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 11-12-2001).]

If you don't have it already, think about adding this to your kit:

http://www.electric-fuel.com/Instant...er/index.shtml

It'll save your bacon if you run out of "gas" on your phone or palm/ipaq and there's no plug around. Very light and very cool http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 11-12-2001).]

Bose Quiet Comfort [ANR] headset.

DVD/CD drive in laptop and an eclectic
collection of of each.

-doug

As an aside:

I have a friend who is here in the US who is NOT travelling when I am keep a copy of my passport, front and back of my credit/debit cards and driver's license. That way I can have the docs faxed to me if I lose my copies or have them stolen.

Since my international trips are strictly for pleasure, I also take a couple postcards of the city where I live and some of the state "commemorative" quarters. It makes for a nice souvenir for folks who don't travel to the US.

Also, Crabtree and Evelyn citrus travel towelettes - lifesavers! And. . .cotton seat covers for when I'm in a place where the bathroom is less than desirable. Finally, Tylenol PM!

Thanks for all the great ideas, folks!

My spouse and I emailed scans of our passport page to our Hotmail accounts, where they sit in folders named "KEEP" (You have to check the email occasionally to keep Hotmail accounts active.). Our assumption is that any US Embassy could access the images and print if necessary.

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Middle_Seat

Tylenol PM and RedBull did a wonderful job of self acclimitization on my SIN Run this weekend!

I alternate between schlepping a leather softside briefcase (for business) and a Mossino backpack (for pleasure trips). Regardless, here's what goes in, roughly in order of importance, for domestic trips:

- Sony VAIO superslim w/USB light & earphones (loads of CDs loaded on the hard drive)
- Palm VII
- Motorola Timeport
- deck of cards (love solitaire; Rummy's even better, on the off chance my seatmate's interested)
- Bottle of Cabernet or Pinot (for relaxing in the evening, so I'm not tempted to pay outrageous minibar or room service liquor charges)
- Corkscrew (until recently, obviously)
- Some pleasure reading
- Gobs of frequent flyer/stay cards
- Mini-tin of Altoids
- small notepad and mini-pen (from one of Virgin's amenity kits)
- sunglasses

Whenever possible.. my golf clubs!

Common sense and a little courtesy.

It's amazing how many people leave these at home.