What to Bring When You're Traveling for Work
It's not a vacation. Even if it is. You're expected to respond to emails, attach excel sheets, and tweak your next powerpoint presentation.
Although you're traveling to get to a meeting, you're already falling behind on other work. You've packed your laptop and charger. What else should you bring?
Basics:
Although you're traveling to get to a meeting, you're already falling behind on other work. You've packed your laptop and charger. What else should you bring?
Basics:
- Have a 2-suitcase luggage combo - a small laptop bag that goes on top of the medium sized suitcase, with rollers. In most cases, check in the suitcase to go under the plane, and walk to the gate with your laptop bag.
- lightweight laptop. You don't have to go out and buy a new laptop, but the next time you upgrade to a new one, get a lightweight laptop with a SSD hard drive. The SSD allows for super quick bootup, like an ipad.
- chargers for all your electronic devices. You can keep the non-urgent ones inside your suitcase while keeping the critical ones in your small bag.
- make sure you bring the charger for your camera or video cam, because those are not common enough to buy at a random electronics store, especially if you have to travel outside the US.
- backup important data that can't be replaced before you leave the house or office. Sometimes, our electronic devices get damaged or lost when we travel. A power surge in a foreign city or cheap motel can fry your ipad or hard drive. (Or you dropped your phone into the jacuzzi that you were "researching for work") You can store a lot of your data on the "cloud" now, so you'll never lose them.
- ear phones. Although your laptop has nice speakers, on a plane or at a busy airport, you can barely hear the speakers. Earphones will do wonders, even block out that screaming baby. Invest in ones that go into the ear canal.
- movies or music on your laptop, tablet, or phone. You need entertainment as break during those layovers.
- Pen and Paper. Go figure, even in the digital age, there's nothing more useful, especially when you have to fill out a form at the airport.
Internet is essential when you're working outside the office.
- MIFI (optional) - portable internet hotspot from your cell phone provider. That way, your laptop will always be able to send that critical email or stream a video chat on skype.
- Make sure your hotel has WIFI (paid or free)
- You can buy a SIM card in a foreign country with a foreign number and use mobile data, phone, and text which is a lot cheaper than using your own Verizon/Sprint/AT&T international rates.
- If you MUST use your phone for international data or text, get an international bundle package for your time of travel.
Power
- USB cord for your phone. Some airlines have direct USB chargers that you can connect to your phone.
- portable battery charger - some are rechargable battery packs that you charge the night before. I personally like the ones that use 2 or 4 AA batteries, because in emergencies, I can just buy some batteries even at a gas station, instead of looking helplessly for a power outlet on the streets of a foreign city or country.
- a second phone battery. If you use your phone for streches of 4 or 5 hours, a portable battery charger is not going to cut it. Have a second battery fully charged, so you can quickly switch out the battery. This is useful in cases where wireless data is weak, and thus battery is used up faster.
Phone apps are so useful these days. Download them before you leave your house, so you don't have to spend precious time or data to download them overseas.
- maps. There are some apps that you can buy or pre download offline maps of a given city or country. In this way, you don't have to use mobile international data to use google maps. Even google maps allow you to download offline maps of certain places.
- subway maps and data
- language. translators. language teachers.
- texting apps that use mobile data instead of expensive international texts (SMS).
- Office app (Word/Excel/PPT/PDF). Sometimes, only your phone will have internet access, and if you have no way of transferring that email attachment into your laptop, only your phone has to open it.
- money conversion
- up to the minute flight status
Contact:
jason@budgetagency.org
jason@budgetagency.org