[uxevangelist]

1 - Make a backup of your important data before you leave! If you're traveling to a place where you need a presentation or a couple of documents, why not go the extra mile and email it/them to yourself? Have your most pertinent and needed data available to you in the event of a laptop catastrophe!

2 - How far are you going? Do you need an extra battery? Do you have your power plug?

3 - Some hotels still have yet to graduate to wireless internet. In this event, be prepared by having a 25-foot ethernet cable! 25 feet should be enough to allow you to sit anywhere (maybe even in the bathroom, lol) in your room comfortably with the feeling of wireless freedom. Alternately, if you don't have wireless access built into your laptop, there are plenty of cheap USB wireless adapter alternatives, so you can always be prepared for whichever connection is needed! (Hopefully 56K is non-applicable but you may also want to keep a dial-up cable with you just in case)

4 - Laptop security. If you're staying in a hotel room, DO NOT ASSUME that you can leave your laptop in your room and not have some nosey room cleaner try to use it if you leave it on! Laptops also have a way of coming up missing, so if you're not going to take the laptop with you, consider hiding it and putting up your "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the door before you leave. If you're leaving it online or something of that nature, make sure your password is sufficient and not something simple like a blank password, your login name, etc. Consider enabling EFS if you are running XP or Server but consider with caution. (Read all about EFS and how to enable it here)

5 - Don't forget the fun and miscellaneous stuff! Movies, games, music, etc. Do you need headphones? What about your webcam? Do you serve files from home? Make sure the server is enabled and working!

All-in-all, even if you're not a frequent traveler, take some time to write a list of the things you know you want and/or need to take. Start this list several days prior to leaving, just in case you leave something off initially! Keep this list handy. Reuse it and you will never go wrong when traveling. Happy trails!

-Stephen