Last week, Shonali Burke wrote a blog post called, “Travel Essentials for PR Pros…Or What’s in Your Wallet?”
Because it’s the day after the Fourth and most Americans are probably wondering how they’re going to get through today without a nap, I thought I’d copy her and do the same.
It’s a fun little exercise and won’t require a ton of thinking from you.
But mine has a twist.
Because I’m on my 14th straight week of travel (I don’t know how consultants do it), I’ll give you a sneak peak as to what is in my travel bag.
- MacBook Air. When I spoke at Social Slam earlier this year, Mitch Joel took the lovely photo above to showcase not only my social networking prowess, but also my keyboard condom. Yes, it’s pink. Yes, I love it. What’s it to you?
- iPad. I really, really wish I could travel just with my iPad, but it’s still too hard to create content on it. Consuming content – blog posts, articles, books – is great, but actually trying to upload a video or write a blog post is too hard. So it travels with me for the consuming part of my content day, but not the creation. That’s why I still travel with my Mac.
- iPhone 4S. I’m a huge phone snob and have to have the latest iPhone (I make fun of Mr. D because he still has the very first iPhone introduced). The phone keeps me completely connected while on rental car buses, figuring out where I am when I run a new city at 5:00 in the morning, and even killing some time with Words with Friends while waiting to get off a plane.
- Book. Yes, I still travel with a real book. The problem is you can’t use your iPad during takeoff and landing (which is ridiculous) so I am typically reading two books – one during that time and one when I can use electronics. Right now I’m re-reading The Great Gatsby in hard cover and reading Toni Morrin’s new book, Home, on the iPad.
- Presentation Tools. I carry a DVI adapter so I can present from my Mac and not have to rely on someone else’s PC for the projector to work. I also have a handy, dandy Logitech remote so I’m not confined to a small space in order to advance my slides.
- Dropbox. I wish the cloud existed when I started Arment Dietrich. We would have saved a TON of money in servers and giving people (cough, me, cough) remote access to files. Dropbox not only allows you to access to your files from any device, you can get to them without an Internet connection, which is extremely important when you’re in the air and the flight doesn’t have WiFi.
- Mophie. The other day, I was in the Baltimore airport charing my laptop before we got on the plane. This very nice man told me he left his charger at home and asked if he could use mine. I loaned him my Mophie and, because he’d never heard of it, I think he fell a little in love with me for introducing him to it.
- Flip Camera. I typically use my phone for quick videos, but the Flip camera works just a tad bit better. A trash can flipped upside down makes a perfect tripod and the USB connection makes it easy to upload while on the run.
- Notebook. As connected as I am with technology, I find most people think you rude if you use your iPad for note taking during meetings. Even if that’s all your doing, people’s perception is you’re tweeting and Facebooking and emailing and not paying attention. So I still carry a notebook where I actually write meeting and interview notes.
- The Essentials. I have probably six different lipglosses, Excedrin for migraines, my migraine prescription, pens (I now carry three fat Sharpies for signing books, as well as regular pens), gum, and snacks (that darn Pete the Tapeworm doesn’t do well for more than two hours).
I carry all of that in an oversized purse. Even though it seems like a lot, it’s very light and super easy for me to throw over my shoulder and go.
What about you? What’s in your {travel} wallet?