All my bags are (mentally) packed
Thanks for those who have weighed in on phone providers and phones. I’d like to hear more. Please feel free to share your thoughts over the next couple of days about your experiences with a specific cell phone company and/or model of phone. I’m hoping to wrap this up next week.
The interesting thing to me is that between here and Facebook, the answers are basically the iPhone or Verizon. Any other thoughts about specific phones or companies? Add them to the discussion, please, and those of you coming to the C-U tweetup next week, be prepared for me to bug you about your phones.
Meantime, I’ve got a short trip coming up to visit family, and thinking about it makes me wonder if anyone else gets out a separate bag just to hold the gadgets.
I’m going to my brother’s house. It’s a four-hour drive. I’ve been there before. He provides excellent directions. I’ll be gone for 30 hours, tops.
My initial mental list of what I’ll pack:
- A GPS unit.
- Two iPods (what if one stops working?).
- One (or maybe two) laptops.
- Two cameras. One still, one video. My siblings are pretty musical. I’ll want to capture some of our antics. (Maybe a digital point-and-shoot, too.)
- An SD card reader.
- Rechargeable batteries and a charger.
- A portable speaker system for one of my iPods.
- A little digital music player that has a microphone built in, because why not?
- My phone.
- Probably a couple of flash drives, just to be safe.
And the thought goes through my mind: Is this excessive? I’m driving, so I don’t have to worry about baggage claim (or the fees to check bags) and I can bring whatever I want. Generally, under those circumstances, my motto would be: better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
What devices do you have to have when you travel?
Laptop - built in card reader, and wireless mouse. Cigarette lighter-powered USB port - 2 outlets, one for the iPod, the other, for phone charging. Or GPS (unless you use a paper (gasp!) map).
Camera, iPod Touch (video/music playing), Nano (video recording/file storage), TENS unit. And that's the minimum, not including external drives or other doohickies that make everything else run like clockwork in the office.
Speaking as someone who is going to the same place (Mike being my brother and all) I pretty much don't leave home without my XM satellite radio receiver (nothing like being able to pick up a Cleveland Indians game from wherever I am), and for trips like this, the laptop goes along too. Also, since we'll have 3 kids in tow, we'll set up the portable DVD player in our minivan and perhaps attach the Playstation 2 to it. I would say all of these are on my "have to have: list.
Hey, I am steeped in the fine tradition of cheering for the Chicago Cubs in my youth.........so I know what losing every year is like. Trust me, I'm used to it. As far as the kids go, it's reverse psychology - get them used to cheering for a losing team now, and maybe someday when they do win it will be a pleasant surprise!
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