I travel quite a bit and a couple of people have asked me what I bring along. So here it is. I emptied my computer knapsack onto the table at the Vancouver hotel I am in after yet another conference. Roughly from left to right:

  • Spare wireless cards - Rarely used, but sometimes it is handy to have two wireless nics in the laptop to bounce a signal along or to lend cards to people.
  • Charger for the Canon S400 travel camera (camera is taking the picture, of course)
  • S-Video cable and 8mm to audio left/right cable used for connecting the laptop to the hotel TV so I can watch movies on a screen bigger than my laptop screen.
  • USB cable for offloading the camera and also for connecting the flash mp3 player
  • Case for the camera
  • Toiletries
  • Targus Air travel power supply
  • Lightweight extension cord
  • USB memory stick which doubles as a pen
  • RSA Key to connect to the work network
  • 2-foot omni-directional wifi antenna
  • WRT54G + power supply
  • Spare AAA battery needed for both mp3 player and noise-cancelling headphones
  • Watch
  • DVI-VGA Adapter cable (critical for presentations)
  • Credit cards and ATM card
  • Passport (preferably from a non-war mongering nation)
  • Laptop + power supply
  • Network cable
  • USB Mouse (because trackpads suck)
  • mp3 player
  • Noise cancelling headphones

Nothing really out of the ordinary here except perhaps the rather large antenna. Also, make sure all your power supplies are 110-240 safe and avoid any surge-protection powerbars (they are too big anyway) since that stuff tends to blow up when you plug them into a 220V outlet.