My Tour Office

For the past few years I have been trying to put together a simple, yet functional system for all my computing, and entertainment needs while traveling. I think I have come pretty close. There's nothing I hate more when im traveling than a backpack FULL of all kinds of cables, power adapters, papers, CD/DVD's, thumb drives, chargers, and peripherals. Yes I am guilty of being very disorganised at home, but I hate having to root around in a bulging backpack for 10 mins to find a lousy usb cable or memory card. When im traveling I like things to be simple, small, and effective.

I relate this situation to my hiking experience. When you are trying to save every bit of weight in your backpack on a long trip, it's a good idea to bring items that have many uses. Example: A bandana can be used for a sweat band, a napkin, to make coffee, and many more uses. This system is what I try to accomplish with my traveling computer setup.

The central hub to my setup is my laptop.

I use a modified Acer Aspire One Netbook. I upgraded the RAM in it and installed internal bluetooth with the help from tnkgrl's tutorials.

It is small and rugged enough to fit in any space needed, and it is fast enough to browse the net and watch movies. The downfalls of using a netbook in my opinion are the small screen, and the lack of a CD/DVD burner. In most cases I can get away with not using a burner but its a feature i miss from my old laptop. I make up for it though by having a crapload of movies and music on an external hard drive. As for the small screen, well its a sacrifice. I would much rather have a small screen then a massive one which takes up a lot of space in my bag.

Next is my new Western Digital Passport Essential

250GB portable hard drive. It is powered by one usb cable which means one less power cable to have to worry about plugging in. I have all the pics, music, and a whackload of movies from my home PC. It essentially turns my laptop into my home PC. My favorite part of the drive is the Mini USB port. It fits my digital camera, my phone, and my GPS which means I can use one small cable for carging and syncing all of those items. LESS CLUTTER! I also use encrypting software to keep all my data safe. Those who travel/tour know how easy it is to leave stuff in a hotel room or venue, especially after a night of drinking and killing brain cells. It is very nice to know that all my data is safe when left in the wrong hands. Luckiny I havent had any problems. Knock on wood.

With my iPod and my Shure SCL3's and Headphones I am well equipped for music and movies as a small alternative to my laptop as well. I also bring my PSP becasue I do enjoy a bit of gaming when given the chance. I should really read more...

There are two more things that I would like to add to my collection pending a bit more cash coming my way. I would like to get a small travel printer, Specifically THIS ONE, and a usb powered CD/DVD burner. Tnk Grl had figured out how to modify the Macbook Air Superdrive so it can be used on any computer, Mac or PC. Check it out HERE. With all these items combined I will have a pretty sweet setup that comes as close as possible to having a full blown office on the road.