ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Three well-traveled Rotarians recommend their field-tested essentials

Laptop

Think frequent fliers prefer superlight laptops? In fact, business travelers often need more computing power than a superlight can offer. Both Michelle Hayes, of the Rotary Club of Odessa, Texas, USA, and Thomas Hsieh, of the Rotary Club of Pomona, California, tote Dell Latitude computers. “No one’s going to look at it and go ‘ooh,’” says Hsieh, CEO of SplinterRock, a technology consulting firm, “but it’s sturdy and reliable, and that’s what’s important to me.”

Hayes, a software consultant who spends almost all her time on the road, also carries a Maxtor 250-gigabyte portable hard drive. “It’s a little bit bigger than a deck of cards,” she says. “I have my whole laptop backed up on this.” The new ultrathin product from the same company is the Seagate FreeAgent Go, which offers a cable-free docking option and up to 500 gigabytes of memory.

Phone/personal digital assistant

Lotay Yang, of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, was an early fan of the BlackBerry, with its famed QWERTY keyboard and reliable e-mail server. Yang, who founded a social networking organization called Black Card Circle, remains loyal: He likes being able to synch up several e-mail accounts and coordinate appointments with other Outlook and BlackBerry users. “The BlackBerry is the one thing I wouldn’t go anywhere without.”

Hsieh likes the Treo smartphone by Palm. It also features a QWERTY keyboard, which he says makes e-mailing on the run easier. “Sometimes I have my luggage in one hand, and I’m typing e-mail with the other,” he explains. “I have 20 minutes to send any urgent e-mails before I’m on the plane for another three hours.” The Palm Treo Pro has a touch screen and myriad applications that let you watch movies, listen to music, and edit documents.

Both Hayes and Hsieh also like the Plantronics Bluetooth headset for hands-free phoning. “It’s been very reliable,” says Hsieh. “It’s got a long battery life, and it synchronizes and picks up with my phone very quickly.”

Power supply

A single charger that works with all your gizmos is a great luggage lightener. Hayes likes one from iGo. The newest model weighs less than one pound and can charge a laptop and mobile device at the same time, whether you’re in a car, on a plane, or in a hotel room. Interchangeable tips fit a multitude of gadgets. For travel abroad, the iGo adapter works in more than 150 countries and features an integrated USB outlet.