The hunt for power

As I’m sure many of you frequent travellers know, hitting the airport and being able to (re)charge your mp3 player, laptop, mobile phone, etc. can be an adventure.  If you’re up in the lounge it’s not such a big deal as most seem to have an ample supply of plugs available.  Down with all the plebes in the waiting area, well, it’s a completely different story.

It would seem that airport janitorial services have the longest extension cords ever made.  I rarely have seen an airport with power plugs that are close together.  As a result, there are very few of them to be found, and when you do find one, you’re probably either going to have fight someone to use it or there won’t be anything to sit on within range of your power cord.

All that said, there are a few things that can help you out.  First, see if you can get into the lounge.  Sometimes that’s easier said than done.  Second, look for a ‘workstation’ in the common areas.  They do exist in some airports and usually have a power plug in them.  Third, and I know this is random from airline to airline at this point, use the power supplied on the plane.

I regularly fly Air Canada and in anything bigger than a CRJ you’re going to find that each row of seats will have either a USB jack and/or a standard power plug.  For my non-laptop devices I only pack the USB connector cables.  This means that on most flights I can simply plug them into the USB jack on the seatback and charge away.  I’ve had to do this a number of times recently and it works great.  I’ve even been so bold as to plug in my phone (turned off) to charge while were were still boarding and had no problems letting it remain connected and charging through the entire takeoff process.  Boarding with an almost dead phone and deplaning with it fully charged is truly priceless.

Because I only ever pack the USB connector cables, I also take an AC to USB adaptor (mine has 2 USB connections on it) with me.  When in hotels I can easily plug it into the wall/desk and then charge my devices while sleeping and there’s no need to power up my laptop to do it.

In the end you’re possibly going to be stuck wandering the waiting areas of an airport, looking behind pillars, under window ledges and behind seating.  If you’re luck, and plan a bit, you might not have to do it as often though.

Kitting out

I’m a notoriously light packer when I travel.  Not only that, but it takes me no time at all to complete packing.  For instance, on a standard four day business trip I’ll have my carry-on and laptop bag packed in under 10 minutes and waiting at the door.  Some of it is due to repetition.  Some is due to  organization.  Most, in my mind, is due to the kit that I have.

In my laptop bag goes my MP3 player, my 17” laptop (obviously) and it’s power brick, the USB cables for my phone and MP3 player, a wall plug to USB plug adapter, and my ebook reader.  Occasionally I need to pack a second laptop (13" tablet) and power brick so my laptop bag has to have pretty good capacity.  For planning, I always have all of these things sitting in the same spots on my desk.  When it comes time to pack, the repetition kicks in and I just grab the different things one after the other.

In my carry-on bag I always have a small shoe cleaning kit, a deck of playing cards, an international power adapter/transform kit (if required), and my toiletries.  Business clothes are easy to pack.  Count the days on the trip and pack close to that amount of dress shirts, socks and underwear and a pair of pants.  The key here is that you travel as you dress for work.  In my case, dress pants and shirt are my travel attire.  This affords me a second pair of pants and a shirt that can be worn both inbound and outbound.  Occasionally I’ll pack some gym clothes, but they do quickly add bulk to your bag.

Of all the things in my carry-on that have traditionally taken the most time to pack are the toiletries.  I’ve pretty much nailed this to a science now though.  In a bag goes the electric razor (which eliminates shaving cream from my liquids and gels quota), a toothbrush and other sundry dried goods.  I always keep a TSA approved bag (ask for two when you go through security next time) in my carry-on.  I pack it up with whatever is needed for the trip and place it in the outer pocket of my carry-on bag.  All told, this is will take about 2 minutes for me to complete.

I almost always pack exactly the same so I’ve got a pattern down.  I have set things up on my desk and in my bathroom so that I can quickly grab the needed items and convert them from home-useable to travel compatible.

If I was traveling twice a year I’d probably not bother with any of these things.  Since I do it multiple times per month I don’t want the hassle of spending a lot of time or the risk of forgetting something.  I certainly don’t want to be spending two hours packing a checked bag the night before a trip.  It’s all about speed and efficiency for me.  With my current routine I can wake in the morning one hour before I need to leave my place, do my morning ablutions, start packing, check emails and still make it out of the house on time.