I'm excited I will be returning to San Francisco in a few days on a business trip. I love the city and can't wait to get back for a brief visit. It's a short trip, only a few days, and I will be traveling very light. I've been considering what gadgets to take with me, an arduous process given how many I have.
(Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet) My days in San Francisco are totally booked but I still need to get work done in the down time. That means carrying a good work system that can handle anything I might need to do.
The Chromebook Pixel fits that need so it will be my work machine on this trip. I wish the battery life on the Pixel was longer, but it should suffice for my needs this time. Having the gorgeous display along will be just as great as it is at home.
I'll have my Galaxy Note 2 with me, of course, as it is my primary phone. It fits in my pocket (barely) and will handle all smartphone duties. These include calls, texts, email, and navigation duties should I need them.
I always read ebooks when traveling and the iPad mini will be in a pocket of the bag for that purpose. The iPad mini has become my primary ebook reader due to the size of the display and the light weight of the device. It can handle typical work tasks that don't need a keyboard, too.
That's the entire kit I plan on taking, and it will all fit in a small gear bag. Even the power adapters are very small, but I pack them in the suitcase anyway. The days of traveling with a large backpack full of stuff are long gone for me. The gear is more capable than that of yesteryear, too.
iPad in ZAGG Profolio+ keyboard case. (Image: James Kendrick/ZDNet) I'm toying with bringing the iPad 4 with a keyboard/case, too. This is not certain, as it really isn't necessary. The only reason I'm considering it is to have redundancy for work tasks. I've been burned over the years when my laptop had problems on trips which interfered with getting work done. The iPad doesn't add much weight to carry so it may be worth bringing.
This gear allotment is unique in that all the gadgets have integrated 4G LTE. The Note 2, Pixel, and iPad mini all have LTE inside. Even the bigger iPad has LTE if I decide to bring it along. This will be liberating, as no matter what device I happen to be using, I can get online with either wi-fi or LTE. No more planning my schedule around public hotspots, which is significant in an unfamiliar area where I don't know where hotspots might be found.
This will be the first time I've had any device other than a phone with LTE on a trip. I'm curious to see if this makes a difference over years past when I had to either rely on wi-fi or use a phone as a hotspot. I will definitely have a job getting airplane mode activated for all these gadgets during flights.
Upated, 8.50am PT: Upon further consideration about bringing the iPad with keyboard along, I realized that there is a better solution. I'm already bringing the iPad mini, so all I need to bring is the ZAGG Mini 9 keyboard/case I already have. This adds little to the bag, yet provides a backup work system as needed.
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