Road Warrior 2019 Edition

Pizza courtesy of Pizza for Ukraine!

It has been an age and a half since I did the road warrior gig. Due to some family health issues with respect to elder care, I suspect that I’m going to travel quite a bit in 2019. Here are some of the things that I’ve learned about doing the Road Warrior as of late:

Disease. Don’t ever touch the tray table and seat pocket. I commented to a friend at the FDA about how I always seem to get sick on planes and I blamed the air. Her response was that the air is just fine but that the seat pockets and tray tables are “Mos Eisley for germs” (ok I may have rewritten her description to make it more cool but that’s my take on it). My reaction was to stop touching them entirely – and I no longer get sick after flights. I no longer get drinks on board; I bring a resealable water bottle with me so I don’t have to worry about a drink needing a place to rest.
iPads Rule. An iPad is a hell of a computing device for lightweight computing – if you add a keyboard. I use a Belkin Ultimate Keyboard for my old school iPad Air and it works great (using it now, lightly balanced on my knees). Given the airline’s move to minimal levels of personal space, a smaller computing device than a traditional laptop is highly desirable.
Netflix Downloads. Whether or not you like Netflix shows, I don’t think you can dispute that Netflix’s Download feature works brilliantly. Before I ever board a plane, I always download something.
USB Battery. I use an Anker PowerCore 10000 and its the first USB battery I’ve ever had luck with. Happily they come in multiple colors so if you travel with your wife or kid, you know who owns what.
Cables. I travel with a lightning cable for each iOS device which means iPad, iPhone and AirPods. I used to travel with less but this lets everything charge at once.
Food. Always, always stuff something to eat in your bag. My personal preference is to buy a chocolate croissant at the StarBucks before I leave but that isn’t always available so I make sure to have nuts, granola bar, etc. You never know when your flight will be delayed and you will find yourself in a cess pool of an airport and all food with be closed.