Road Warrior (On the Cheap)

Well, I’m on the road again. Heading out for a two-week vacation with the family and a couple of friends. This time, instead of a hotel or resort, we’re renting a 2000 sq. ft. vacation home in a residential neighborhood right in the middle of all the local attractions (tourist traps) in Sedona, Arizona. According to the property manager, the home has cable TV and Internet service, but the connection is wired only. No Wi-Fi. Like a hotel, the only sound system consists of a couple of clock radios. It’s a given I’ll be taking my MacBook Pro (I never travel without it), but I’m still left with a couple of challenges: 1) how to provide Wi-Fi so our three iPhones and one iPad don’t burn through our monthly (15 GB) AT&T data allotment and 2) how to take along a better sound system. This is a vacation. I’m certain some drinking and general partying is in the itinerary somewhere. Everybody knows the booze bone is connected to the music bone. So, my standard travel bag needs a few extra things…

First, a few words about my normal travel load-out. In addition to my 15” MBP and associated peripherals (power supply, mouse, 2 TB WD My Passport, at least one cable for every port on my Mac including every Thunderbolt/Display port adapter Apple makes), I generally carry my iPad, a couple of 120V USB chargers and Lightning cables. I also carry 10’ slim HDMI cable for jacking hotel TVs to use as a second Mac display and a 10’, flat Cat6 Ethernet cable (just ‘cuz). I also carry an AirPort Express, the previous model that looks like a MacBook power supply, so I can setup my own, secure, Wi-Fi network when a wired Ethernet connection is available. (Even though Apple discontinued this model a couple of years ago, they can still be bought on Ebay for $20 – 30. This model is much more portable than the current AirPort Express and all you really sacrifice is the 802.11 a/c capability and an Ethernet port.) 2011 model AirPort ExpressHotel Wi-Fi is notoriously insecure. The few ounces added to my bag by the AirPort Express is a small toll for adding an extra firewall between me and a hotel full of infected machines. Additionally, having all my devices on the same Wi-Fi network assures all the cool AirDrop, AirPlay and Home Sharing features work flawlessly. This trip I added a few extras to my laptop bag (details to follow) and we are all set to go…

Fast-forward through 1 hour drive to airport, shuffle overpacked family luggage into airport parking shuttle, lug same bags to airline check-in, x-ray, semi-strip search by obstinate TSA agent, 2 ½ hour flight with gaseous old lady nearby, eternal wait for checked, overpacked bags, lug bags onto rental car shuttle, ride over-crowded shuttle to rent car facility, stuff overpacked bags into every available void in rent car and drive two hours to our final destination.

This trip we were lucky. The house we rented has a decent Internet connection. It’s plenty fast enough to accommodate a couple of HD Netflix streams simultaneously. There’s a 42” HDTV with three HDMI ports and unlike most hotels, there’s no OnCommand or other hotel TV lockdown requiring a “bypass”. This came in handy since the rental only supplied basic cable. Yuk. My AirPort Express is configured in “Bridge Mode”, so setting up my network took about one minute. I plugged my Ethernet patch into the AirPort Express, the other end into the cable modem and plugged the Express into the wall. Done. All my family’s devices already know my network, so they all just worked as soon as the light on the Express went green. I keep my 300+ iTunes movie library on my USB Passport hard drive so Home Sharing from my MacBook Pro made them all available to all our devices the same as at home. When we wanted to watch one on the big TV, I streamed it to my iPad which I connected to the TV’s additional HDMI port using the Apple HDMI -> Lightning adapter. We also used this setup for watching Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and Amazon Instant Video; all in beautiful 1080p on the (rather nice) Sharp 42” LCD. No sir, this family doesn’t settle for basic cable. Perish the thought. For music, I brought a couple of portable Bluetooth speakers.

Boombotix BoomBot RexFor outdoors I have a $60 Boombot Rex that weighs in at 6 oz. It’s ruggedized and what Boombotix calls “splash resistant”. Though I’ve never felt the need to test its durability, I have been caught with it in driving rain on a couple of occasions with no ill effects. The sound is pretty good (just lacking in the low end) and its capable of surprisingly high volume given its small size. It also has a very strong, wide belt clip for attaching it to backpack straps, tree limbs, etc. A full charge will play music for over 7 hours at 50%+ volume! How much more I can’t say. The little battery icon on my iPhone said it had about ¼ charge after an all-day beer-a-thon. For indoor use I carried a MediaBridge Forte. I found this little beauty on Amazon for around $22 and it’s the best twenty-two bucks I’ve ever spent for a speaker. It’s not waterproof, splash proof or any other proof that I’m aware of, but it produces full-range sound that’s hard to believe possible from such a tiny device. Like most portable Bluetooth speakers, it has a mic and functions as a speakerphone when the play/pause button is pressed, but I would forgive it even if it didn’t include this basic function. It sounds that terrific.  It’s only 2.5” X 2.5” X 3.5” tall and weighs only 8 oz., but sounds better than speakers twice its size costing many times more. The first time I used it I set it by the television in the living room of our rental and played “Fever” by Springsteen. My daughter swore the music was coming from the 42” TV! She even tried adjusting the volume with the TV remote. I know TVs aren’t known for their sound quality, but you wouldn’t think that much sound could come from a speaker that I packed inside one of my tennis shoes for the trip. Its rechargeable battery powered it for over five hours at ¾ volume or better and it charges via a standard micro-USB. No need to pack a special cable. If you’re in the market for a really, really portable Bluetooth speaker with very good sound, I can’t recommend the MediaBridge Forte highly enough. Don’t just take my word for it. Read the reviews on amazon.com (it rates 4.7 out of 5 stars!).

Next, there’s an adapter that no self-respecting road warrior should be without. That’s a 3.5mm -> RCA stereo cable. This handy little gadget enables you to plug the headphone out from any Apple (or other make) device into virtually anything with an auxiliary audio input. This includes most any television or stereo. These adapters are available in a multitude of lengths and quality ranging from $2 to as much as $20 for the “gold plated” audiophile models. Personally, I carry a 6”, $2 version with a female 3.5mm end since I always carry a 3’ male -> male stereo cable for use in rent cars with only an aux-in for using my iPhone or iPod through the car’s stereo. I’ve had this $2 wonder for over ten years and if there’s any sound quality difference between it and the deluxe $20 version I can’t hear it. Really, this very handy adapter is too tiny and too inexpensive to be without. This is especially true if you don’t carry a portable Bluetooth speaker. Even a hotel TV provides much better sound than a naked iPhone or iPad.3.5mm stereo (headphone) to RCA adapter

Wow! I’ve managed to amass quite a collection of cables and gizmos, haven’t I?  Well, lastly you need a way to keep them organized so they don’t turn into a big wad of plastic spaghetti in your bag. For this task I use the Universal Electronics Travel Organizer from monoprice.com. It’s a folding, zippered folio with lots of elastic straps and zipper pockets for keeping all these cables and adapters separate and organized. It costs around $15 and fits nicely into my laptop bag. There’s tons of options when it comes to organizers and there’s no one best solution. The important thing is to have one. First, it will make all these cables and adapters much easier to find when needed and second, it makes pre-trip inventory a snap. I’ve wasted a lot of time and money at a Best Buy or Apple store buying duplicates when the one adapter I need is back home.

That’s about it. I’ve been a frequent traveler for most of my professional life. Most of the tips I share here result from lessons learned the hard way. My wife always bugs me about carrying all this “electronics junk”, but she really smiled when I told her we could binge-watch season 5 of Downton Abby on the big screen and listen to her favorite Eagles tunes while in the backyard hot tub. With a minimal investment anyone can travel like a pro. And while it will never be like home, a hotel room or other rental can be a media-rich environment for just a few bucks and a little effort.