Keeping electronic helpers well nourished

June 26, 2008. Kandy, Sri Lanka
When I traveled to Sri Lanka last March, I blogged about the more than 30 pieces of electronic paraphernalia that accompanied me. That list turned out to be of more than anecdotal utility. Not long after I returned, a friend, with little international travel experience, accepted a position that would require extensive international travel on behalf of his new employer, Blackboard Inc. I was able to share my list, and show him my box of various plugs, transformers and connectors. After returning from his first trip to Europe, he told me the briefing had been quite helpful.

What I neglected to mention was the importance of keeping electronic helpmates well nourished. For me they include, laptop, iPod, Blackberry and mobile phone. In some countries, the Blackberry doubles as a mobile, however in Sri Lanka, I maintain a separate account and a separate number. These tools have now become an integral part of a traveler’s life, but when one is tired at the end of a long day or especially at the end of a long trip it is easy to forget that they must be ‘fed’ with sustaining electrical nourishment. This requires a variety of transformers and adapter plugs. If neglected, the devices can begin bleeping warnings or simply die at the most inopportune moments, with no outlet available.

After a few sharp reminders, one remembers, for a time, and creates a routine of plug-ins. But sustaining a routine can be difficult when adjusting to the schedule imperatives of travel conveyances, when settling in different beds, in different rooms, in different dwellings, in different cities, in different countries, in different time zones. Yesterday morning, I left my resting place in Colombo at 6AM for the early morning train trip to Kandy. An unforeseen drenching rain was falling. I worried about staying relatively dry while I tried to flag a trishaw that would take me to the ‘Fort Station.’ That worked out, however last evening, I discovered I had left my toiletries kit in Colombo. I would have to walk to a local market in the morning, hoping to find adequate replacements. Pondering that glitch in my routine, after returning from a late dinner, I forgot to plug in my Blackberry and my mobile phone.