For years I have kept notes on my travel and I have looked for a way to keep those notes other than the series of text files I have now. I'm trying out this app as an alternative. My only worry at this point is for the lack of backup and export ability.

I really like TripIt.com to keeping track of my travel plans. Their iPhone app is alright but it is a read-only view of your plans. Items like the maps require internet access. The folks at Mobiata have taken this a step further. Presently it is still read-only from TripIt but they promise to send updates back in a future version. For now it is sufficient to be able to add notes on you iPhone on the go. The GUI is very pretty. TripDeck offers additional features that require Internet access but give you updated flight status, gate and even baggage claim information on the go.

When I travel I keep my plans in a combination of on my calendar, in my email, and in notepad so I can refer to them while on my trip. TripIt.com is a web site that lets you aggregate your travel plans in one place and download them to your iPhone. They have a unique service that lets you simply email your itinerary to them and they will post it on your Trips list.

Kata Ergo-Tech Series Prism U Personal Gear Backpack for Digital Camera and 12 Inch Laptop Computer rating: ASIN or ISBN-10: B000I42XWG binding: Electronics list price: $110.00 USD amazon price: $104.95 USD

I have been looking for a nice day pack for a while. I have been using the same MEI day pack since 1986. I have had to replace the shoulder straps on it once already and they are due to be replaced again. I use my day pack to haul my camera around. The problem is that it has no padding. This is not good for the camera. It also has just one big pocket which mean my lenses are loose with the camera.

Countries I have been to:

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States I have been to:


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I just returned from a short business trip. It was just a quick overnight trip to Lubbock. Usually on such a trip I grab two bags; one for my clothes and one for my laptop. Along with my laptop comes a sundry collection of cables. When I am in a hotel I use my laptop to stay in touch with the office mainly via email and to work on specific web-based systems. For this trip I decided to try to go without the laptop. Could I really just use my iPhone for everything. It seemed like a pretty safe bet. Worst case, I could make up any work over the weekend. So off I went.

I recently travelled to a conference and was impressed by the TV in the hotel room. It was a 32" HD flat panel display right in the room. It looked really good and I was able to watch an episode of Lost in HD. One problem was that I could not plug in my device into it. So when I wanted to watch a movie or listen to music, I pulled out my laptop (15" display) or iPod (2" display) and left the HD TV set idle in the corner. I'm not going to pay $10 to watch a movie that I can see on DVD via NetFlix for a lot less.

I travelled to Nashville for the Alliance Conference. The timing could not be worse because of a big project at work. The information I got at the conference was very good. I spent nearly the entire conference inside the hotel.
The hotel is 58-acres under one roof. It was massive consisting of several smaller themed areas attached to a convention center. The convention center easily handled our 4400-person group.