Compact Battery Charger from Energizer

If you're traveling around with something that uses AA batteries, you can end up being a one-person ecological acid machine by the time a few months to a year of travel are up. This is especially true if your digital camera uses them, as my Kodak does.

The need for AA batteries can be a blessing though if you are using rechargable ones. Over time, they end up costing you very little and if you have a couple of spares, you can feel less guilty about how much juice you're using up. The problem has always been that the chargers are kind of bulky and heavy.

They've gotten a bit lighter each year though and right before my last trip I picked up this beauty put out by Energizer. It was around $20 at an office store, including four batteries, but you can get it for even less at Buy.com.

The thing is only about 2/3 the size of a cigarette pack and it weighs next to nothing. It's got a great design that slides open to accept the batteries, sliding closed when not in use. Simple, elegant, and definitely worth the space and weight.

A laptop bag that doesn't look like a laptop bag

I'll admit it. I absolutely detest traveling with a laptop. I hate it so much that I bought a little laptop that weighs only three pounds. But sometimes you have to do it. Duty calls and we all have to make a living.

But while walking around with some hip designer laptop bag might score you points in Milan or New York, in much of the world you might as well be wearing a big fat sign that says "Please steal my laptop!!" It's best to be incognito, to look like you're just bumming around taking photos and writing in your journal, not carrying something around that costs more than the average citizen earns in a year.

So I put a laptop backpack on the list for my last birthday and what showed up on that fateful day was a beauty. It's an in-house job from eBags that really delivers. It's cushioned well, but doesn't add a load of bulk. There are plenty of pockets around for storing your jump drive, memory cards, and good ole paper files. A pocket for the water bottle and room left over for a music player and a camera. Yes, you're still carrying around enough to feed a local family for a year, but at least it's not so obvious this way. Comes in lots of colors too, so you can avoid the neon.

Briefcases and Laptop Bags at eBags.com

Another Reason to Pack Light

In case the stricter weight limits and baggage charges showing up on airlines didn't convince you to pack light for your next flight, here's a another reason: your bag may never show up where you arrive. An article in today's USA Today predicts a baggage meltdown this summer.

Reports of lost baggage in the U.S. went up 23 percent from 2004 to 2005 and this summer is predicted to make last year's look like a walk in an empty terminal in comparison. A report I saw a couple of weeks ago said we are seeing the same number of fliers this year as the year 2000, but with 20,000 less employees taking care of them. Ouch! Layoffs, cost-cutting, and security bottlenecks are ensuring that the packed planes this summer are going to create a major pain in the rear for everyone.

If you are going somewhere for three or four weeks (or more), it's hard to pack everything into a carry-on, but at least put your essentials and an extra pair of socks and underwear in there just in case. And nothing truly valuable should go in a checked bag--period. If you are just going somewhere for a long weekend, you're nuts to check a bag. Pack sensibly and don't take five pairs of shoes. Otherwise you might be coming home before your bag has gotten to where you went.