How to Make Life on the Road Better

Fellow blogger Andy Abramson is a great exponent of the digital lifestyle, especially in terms of living - and working - while on the road. This topic is close to his heart - so much so that Andy has a separate blog dedicated to it. He calls it Working Anywhere, and his latest post is a wonderful wish list of how hotels could do a better job of catering to the digerati.

Andy may be on the high end of the scale, but his needs today will be your needs tomorrow. So, I wouldn't be surprised if a number of his ideas become common practice, at least in hotels that are digerati-friendly. It's a great list, and if you're a heavy traveller, I have no doubt that you're smiling and nodding your head as you read each item. I don't travel enough for most of these things to matter to me, but I would certainly concur with items 5 and 10.

Item 5 - a bigger in-room safe. This one got a few comments from his readers, and I'm with them. It's great for stashing my passport, iPod, car keys, etc. Stuff I have no use for during my trip. But Andy's talking big enough to stow your laptop. I'd go for that - even to pay a buck or two extra a day. Maybe I'm naive, but I can't imagine hotel staff having the audacity to make off with something so big and so obviously not theirs. I know these things happen, but I don't think twice about leaving my notebook connected and on the desk in my room when I'm out. There are lots of times I have no need to schlep my PC around when I'm not in my room, so what else can you do? Count me in for this one.

Item 10 - early check-in. I've never been able to figure out why check-in times are always so late in the day. If check-out is usually by noon, it shouldn't take 3-4 hours to get the room ready again - and that's presuming your room was occupied and just vacated the day you arrive. It hasn't happened to me very often, but sure, it can be a drag arriving in the morning and being in no-man's land for half a day. Sure, you can check your bags and wander the streets for a while, but a lot of hotels are like compounds, and it's not so easy to just step out and stroll about.

We all have our wish lists when we travel, and this sure is a good one. Feel free to add yours here - and of course to the comments section on Working Anywhere.


Technorati tags: Andy Abramson, Jon Arnold, Working Anywhere