 How often do you arrive at the airport for a business trip at least an hour before your flight is scheduled to leave? With airlines recommending that travelers arrive one to two hours before their flights depart, chances are you already have experimented in how to make the "in-transit" part of the business day more useful. Find tips on how you can make the most of your time in transit. On This PageConnect WirelesslyNow more than ever, many airports—as well as train stations, bus stations, and other depots—are making online access available through wireless connections. If you use a laptop computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless connectivity can conveniently bring your office to you in just a few steps. If you're using a laptop computer, learn more about how you can connect on the road with Windows XP. If you're using your own, private computer, you should be online and ready to go. Most business and organizations, however, use some kind of secure network. Before you can access your e-mail and Internet, you may need to log in to your corporate network through a Remote Access Service (RAS) connection. Some companies may require using a "smart card" and a smart card reader to verify identities. Learn more about smart cards. Note It's always best to check with your IT department before you travel to review the steps you'll need to take in order to connect from the Internet into a secure network. Work Online and OfflineOnce online and depending on how you connect to your company's network, you can access nearly all the information you would normally have sitting at your desk. The main difference, of course, is that you have a limited time before you board the plane and go offline. You can prepare yourself, though, to make the most of the time while you're traveling. | • | Download your mail online, then work with it offline. Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 features Cached Exchange Mode (available if your organization uses Outlook with Exchange Server 2003). Once you download your e-mail messages and other data, you can continue to work with e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks even after you go offline—say, when you get on the plane. While offline, you can send e-mail messages to your Outbox, and they'll send themselves when you're back online. Learn more about Cached Exchange Mode. | | • | Save a copy of your file. When you're on a trip and plan to have meetings or give presentations in another company's office, have a strategy for backing up your files. If you store work files that you need on a network share, it's a good idea save those files on your computer and then back up those files to a disk or burn a CD-ROM. And remember, you may not have access to your company's network when you're visiting another company. You can also store information on a small Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage device, which generally holds anywhere from 32 megabytes (MB) to 164 MB of information but can fit on your keychain or in your pocket. These can be especially handy if you're asked to present on another computer or if your computer isn't available for whatever reason. Just plug the device into any USB port and you'll have access to the files you've saved there. Compact Flash and Secure Digital storage devices are other popular compact storage device options that can offer more storage memory than USB devices. Most PDAs and Smartphones can read Compact Flash and Secure Digital cards, so it's easy to keep your important files backed up and view them on your computer, PDA, or Smartphone when you're on the go. Find USB storage devices and Flash memory cards at Windows Catalog. |
Just because you're working on the go doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your productivity. By following these easy recommendations, you can make sure that time spent in transit can be a productive part of your workday.
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