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Tip 146: Pack Your Dongle, and Other Favorite E-Tips
Sunday, May 14, 2000
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PROBLEM: You've lost your dongle.
SOLUTION: We're going to let Leo Boivin of Burke tell it in his own words: "If you travel with a laptop and use a PC card modem, either buy a modem with an X-jack that doesn't require a connector cord, or bring along an extra dongle (that little cord between the PC card that has the RJ-11 phone jack connector on the other end). Each dongle is proprietary to the PC card manufacturer and it's usually next to impossible to find a replacement when you need one, especially in another country."
In honor of E-Life week, we've dug through the Travel Tip archives and
uncovered some of our past e-advice:
 To inform friends or family of a flight delay,
use www.trip.com to catch them before they head to the airport to pick you up. Click onto Flight Tracker, which gives expected times of arrival, then onto Flight Alert, which allows you to send for free three e-mails alerting your ride ofyour travel mishaps.
To consolidate the reams of numbers and addresses needed for a trip, send yourself an e-mail from home to a Web-based account, such as Hotmail, with all the crucial information. At your destination, find a cybercafe and retrieve the data.
With www.ups.com, travel baggage-free by sending your luggage ahead with UPS. Simply plug the suitcase dimensions and country of departure and arrival into the Quik Cost Calculator to determine the price for UPS to pick up your bags at home and drop them off at your destination.
For travelers with a laptop but no printer,
use your modem to fax yourself a hard copy via the hotel's fax machine.
Before a flight, bypass lengthy check-in lines with eService Centers, offered by many airlines (Northwest, Continental) and found at dozens of airports. At the ATM-like kiosks, you can purchase an E-Ticket, check-in, print a boarding pass, change your seat or same-day ticket and even upgrade. Some carriers also offer extra frequent-flier miles if you use their automated service.
Send Your Own Tip
Travel tips (100 words or less) may be sent using the form below, or by postcard (Travel Tips, Washington Post Travel Section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071; or fax (202/334-1069). Include your name, address and phone number. One tip per postcard or e-mail. Winners receive a Washington Post Travel section T-shirt. No purchase necessary. Tips submitted become property of The Washington Post, which may edit, publish, distribute and republish the information in any form, including paper and electronic media. Weekly winners are chosen on the basis of utility and novelty; decisions are made by the editors of The Washington Post Travel section and are final.
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