How will I get my presentation all copied, bound and ready for this 8am meeting? Easy!

Before boarding my international flight to Houston, I’ll be online with my trusty printing assistant. My assistant has helped me many times before and has been 100% reliable, even across thousands of miles and numerous time zones.

Who’s my printing assistant? It’s one you know, though you may not be aware of all they do. FedEx Office is my secret tool for showing up prepared, organized and professional – even with so little time on the ground.

I can contact my assistant online, via phone or with my FedEx mobile phone app. Since my documents are all on my laptop and not on my phone, I can also use my mobile app called “Jump” to access any document on my laptop. I’ve even sent documents to FedEx from 35,000 feet while using in-flight internet.

Long gone are the days when I used to arrive late into a city and have to find a printing location that could help me in a hurry before an early morning meeting or seminar.

Now that I’ve shared my secret, it’s back to work on my presentation. Farvel from Norway!

Kristiansand Norway

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com. Watch for my new book, Business Travel Success – How to Reduce Stress, Be More Productive and Travel with Confidence, being published by Morgan James in 2011.

I have been using Navigon for my AT&T 3G iPhone for the past year, though a more correct statement is that I’ve been trying to use Navigon for the past year. It’s been hit or miss, with very few hits. Lately, all I get is the black screen of death saying “There is no GPS signal available” with reception never kicking in.

I really needed Navigon to work this weekend as I ventured into downtown Houston. With one-way streets and roads closed due to construction, I was going ’round and ’round trying to first find the Convention Center and then a nearby parking garage. This process repeated itself as I left the parking garage and had to find my way back to I-10. I made it, but with no help from Navigon.

Sure there can be issues with AT&T and my iPhone isn’t the latest model, but really – no GPS signal for 100 miles driven over 3 days?

Since I intend to upgrade my iPhone to the new model as soon as it’s out, what navigation app do you recommend (if any)?

Or are you going to tell me to turn into a guy so I don’t need to ask for directions!

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com. Watch for my new book, Business Travel Success … How to Reduce Stress, Be More Productive and Travel with Confidence,being published by Morgan James in 2011.

Wakerupper.com helps me get over these hurdles and keeps me on track, especially when I’m traveling. You can set up free phone call reminders for anything – so much more than just a wake-up call! You can even leave yourself a little note to be read back to you when the call comes in. My busy life just got a bit more manageable.

Most importantly, Wakerupper.com lives up to its name as a wake up service. I despise the time it takes to learn how my hotel room’s alarm clock works and always dread accidentally setting my alarm for 6:00 PM instead of 6:00 AM. The hotel’s wake-up call service is an option, but I’ve had mornings where the call never came (has this ever happened to you?) or maybe you don’t want to wake your partner with a loud alarm. This service works great when staying with friends or other places where wake-up call service doesn’t exist. And if you like a snooze alarm which arrives a few minutes after your regular alarm, Wakerupper has that too.

The service is free when setting up reminders on Wakerupper’s site. They also provide a premium service that includes recurring calls, voice reminders and a snooze feature. I haven’t had the need for these yet, but you might.

Since wake up calls are so important (especially on early-morning flight days!), Wakerupper.com is good insurance to your regular alarm. You may find you fully switch to Wakerupper and have set your last hotel room alarm clock forever!

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com.

What if we got rid of the current system all together? What if you didn’t have to take off your shoes, take out your laptop, or remove your jacket? And what if this system was not only faster than our current checkpoints, but also cheaper?!?!

Well the International Air Transport Association turned “What if?” into “Why not?” They just unveiled their concept for the Checkpoint of the future, using biometrics and advanced scanners to simplify and speed up the checkpoint process.

Check out the video below to see how it works (the video has no sound).

Would you welcome this system at your favorite airport?

Click here to view the embedded video.

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com.

Oh, I’ve tried. There are many weeks where I forget to book a car rental. Once the plane hits the ground, my phone is on and I’m clicking on Hertz’s site as fast as I can. Trouble is, I don’t know my login info so I don’t get too far. I need my own account so that I get the corporate rate that’s on my profile.

Yes, I know there are several apps for a smart phone that will save logins and passwords. I just haven’t made the time yet to get everything into my phone. (If you do know of any easy way to move all Roboform logins and passwords to an iPhone, do share!).

Since I have all my logins and passwords safely secured (I hope) on my laptop, I do all my bookings there. I can book a Continental or Delta flight practically in my sleep because I know their sites so well. I think it would slow me down considerably to do this on my iPhone, especially since the screen is so much smaller. Though I do see the benefit of last-minute bookings via phone (as I’ve tried to do) or when your computer just isn’t available.

According to Smart Phones Change How Business Travelers Book, Priceline saw that 82 percent of customers with mobile devices booked their hotel rooms within one day of arrival and 58 percent of customers with mobile devices were within 20 miles of their hotel when they made the booking and 35 percent were within just a mile. Amazing! They’re just as last minute as I am!

So for those of you in the 21% of women and 29% of men who do book via your mobile device, please give us mobile phone avoiders your pros and cons to booking via the small screen. And a lot of you may tell us to Buy an iPad!

• The automatic trip scanning feature will automatically recognize itineraries that are emailed to you and push them to your BlackBerry
• Identify gaps in your travel (like a night out of town without a hotel room) and recommend hotels which you can book through your phone
• Automatically notify you when your flight is delayed or your connection changes
• Currency converter, weather for your destinations, and more

The app is free, but is also in Beta so don’t be surprised if it’s a bit buggy. You can find BlackBerry Travel in BlackBerry App World.

Wireless technology is only getting better. Much more communication is coming between computers and smartphones/cameras/tablets. Added this year is wireless connectivity between appliances and cellphones but really, do you want to know that your refrigerator door is open when you are a thousand miles away from home?

Very big news is the exciting 4G technology for cellphones. Verizon had an impressive demonstration of just how blazing fast it can be. Well, in optimal circumstances, of course. But even in general usage, 4G promises significantly improved reliability. Hands-on at the show, 4G will give us flawless access to websites. The demos for live TV were flicker-free and fresh.

However, it will take some time to build out the network. Verizon says they will have half the population covered by mid-2011 with another couple years to completion. While reliability will be somewhat spotty for at least another year, they are adding specific coverage to 60 of the largest airports in the country. This is welcome news for travelers.

Perhaps the most impressive new phone will be Motorola’s Atrix, a 4G powerhouse with a dual-core processor and laptop “dock.” The Android-based phone promises the power of a small netbook computer. It will be available from AT&T sometime in the first quarter. No pricing was announced.

Also finally available will be USB 3.0 ports on computers. Most manufacturers were showing them and the difference between it and 2.0 is dramatic. A couple vendors showed a comparison difference in download times and trust me, the improvement here will be more than just noticeable.

CES showed off 80 or more tablet-style computers. Dell’s product – featured at the Intel booth – was very slick with a rotating screen. Samsung offered up their version which looks like a large smartphone. The screen slides up, revealing a keyboard.

Elocity, among others, introduced smaller 7” tablets. With most tablets around 10” or so, this Android-based product can actually slide into your back pocket and is available now. The portable size is ideal for those travelers who want a screen size smaller than a laptop but larger than a phone.

One of my favorites from the show was Samsung’s line of ultra-lightweight laptops. Using solid state hard drives and a lightweight chassis, weights vary from 2-3 lbs depending on screen size which is roughly 11-13”. The CPU power comes from Intel’s i5/i7 chips. Battery life varies but all were rated at a minimum 9 hours, possibly enough to work all day without a charge.

This new Samsung line is simply the ideal balance of size, weight, and power for travelers who use laptops, much appreciated even if long overdue. Unfortunately they are not yet in production and no release dates have been set. They wouldn’t even allow photos to be taken.

All in all, another great CES show for the 140,000 attendees with promise of exciting products coming our way in 2011.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, almost 20% of 2008′s auto accidents were caused by distracted driving (distraction.gov). So what can you do to cut down on the distractions? A hands-free headset is a great start, but our phones are so much more capable these days. What about your text messages and emails? This is where DriveSafe.ly comes in.

DriveSafe.ly is a mobile application that reads aloud your emails and texts. With one-touch activation, all you have to do it turn on the app when you get in the car. You can even set up auto-responders so your contacts know you’re driving. Keep your focus where it should be … on the road!

DriveSafe.ly is currently available for Blackberry and Android phones, with iPhone and Windows Mobile versions coming soon. There is a free, limited version available so you can try-before-you-buy. You can also purchase a Personal/Family license, or a Business/Enterprise level license. Check it out today.

First, the screen has to be a decent size.  The 10” netbooks are cute but not large enough to open wide Excel spreadsheets or programs like Tweetdeck.  Moreover, they are not loaded with enough power for full-time work.

At the other extreme, there are now 18” laptop screens.  However, they are much too large – not to mention too heavy – for airline travel.

Weight is also an issue. Most laptops with 14” screens weigh over 6 lbs with some of the larger ones about 10 lbs.  That’s fine for working at a desk but just too heavy to carry around for work, much less on a plane.

Battery life is another concern.  Until recently, batteries were rated up to about only four hours.  In reality, battery life begins to diminish immediately so only months into its use, the shortened life is noticeable.  I consider a 4-hour battery to really be good for only about 2 hours, not nearly enough time for flying and work productivity.

So what’s my perfect travel laptop?

My perfect screen is about 13”, give or take maybe an inch.  That is large enough to display wide programs and small enough to be operable on a plane.

The weight has to be less than 4 lbs, though 3 lbs would fit nicely in my perfect world.  The battery’s rated life would be at least 8 hours.  That way I would be pretty comfortable knowing I should get at least half that much time from it as the battery weakens.

And there are a few more things my perfect laptop would have.  For example, it would run 64-bit Windows 7, have a fast i5/i7 CPU, full-size keyboard, at least 4Gb of memory, and a minimum 500Gb hard drive. Oh, and now I want support for 11n wireless and 3.0 USB.  Also, it gets bonus points if it has a removable tablet.

Does this perfect laptop exist yet? No, but it’s getting close.  My current laptop is just over 4 lbs, battery life of 6 hours, and most of the other goodies.  Based on what I saw at CES last month, my perfect travel laptop could be available as early as this summer.  Well, it will if they can figure out how to get the weight down.

I could have first researched for these things on TripAdvisor or other travel review sites, but I decided to first start with Twitter. It only took a few seconds to send a couple of tweets on what I was looking for, and the suggestions started rolling in not only from the Scottsdale Visitor’s Bureau, but from many people who have previously trekked to Sedona. How cool is that? Once I received a few recommendations, I used TripAdvisor to confirm (or not) the suggestions. My research time was cut down to a 10th of the typical time I used to spend reading reviews. I saved time, hopefully selected some great places to stay and dine, and I met a few new friends on Twitter. A triple win!

If you’re looking to follow 50 great Travel Twitterers (I am very honored to be included in this list), head over to http://tweepml.org/50-Travel-Twitterers-You-Should-Follow/. With a ‘Select All’, you will easily be able to follow all 50 in a heartbeat.

Happy Tweeting!