First impressions – I love it!  It is so cute and tiny, and fits in the palm of my hand (kind of like a kitten)!   See the size comparison below with the other Dell notebooks and Mac Book in my house:

From Left to Right: Dell Inspiron 8600 , Macbook, Dell Inspiron 700m, Eee PC 4G

My first task is to remove unwanted software (The Eee PC comes with Microsoft Works and a bunch of other windows apps) and install software to make this the perfect travelling companion for my Mum: Skype; Anti Virus, Microsoft Word & Excel, Picasa and probably a few more.

Then I need to set it up on my Mum’s Wi-Fi network and ensure it works with the printer.

I’ll post when this is done and let you know how easy/hard it was and if my Mum likes her new toy!

Here is a list of things that I always ended up taking with me.  The few times I omitted something on this list, I would end up cursing myself on a plane, in a hotel room at Narita airport, a random bar in Seattle, a post office in Toronto etc.

BTW – I originally started this as one long post but it got a bit out of control.  I have split it up into 4 parts: useful gadgets; fun gadgets, services and stuff.  Here is part 1:

Useful Gadgets

Portable wireless router

Portable Wireless Router not much bigger than my passport

I paid around 7,000 YEN for this back in Feb 07 which was about $75AUD at the time.  A little bit tricky as it is all in Japanese – but I muddled through it with a few calculated guesses.

A portable wireless router is very useful for hotel rooms with non existent or flaky Wi-Fi connections.  Or even better, when the broadband cable doesn’t reach to a desk, or  a power point for your laptop!

A classic example of this was when I stayed at the Vibe Hotel in Surfers Paradise.  I had to sit cross legged in the middle of the floor, with the laptop connected to the broadband cord one side, and a power cord from the opposite wall.  My poor laptop looked as if it had been strung up.  I tried to take a photo, but couldn’t even fit the ridiculousness into one frame.

Also, having a router means you can share the Internet connection via an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi.  Since most hotels charge upwards of $20 a day (The most expensive I have paid was $39.95 with excess charges above 200mb!), it can be useful for friends to check their email using their own devices.  I think this will come in very handy with the iPhone since most hotel rooms still only have decent wired broadband access.

Travel snaps for:

• Freedom to roam around your hotel room
• Ability to share connections amongst friends/colleagues
• Useful to carry with iPhone for hotel rooms with only wired connections

Alternatives:

• ‘Borrow’ bandwidth from open W-Fi Networks
  This did work for me once in suburban Barcelona, but I had to balance precariously on the window sill, 3 floors up.  Generally I find  Wi-Fi connections in hotel rooms pretty crap all over the world.
  

Noise Cancelling Headphones

Cheap noise cancelling headphones - do the trick

Obviously I had been lusting over the $500 BOSE noise cancelling headphones, but couldn’t justify the money.  These Sony Headphones are great (but clearly no where near the quality of more expensive devices) and I picked them up at Narita airport for around $50.  They do they job and make a big difference on that hellishly long flight between SYD and LAX.

Travel snaps for:

• Drowning out the constant roar of the aircraft
• Only requires 1 AAA battery and lasted the pacific flight with spare juice
• An In flight adaptor for us plebs who sit in economy is invaluable (make sure you have one of these)

Alternatives:

• Ear plugs

Power-board

Don't get caught short when you need more power!

I think this is one of the most underrated useful gadgets ever!  As we accumulate more and more things, we need more and more power, battery life and ability to charge!  Carrying an Aussie power-board means I only have to carry one country adaptor with me for each country I visit.  I can then charge or power my phone, laptop, camera, Nintendo, router etc without any problems .  I usually carry a 4 plug board, but now I think it’s time to upgrade to a 6 plug, just to be sure!

Travel snaps for:

• Charging multiple devices with one power adaptor
• Lightweight
• Range of sizes fro 2 plugs (aka a double adaptor) to 8 or even more!

Alternatives:

• Additional Aussie to X country adapters.  I have collected numerous adaptors, but since the UK, Europe, and the US are all different it gets pretty expensive if u need 3 adaptors for each device

Warnings:

• Be careful of voltage.  Luckily most devices these days are dual voltage, but there is nothing worse than buying and American gadget and smelling the smoke of death upon power up.
  Nintendo Wii’s are NOT dual voltage (Thanks to Magda for proving this one)