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The road warrior: create a travel arsenal - business travel accessories

IN A HURRY, I'VE ACCIDENTALLY LEFT CRUCIAL PAPERS at phone booths in Phoenix and New York. I've toted overweight briefcases everywhere. And I've seen others do the same; once, at midnight in the Singapore airport, I found a passport left behind by a traveler.

I've sworn not to let such things happen to me anymore. I have figured out how to be efficient on the road. It takes a system, one that will help you remain powerful and productive wherever you go.

Organize Your Briefcase. Heavy briefcases are out. Lightweight is in. Go for function, not fashion. Soft-sided briefcases travel better, pack better, and are more flexible. You can overstuff a fabric briefcase much more easily than a hard case. Fabric briefcases tend to have shoulder straps, a necessity when you're dragging luggage through crowded airports. They fit under airplane seats more readily than hard cases. Most fabric briefcases also have a variety of pockets for organizing material.

My favorite is the nylon, soft-side Sportsman from L.L. Bean. The price is a reasonable $79, and I can get at the three zippered pockets on the outside without opening the main compartment.

I always put certain items in the same pockets -- my address book and tickets go in one, my checkbook in another. By keeping "a place for everything and everything in its place," it's easy to check that I haven't left crucial tools or papers behind. I put things back immediately after using them -- especially on busy days or at the end of a long trip, when stress makes it easy to misplace items.

A highly popular briefcase is the soft-side canvas model offered by Lands' End. What I don't care for is that it has only one outside pocket and the Velcro closure offers little security. Plus, when the canvas gets dirty -- and it does -- there's no easy way to clean it.

Maintain an Information System. Every important piece of business information, from book summaries to seminar notes to customer information, is summarized on my laptop computer. I consider it to be my most important productivity tool.

My laptop goes everywhere: Prior to presentations or meetings with customers, I browse through its data base, reviewing and absorbing specific information targeted to my business. There are new products on the market that deliver high-tech organizational power, such as Apple's Newton or Sharp's Expert Pad. With an electronic "pen," you write in basic information such as a name, time, and date, and the appointment is automatically entered into your schedule.

Although I travel everywhere with a portable computer, it's not always convenient to use -- especially in a phone booth. My list of phone calls and related messages are logged in a hardcover record book, the kind you can find in any stationery store. All the calls I need to make, all my notes and conversations with customers, are recorded in the book. That means I have only one place to look for a record or reminder of activities. One book normally lasts me about a year. Then I file it to have a ready reference.

I photocopy both my notebook and address book, so if I lose them, I have a backup. A note on the front page offers my name and address and a $100 reward for its return.

You could take notes on a palmtop computer or in a Filofax-type notebook. I prefer handwritten notes because they're compact, and I can make notations when I'm with a client. I have a friend in advertising who keeps a separate notebook for each account. Any personal data base works if you make it work. The critical factor is to have a system and stick to it.

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