Work & Travel: Tech packing listYou are in: Work & Travel Australia › Travel

As a traveler, it is kind of an art to pack as compactly as possible and take as little as possible with you. But if you still want to continue developing, working on the laptop or even playing a game or two, then dismantling the desk from your own apartment and restricting yourself in your luggage feels like a challenge. Still, I have managed to put together a setup that allows me to do pretty much anything technical when traveling if I want to. Choosing the right laptop was particularly important.

My desk and “gaming setup” on the go

When I was looking for a laptop to replace my now obsolete Dell XPS 13 from 2015, I came across the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14. In exchange for a lot of cash, ASUS gives you one of the smallest yet most powerful laptops on the market. A 14-inch 2K IPS screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, an AMD Ryzen 9-6900HS octa-core with 3.4 GHz, 16 GB of expandable DDR4 RAM and an AMD RX 6800S graphics card leave nothing to be desired. The built-in SSD offers one terabyte of storage, although I immediately upgraded to two terabytes.

Although current games cannot be played on the highest settings and resolutions, the Microsoft Flight Simulator is playable on the device with reasonable settings as long as you survive the loading screen and perceive the fan noise as an additional aircraft engine. I have not been able to find any deficits for developing so far, which is why I can recommend the laptop for mobile gaming and working apart from a few minor problems (of course only with a suitable laptop bag).

To be able to work on a laptop seriously, it requires a mouse for, as it makes working much more comfortable. I initially thought about getting a small travel mouse, but in the end I decided to take my Logitech MX Master 3 with me, which secured in a right case does not suffer any damage in the backpack. Last but not least, I also bought a small mini-joystick for the Flight Simulator, since landing with the keyboard was impossible. I don’t really want to take larger controllers with me, but maybe I have to look around for an alternative with a better quality.

Smartphones and tablets

A Google Pixel 4a 5G is currently my daily driver when it comes to smartphones. In addition to “naked” Android, 5G and an AUX output, it can be connected with two SIM cards at the same time thanks to its Dual SIM functionality. In addition to a local physical SIM card, I can always have my German SIM activated, which I continue to use, for example, to receive codes for two-factor authentication. For this I canceled my German smartphone contract, got a prepaid eSIM card from EDEKA smart and moved the phone number to the new operator shortly before leaving Germany.

Additionally I have a Google Pixel 3a in my luggage. The reason for this is that the smartphone is essential to get from A to B or to connect with people. I do not want to be unprepared and always have my old smartphone with me as a backup.

A tablet has also been part of my luggage since Australia, namely an iPad 9th generation. This is primarily used for testing iOS apps, but it has also proven to be practical as an e-book reader.

Other peripherals

Otherwise, I do not have that much technology with me. For listening to music, both Bluetooth headphones and wired headphones are in my luggage, as well as a powerbank with a capacity of 10000mAh, with which I have always been able to survive a day.

As a camera, I primarily use my Google Pixel 4a 5G, as it takes pretty good photos even in bad light. For more or for example underwater photos, I bought the DJI Osmo Action 3 with a few accessories and brackets. This should serve as a vlog camera, although I am currently not pursuing this idea any further. So let us see when it will be used more regularly.

Cables, connectors and adapters

No good technology setup without cables and adapters! The most important thing is of course the travel plug adapter, which I can use to charge my stuff almost anywhere in the world. This also has three USB-A and one USB-C output on the bottom, so I always use it to charge my smartphone, iPad, headphones, etc. and no longer use the USB power supply I brought with me. As a result, my compact multiple socket has not yet been used as well, which I do not think will change anymore.

When it comes to cables, I’m ready for pretty much anything:

• Charging cables for laptop and e-shaver (fortunately everything else has USB-C)
• 3 USB-C cables (both USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A)
• 1 short micro USB cable (for the mini joystick and emergencies)
• 1 HDMI cable (to be able to connect the laptop to a TV)

Overview

Below you can find all the technical equipment in a clear list.

You want to know what else is in my luggage? Then follow this link to my packing list.