Imagine taking a three week trip. Then imagine packing the family — and home office — for that trip. The details are innumerable, intimidating and seemingly insurmountable.

From packing kids’ duffel bags for camp, and outfitting an RV for almost a month of workation, it’s a daunting task — for mom and dad alike. How to do it all? It reminds me of a quote I once got from someone when I asked what they wanted for the holidays? Overworked as she was, she said, “A clone, with insomnia.”

We’re eyeballing the RV with keen interest on where things should go for most effective ergonomics and functionality. Where should the home office be kept — when it’s not a home office? Where should the travelers’ stuff be stored on a vehicle with limited storage?

Thankfully, we have a few products that are helping organize the space. My Foray Mobile Office Workmate will stash one laptop almost all my accessories, and some files and paperwork. This way, when I’m ready to work, I just roll it out (from where yet, I still don’t know), open it up, pull out and power up the laptop, and — Voila! — I have an office.

I’ve put a batch of supplies behind the driver’s and passenger seats. One weatherproof storage container will stash all my printer paper, cartridges and the like. My inlaws — veteran RVers of more than 40 years — said to keep supplies in the shower stall, and fetch them as needed. Talk about maximizing space.

In tight quarters, whether it’s an RV-turned-home office or a Manhattan apartment or the corner of your den, the key is to improvise with a keen eye on functionality. We’ll make it happen.

I’m just waiting for the clone to show up.

As I walked the aisle of my local Office Depot, I wondered what I would need for my home office road trip. Laptops and routers, storage devices (for paper, pixels and docs) and organizational stuff. Just like I worked from home, really.

But then I saw it, and knew I had to have it. Knew I’d be lost — or at least in an entangled mess — without it. Velcro cable straps and the Ativa Cable Burrito. Absolutely.

Yet my wife had other ideas. After asking her to peruse RV Vacations For Dummies, I inquired what the top three items she said were Must Bring accessories. Robbie whittled it down to one: rubber gloves. Anyone who’s seen RV with Robin Williams knows where Latex gloves would come in — though he needed a hazmat suit. (Robbie’s other two items were a broom and binoculars to spot low-cost fuel from a distance. One suggestion there: GasBuddy.com). Read More »