Each summer, my family leaves the home office and road trips for two weeks. And each summer, I find myself gathering up the must-have tools to make my road trip successful.

There’s my laptop and my USB flashdrive with all my most current docs backed up. There’s my Gmail account, through which all my email flows — so I have every email sent or received out there close at hand.

There’s my USB mini-light to illuminate my keyboard or documents, for when I’m working in the early morning — but don’t want to wake the family. I also carry a small Monster power strip to turn one electrical outlet into five — to my laptop, Blackberry, digital camera, iPod (with the Monster cable to broadcast my tunes on the minivan’s stereo) and my family’s phones and accessories can recharge overnight. And there’s our Hampton Inn guide book, so we know where our favorite haunt is along the highway.

And they’re all packed away in my laptop backpack — neatly stashed and close at hand.

Unless the goal is to unplug completely from work, road trips shouldn’t kill productivity. I strive to be just as effective a soloist from the road as I am in the home office.

What’s your Digital Didyaknow? How do you make your travels a time of peak productivity — at least at those times that you want to scratch out a few moments of work? As I gear up for our vocation vacation, I want to learn more.

Let me know…

Coral Springs, FL (March 31, 2008) — Think you can’t take a month-long holiday and still keep your business or family finances from taking a permanent vacation? Think again. This summer, Home Office Highway: A Digital Adventure – will hit the road to prove vacation and vocation can travel hand in hand.

Setting off July 4th weekend in a recreational vehicle packed with the latest small office technology, Jeff Zbar and his family will showcase just how productive the modern family can be when traveling the nation’s highways. Wife, Robbie, will manage the family’s home finances. Their kids will stay connected with friends. And Zbar, a widely published technology columnist and author, will chronicle the adventure each day in blogs and videologues as the RV travels from up the Eastern Seaboard – and back again.

“We take a family road trip each summer, so I’m used to mixing vacation and work. This year I got the idea to share my experience with others, and show that through technology, you can leave home for vacation and take the office with you,” said Zbar, creator of the site ChiefHomeOfficer.com. “That’s how Home Office Highway was born.” Read More »

It was a dark and stormy night. Literally. The family minivan was rolling down Interstate 26 in South Carolina.

The hour was late, the weather was mean and we were in need of a hotel room. Stopping in this downpour was just not going to happen. Instead, in the passenger seat, Robbie had commandeered the laptop from the kids, paused Shrek playing on the laptop’s DVD drive, and began surfing the Internet to search for hotel rooms along the highway. The laptop was plugged into the 110 converter and powered by the car’s cigarette lighter, I mean, power port. And the Verizon wireless “aircard” was plugged into the computer’s USB port. Combined, we had non-stop broadband access to the information superhighway. Read More »

Home Office Highway isn’t a contrived road trip made to fake a road warrior’s life. This will be the real thing. As a vendor-sponsored tour and online exhibition, the Tour will showcase products and services that empower today’s remote worker and family. Led by veteran home officer and technology columnist Jeff Zbar, the Tour will reveal in very real terms how technology makes working and playing from the road productive – and fun.

WHERE VOCATION MEETS VACATION
Home Office Highway will be housed in a 28-foot recreational vehicle outfitted with the latest technology on the inside – and sponsor logos on the outside. Within the vehicle will be a fully functional remote office. Sponsor-supplied products will include those common to any home office or small business (laptop PCs, multifunction printer / fax / scanner / copier, battery back-up, external data storage, various USB accessories, PC security devices, PDA/wireless phones, global positioning satellite (GPS) devices, digital cameras, wireless routers / networking equipment, Bluetooth devices, laptop cases, organizational tools, etc.).

Scheduled for Summer 2008, Jeff and his family will pack their belongings – and his home office, and set off in an RV to explore the open road. Over one month, they will:

– Drive highly trafficked roads; visit popular destinations, theme and national parks, and beachfront sites; camp and live as a family – and create an undeniable “Wow!” factor everywhere they go.

– Connect via multiple laptops working on the latest wireless broadband service and linked by a wireless network.

– File dispatches, blogs and Webcam videologues to show how productive and connected a true “road warrior” – and his family – can be from the road.

– Visit sponsor locations to meet and discuss with consumers and media how sponsor products and services can improve productivity.

DESTINATIONS / MARKETS
Summertime on the highway can be a marketer’s bonanza. The Tour will log 3,000 miles during the peak summer travel season, traveling From Miami through Orlando, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Washington, D.C., the New York/Tri-State metro area and New England.

Ready to roll? Check back often to learn more about Home Office Highway. Trust me, it will be… A Digital Adventure!

I’m sitting in this idyllic beach house in Lavallette on the New Jersey Shore. My HP Pavillion laptop is open before me, with my Verizon USB720 broadband wireless modem plugged into the side and giving me broadband access on the company’s new Rev-A network. I’m blazing away. After a decade of playing the occasional road warrior, I’m finally getting the hang of traveling and working. Read More »