Travelling with power

12/12/2005

So there I am in Chicago’s Midway airport, along with maybe a billion other folks. They had only one runway open, because of the unfortunate incident the day before when the Southwest jet skidded off the runway.

Now Midway, like many crappy airports these days, doesn’t have a lot of power outlets available for public consumption. So here’s this one outlet on a corner near my gate, but both sockets are filled. One set of guys is watching a movie on their PowerBook (looked like Monty Python), and the other fellow is trying to recharge his cell phone.

Not a problem. I whipped out my orange, Home Depot special grounded triple-tap plug, and asked if I could join in. They expressed a little shock that I travelled with a triple-outlet adaptor, but I was able to plug the cell phone guy in on my adaptor, then plug in my own PowerBook and cell phone.

Hey, it’s easier than carrying a full outlet strip. And comes in very handy in other countries when you’ve only got one EU->US adaptor, and need to charge up your laptop, iPod, cell phone, etc.

Battery life: the new frontier.