Going back to school this fall

I used to hate autumn as a kid.

The end of summer meant the beginning of school – and nine months of misery for this below-average student. But I got over it. During college, fall meant escaping my summer job and returning to the world of so-called “higher” education. After graduation, it just meant the end of the warm weather.

This year is different.

For travelers who use technology, this autumn is a “back to school” event of sorts. Many of us are preparing to learn how to use a new computer operating system, Windows XP. Others will discover new sources of information that will help us have a better trip. Indeed, as our children or younger siblings head back to class, we’re about to learn a new set of skills for the road.

XPress Yourself. There are currently more than 50 books about Windows XP in the works, including the usual suspects such as Andy Rathbone’s Windows XP for Dummies and Paul McFedries’ The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Windows. Some are epic in length: Consider Ed Bott’s Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, which runs 1,500 pages. Some are just downright corny (Windows XP Home Edition! I Didn’t Know You Could Do That by Sandra Hardin Gookin).

Not to get off the subject, but I find that books for “Dummies” and “Complete Idiots” are usually bought by people who are either dummies or complete idiots, or both. I imagine anything I write won’t prevent them from supporting publishing franchises that cater to the lowest common denominator. So I won’t bother. I also can’t imagine why anyone would need 1,500 pages to write about Windows XP, which is one of the easiest-to-use OSs to come along in a while.

Should these books be part of your fall syllabus? Only if it’s something you can’t find in the exhaustive XP documentation that’s already available online or in the OS. Some people buy software “how to” books in order to make them feel better about their upgrade, but then never refer to them. My only advice is that if you buy the 1,500-page XP book, don’t take it on the road with you. It’s too heavy.

Wired Traveler Tome. If you travel overseas and can’t live without an Internet connection, then here’s a book you should consider adding to your reading list. It’s Don’t Panic, Ernst Larsen’s exhaustive listing of 3,000 Internet cafes in 143 countries. He also offers free online updates daily so that the book essentially never becomes obsolete. It costs $14.95 and can be ordered from Larsen’s website at Net Café Guide. When I wrote about Larsen’s book for the first time in another magazine, I neglected to mention the wonderful resource that Internet café’s can be, not only for connectivity, but also to get connected to other travelers who are wired (and I mean that both figuratively and literally). For a frequent traveler, one of these cafés can make the difference between a successful trip and an unsuccessful one.

Being Smart-and Plugged In. Ronni Eisenberg and Kate Kelly’s book Organize Your Business Travel: Simple Routines for Managing Your Work When You’re Out of the Office contains information that some wired travelers won’t find terribly interesting. For example, I could have done without the section on leaving kids at home, because that’s not a problem for me. I always leave mine chained up in the basement. I’m kidding – I don’t have any children. But there are some chapters, such as the one on “technology that keep you in touch,” that are excellent primers for newbie road warriors who want to get a quick rundown how to stay plugged in. I also liked the book’s format, which is small and easy to pack. (Cost: $10.95)

If you’re interested in a more advanced-level course on travel for the wired, try Why I Hate Flying: Tales For The Tormented Traveler by Henry Mintzberg (Cost: $16.95), which is a humorous treatise on the travails of air travel. It’s insightful, self-deprecating, and leaves you with a thousand good reasons to ask for a desk job. Will it make you a better tech traveler? Possibly. But it will definitely make you a savvier-if not a more cynical-road warrior.

How about you? Got any good books that have helped you with your technology when you travel? Let me know.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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