It’s the same every time: you think that you’ve got everything you need on your laptop and that you can do everything online, but once you get separated from your trusty desktop (presumably with an annoyingly slow wireless connection), you realize that you’ve forgotten to prepare some essentials that you can’t really work without.

Being on vacation right now, I’ve had plenty of time to reminisce about things I should have done and haven’t; the least I can do is share them with you. For the purposes of this article I’ve presumed that you usually work on a desktop, like me, and you’ve taken your laptop (with some sort of internet connectivity) with you on a trip somewhere.

1. Forward all your email accounts to a new Gmail account

If you’re anything like me, you have several email accounts - couple of Gmail ones, corporate ones, and some old ones which don’t even have (decent) web access. The best thing you can do is create a new Gmail account and forward all your other e-mail accounts to it. In fact, this is a good backup option even if you aren’t planning a vacation.

2. Load all essential apps to a USB flash drive

You’re used to fast Internet, and then you get stuck somewhere with GPRS-type speeds (10 K/s if you’re lucky), and suddenly downloading Winamp is a tedious task. Besides, all these “small” apps you’re using on everyday basis have gotten really fat since the last time you’ve cared about file size. It’s best to always have a USB stick with some essential applications ready.

3. Write *all* the passwords you need into one file and take it with you

You think you know all your passwords by heart? You don’t. You think you can access them all online? You can’t. Usually, at least 20% of the passwords you use are default passwords you’ve been given and you’ve never bothered to change them. Trust me, there’s only one way to be sure you’ll be able to access your stuff - write down all your essential passwords into one file and take it with you.

4. Transfer all your current bookmarks to your laptop

If you’re anything like me, chances are your bookmark count increases by the dozen every day, or at least every week. And, if - like me - you were lazy to install some sort of bookmark synchronization plugin, like the great Foxmarks, make sure you transfer your bookmarks to your laptop, or otherwise you’ll be banging your head against the wall trying to remember various web addresses all vacation.

5. For God’s sake, triple-check you’ve taken all the necessary chargers

Yeah, I know these are the basics. Somehow I always manage to screw up on this one, though.