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Getting through airports can be a hassle at the best of times. But for those of us who have the gaul to take a laptop with us, an airport can be a real pain in the ass when traveling. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to ease the pain.

For starters, when you go through the check-in, the security goons are going to want to look at your laptop. It’s not that they think it could be a security risk, it’s just that the combined IQ of the three apes looking at your laptop doesn’t quite reach triple figures and… well… your laptop is shiny. If you are unlucky it will hold their attention for hours like a kitten playing with twine. It’s therefore best to make sure your laptop is in an easily accessible part of your hand-luggage so you can get it out and put it back quickly. This will save you a lot of time.

Remember also, that the security apes might ask you to turn on your laptop. They can’t really do it themselves because the buttons are usually too small for their stubbie fingers that look more like small tree trunks. It’s best to plan for this as turning your machine on and off can take up time that you usually need to be using running for your plane. It’s best to leave your laptop on ’suspend’ mode so it boots up quickly. This usually doesn’t take up too much juice. (more…)

What do you look for in a watch that you are going to be traveling with?

For us there are a lot of factors. It has to be reasonably tough because it will get knocked around a lot. That includes the band because watch bands always seem to get caught on your backpack straps when you are taking your pack off.

The watch needs to have an alarm so you can wake up to catch your flight or transport on time. A date function also helps with because it’s actually pretty easy to lose track of the date when you are crossing time-zones and datelines (just make sure you set the correct time and date when the pilot tells you what local time is before you land!).

Waterproof is also a given.

It also helps if it has a night light so you can see what the time is in the dark - usually some dingy hotel without running water or electricity!

It actually also pays if your watch isn’t too flashy or shiney. If you are sitting next to a tourist with a Rolex, guess which one of you just became a prime target for pick-pockets! (Hint - the guy with the Rolex).

Lastly, it needs to be reasonably cheap, because there is a very large chance that you are going to get your watch stolen, lost, destroyed, damaged and otherwise poorly treated.

This bad boy from Timex covers all of those bases. You can beat it up, trade it away or even get it stolen and at under $80, it isn’t going to be quite the devastating impact that losing a really topline watch can be.

Check out the vitals on this one over at EverythingHome.

The iRiver is probably our MP3 player manufacturer of choice here at Marco Gizmo.

Let’s just say that the iRiver is the MP3 player that people buy if theyr REALLY know about MP3 players.

The T10 is one of their more basic offerings.

Now, this unti only has a 512 MB capacity which is obviously not as great as many other MP3 storage devices, but there are a few things that may attract you.

For starters, it’s cheap - very cheap. At only $99 you are going to struggle to find too many comparable devices for a cheaper price.

The other thing is that, as we mentioned, iRiver products tend to be very good. and although at the bottom of the range this one is no exception.

Oh, and it has a funky colour display so you can see what’s playing.

If you need a basic MP3 player for a cheap price, then this is the one we would be going for.

Check it out over at buy.com

If you have ever considered doing a road trip in the UK, then do it! There is so much to see in the country that cannot be accessed by public transport that a road trip is well worth the effort.

But one of the possible drawbacks will be traffic jams, road conditions and the like. Luckily we have found a very cool website from the BBC that has all the information you are going to need.

BBC - Travel News is a site with road conditions, public transport and domestic travel conditions for the UK.

It even has a few traffic webcams so you can see what’s going on. In fact the website is updated continually so you’ll always have the latest travel reports.

Stick it in your bookmarks!

Knowing a few words in the local language is a key to opening the doors of hospitality in any country, and let’s just say that the Italians really know about hospitality.

The Complete Italian Learning Suite from Transparent contains a bunch of software that will get you up to speed in Italian pretty fast. It includes four programs for your computer as well as some audio CDs (which you can save to your PM3 player!).

There is an Italian flashcard program to help you develop your vocabulary and a reading comprehension program that helps you put that into practice.

There is also a verbal dictionary to help you with pronunciation and there’s a cool little visual interactive program that lets you navigate around a 3D environment. The large selection of programs will stop you having the same repetitive lessons and keep things interesting.

Overall the Complete Italian Learning Suite will certainly have you knowing the core elements of the language and that will open up a lot of doors for you when you get over there. After all, getting to know the locals is one of the best parts of travel!

Get it over at Transparent Language for $119.95