Go native without going nuts.

I’m sure there was a time when I would have been able to hop on a plane, fly to some distant shore, and touch down without a care in the world or a single high-tech gadget in my bag-but for the life of me, I can’t remember it. Chances are I was wearing size-three Keds and overalls at the time.

Nowadays, I don’t leave town without an arsenal of gadgetry, and my ability to follow my bliss depends dearly on keeping my gear powered, protected and connected. But it’s not always easy: Lack of international standards, weird connectors, underdeveloped networks and the winds of technological change all conspire to thwart even the most seasoned traveler. Here’s how to keep your gizmos in check, no matter where in the world you go.

Power up

Load your bag with all the gear you want, but it’s useless if it’s juiceless. Keeping your equipment charged and ready for action is the most important chore in high-tech travel, and it’s not always as easy as plugging in the right adapter. You may have plenty of outlets when you touch down in Beijing, but outlets (and even toilets) get a little more scarce when you head out for the countryside of Guangdong. Finer hotels in most of the world’s major cities now feature wall sockets with built-in power adapters, allowing forgetful travelers to plug in without a second thought. But it would be foolhardy to count on hotel hospitality when you’ve got real work to do.

At the very least, keep a universal power adapter in your bag, because chances are you’re going to need it. I’ve carried a Kensington Travel Plug Adapter ($20, kensington.com) for years, and it’s undoubtedly the most foolproof tool for matching your plugs to strange sockets. Just push any one of the little slides on the side to reveal a variety of connectors. For 10 bucks more, you can now get one with a USB charger added, so you can charge phones and PDAs from your notebook battery when you can’t find a wall socket.

If you rent a car, you’ve got all the power you need at your fingertips. A Belkin AC Anywhere 140-watt adapter ($40, belkin.com) lets you tap into your car’s 12-volt adapter (formerly known as a cigarette lighter) to charge up most laptops, phones and other mobile devices. But if you really want some power to play with, the 300-watt model ($60) can power something as large as a laser printer.

Plug patterns may vary from country to country, but the sun shines just about everywhere. The Brunton Solaris 26 ($400, brunton.com) can recharge your gadgets while you soak up some rays. At only 26 watts, it’s not powerful enough to run your notebook indefinitely, but it can slow down the rate of battery drain by trickle-charging it as you work, giving you an extra 20 minutes or so of uptime. Restoring a notebook battery from empty to fully charged can take anywhere from four to eight hours with one of these, but it’s better than being completely powerless. For smaller devices, such as iPods and cell phones, check out the Soldius Solar Charger ($80, sundancesolar.com).

Phone it in

International roaming has two very different meanings when it comes to travel and cell phones, because the farther away you wander, the harder it is to phone home. Even if you manage to get a signal on your handset, you’ll pay dearly in international roaming charges if you insist on taking your regular handset along. Frequent intercontinental fliers know all too well the hassles of incompatible networks, half-baked roaming agreements and sky-high bills. Here’s how to take the sting out of your cellular travel plans.

If the term “jet setter” actually applies to you, you probably already know all about world-band phones. Using frequencies of 800, 900, 1800 and 1900MHz, these quad-band handsets are designed to get a connection no matter where on the planet your boots hit the ground. If your business truly demands that you be constantly within reach of the office, then you need one of these. For Cingular and T-Mobile customers, the  Motorola RAZR V3 ($70-250, motorola.com) is a stylish and reliable choice. Verizon and Sprint customers have no real options, since the companies’ CDMA phones don’t work on international bands. (Both companies do, however, offer international phones and service plans under special leasing agreements, but these deals are more hassle than they’re worth.)

If international jet-setting is more of an aspiration than an actual vocation, you’d be wise to save your money and go native with your wireless calling. In just about every major city in Europe and Asia, cell phones practically grow on trees. You can step off a plane in Taiwan, Tokyo or Toulouse, pick up a cell phone at a convenience store, and talk all you want with local prepaid wireless calling cards. On my last trip to China, I grabbed a phone at the 7-11 inside the Hong Kong International Airport and carried it all the way up to Beijing and Tianjin. Each time I ran out of minutes, I simply purchased a prepaid China Mobile SIM card from a local street vendor, swapped it out for my previous one and started calling. All told, I spent only about US$80 on all my calls to home and the office for the week, including the cost of the phone. That’s far less than it would have cost to make the same calls from a hotel line, and I can reuse the phone on my next trip.

If your travels take you to more remote locales, you’ll need a little help from on high. Just a couple of years ago, outrageous prices would have made it unthinkable for most travelers to buy a satellite phone, but times are a-changin’. With phones for as little as $625 and basic calling plans as low as $40 per month,  Globalstar (globalstar.com) covers almost the entire northern hemisphere and much of the southern as well, leaving only southern Africa, India and parts of southeast Asia uncovered. It’s still the most expensive way to call, but the ability to get in touch in a pinch can make the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.

Get online

In most of the world’s top hotels, you can pretty much take Internet access for granted. But stray from the city (or get stuck in a fleabag inn), and your online options narrow quickly. With a little bit of planning, you can wander all you like without leaving the virtual world behind.

Internet cafés can be a lifesaver when you need to get online, but unless they let you connect from your own laptop (and some do), it can be frustrating at best. Before you leave, sign up for a free account with BeInSync (beinsync.com) and leave your home or office PC on. Then you can log in from any Web browser and access your important data from the other side of the world.

If your hotel doesn’t offer Internet access at all, you can still get online with a worldwide account from MaGlobe (maglobe.com). The $50 prepaid Globetrotter plan gives you 18 hours of international access using your laptop’s built-in modem. It’s going to be a mighty slow connection, but it’s better than nothing at all.

Thankfully, Wi-Fi networking has finally become ubiquitous enough that you can get online with your 802.11g-equipped notebook in many parts of the world. T-Mobile Hotspots (hotspot.t-mobile.com) have expanded beyond your local Starbucks or airport lounge, letting you connect in 22 different countries, from Jamaica and Bermuda to Hong Kong, Japan, Hungary and the Czech Republic. With nearly 22,800 locations worldwide, there’s a good chance you can find a hotspot wherever you’re headed.

Stay protected

You paid too much for your high-tech gear to let it languish at the bottom of a battered suitcase. Thanks to an ever more stylish array of luggage innovations, you don’t have to settle for a basic black laptop bag either. Fashion-conscious female travelers can sport their gear in style with the MobileEdge Komen Pink Notebook Tote ($199, mobileedge.com), and 10 percent of the retail price goes to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

For rugged individualists, Timbuk2’s Commute messenger bag ($100, timbuk2.com) is ready for action. Built for bike messengers, these bags are street tough, but packed with smart storage solutions for phones, PDAs, iPods and all your electronic gear. You can customize your own bag or pick from a range of standard designs.

Power-hungry executives will love the APC PowerReady Notebook Case ($50, apc.com), which features built-in conduits between pockets. Couple it with APC’s 75-watt Universal Power Adapter ($100), and you can charge all your devices without even taking them out of the bag. Just plug the main power cord into the wall and let your gear charge while you focus on more important things.

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robert strohmeyer is a freelance writer based in Northern California. Email Robert at editor@executivetravelmag.com.