I’ve always marveled at ultra-lite travelers — those people who take off on weeks-long international jaunts with seemingly nothing more than a change of shirt, underwear, socks, comb and passport. Their necessities could be sherpaed by a shih tzu. I, however, am the kind of traveler that gauges appropriate packing by zipper strength. If I can zip the bag shut and it doesn’t burst before it’s handed over to the TSA folks at the airport, then I have just the right amount of clothing and gear for a good time.

That doesn’t necessarily hold when it comes to what I’m hauling in my carry-on. In that department I’m the essence of minimalist. One carefully chosen book or magazine, a miniature tube of toothpaste, a single energy bar, a thin sweater, an empty water bottle to refill past security, and, of course, my notebook computer, without which life has no meaning (or at least no paycheck). I pack no computer accessories, however. Those get shunted into the suitcase.

That’s why I’m most curious about the Cruzer Contour U3 USB drives put out by SanDisk. SanDisk isn’t the only company selling U3 drives, but it is the one that created the spec. What U3 allows you to do is run applications directly from a USB flash drive.

For example, a 4-gigabyte model can hold your wallpaper, preferences, profiles and favorites and comes pre-installed with applications such as Skype, an email program, a Microsoft Word viewer and editor and a synching utility. You can download other apps, such as Firefox, or buy them. Then you simply plug it into that internet café computer next door to your B&B and up comes the environment you know so well. (Mind you, that environment has to be Windows; U3 doesn’t work with Linux or Mac, as of this writing.)

Interestingly, the reviews for the drives on PriceGrabber.com focus on their performance (yes, USBs do vary in how fast they work in read-write jobs) and the cool design, in which the connector retracts into the body of the drive (so you don’t have to worry about misplacing those goofy little caps you always get). Many of the reviewers uninstall the U3 functionality, because they’re not using the built-in apps — they just want a fast backup device — and it annoys them to have to shut it down each time they use the drive.

But me — I’m just looking for an excuse to leave that computer of mine at home. The meaning of life doesn’t have to be so heavy, does it?

Posted on January 7th, 2008 by dian