I've been very fortunate in my career to have traveled allover the world for business: London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong andmany places in between. The challenges we all face when on the roadis finding ways to work remotely while doing the work that needs toget done.

In today's flooded technological arena, there are a multitude ofoptions for supporting a continuous work ethic.

Because I love technology, I feel lucky to have worked forsomeone who was a kindred spirit and, as my boss, often let me testout new gadgets to find ways to improve our collective productioncapabilities on the road. Such forward thinking is not as easilyaccepted in this economy, so when I left that position and began myown business, I realized my shorter purse strings would result infewer toys. Of course, I wasn't traveling as frequently or as faranymore, so I had less of a need.

Technology's styptic pencil

Like all entrepreneurs, I was a combination of CEO, chiefoperating officer, chief information officer and chief cook andbottle washer. But the real determining title was chief financialofficer, which put parameters around my technology-buyingdecisions. No matter how cool the new gadget was, budgets forced mybleeding edge lifestyle to get cauterized.

Related: Read the previous column by Rick Gilman“Websites Optional.”

For the most part, my trips were short and few between, so myneeds were manageable and I adjusted. And then about a year and ahalf ago, things changed.

An awesome turn of events

My son often triggers many of my writing topics. You might alsoknow that my son is starring in the major motion picture “MoonriseKingdom.”

When Jared was cast as the lead back in March 2011 and welearned he would be up in Rhode Island for two and a half monthsshooting, my wife needed to make life in a small hotel suite feellike “home” for 10 weeks—and I needed to figure out how to makebeing there or traveling there by train (4 hours one way) workable.I was a visitor and not the “designated” parent on set. As I tellour friends, someone had to stay home and take care of the pets andwater the plants.

Although my circumstances are unique, the idea of findingsolutions to support an on-the-road lifestyle is not.

Not every solution will have the same optionacross different platforms. I won't apologize for operating on anApple platform, but I will mention other options when I knowthem.

Like many of you, I began with a desktop computer in my officeand a laptop for general work when visiting clients. Because a lotof my “away” involved the 4-hour train ride to visit my family inRhode Island, I needed a good Wi-Fi hotspot for accessing theInternet no matter where I was. Because I was traveling throughdifferent tower groupings, it was difficult to determine whichcarrier would be the strongest. I decided to double mychances.

My cell phone is an iPhone, which at the time was only availablethrough AT&T. I therefore purchased the Verizon Hubspot, whichallows connection of up to five devices at a single time.

I pay $50 per month for 5GB of data and when I was with myfamily in the hotel, we all could access the Internet from itwithout any issues. The hotel did provide free Wi-Fi but at afrustratingly slow speed.

Cloud's illusions

Because I was now doing a lot of work on both my desktop andlaptop, carrying my files between the two via thumb drive provedless than efficient. I started looking at cloud options. As anApple user, MobileMe would have been a solution, but the companywas in the process of closing down MobileMe and I didn't know forsure what would take its place, how much it would cost or howeasily it would work. Instead, I purchased a 50 GB Dropbox accountfor $99 per year.

Related: Read another column by Rick Gilman “TheWhy of Business.”

Dropbox is loaded on all of my devices, including my iPhone, andgives me access to my work files anywhere at anytime. If I'm usinga computer that isn't mine, I can access the same files through theInternet on my account site. Two of the features I particularlylike have less to do with my business and more to do with my son'scareer.

Since finishing the movie, his new agent has been sending him onauditions. Sometimes the casting director is not in New York and wetape the audition. If you've ever created a movie with your webcamor camera phone, you know that the edited file can be too large toemail. Dropbox allows you to send public links to specific files inyour Dropbox so recipients can download the file. Or you can createfolders to share with specific people, allowing you and as manyothers as you invite to collaborate on work sharing the samefiles.

Tablet time

As part of my son's responsibilities to the movie, heparticipated in press junkets and publicity activities to promote“Moonrise Kingdom.” The first, and the most exciting, was in May,when the film opened the Cannes Film Festival in France. Jared didthe photo call with hordes of cameras going off, answered questionsat the official press conference, walked the red carpet andparticipated with his co-star in more than a hundred interviews.According to Interceter.net, Jared has averaged 9.5 new articlesper day for the past month.

I mention this not just to brag, but to demonstrate that mylifestyle, like 87 percent of the world's population, is mobile anddespite the portability of laptops, my MacBook Pro is big andheavy. An iPad would be less cumbersome and when the new one cameout in April, I bought it.

Although it doesn't have all of the functionality of a fullcomputer or laptop, it serves 80 percent of my work needs. I haveDropbox, Pages, Numbers and Keynote to access or create Word, Excelor PowerPoint-compatible documents. I downloaded Onlive Desktop,which gives me access to Microsoft Office in the cloud for workingin the native platform.

Related: Read the column “A Thousand Words” by RickGilman.

The last item I'll mention is 1Password by AgileBits.com. Again,it's loaded on all my devices and synced across them, whichprovides me with easy, secure access to all my password-protectedwebsites, accounts and information.

Not only does it automatically open and access sites that Ivisit, it captures new usernames and passwords I create for newaccounts. It can generate impossibly complex passwords that can'tbe hacked and then sync it with my devices so I don't have to dothe Post-It note routine.

Not the only game in town

For every solution I chose, there are one hundred others toconsider. Like fingerprints, I don't think you'll find two setupsfrom soup to nuts that are identical. Although needs may besimilar, people are not. Although you'll base much of your decisionabout technology on the estimated return on investment, ease ofimplementation and integration into existing systems, some of thatdecision is personal and emotional—if not at the enterprise systemlevel, then definitely at the mobile and personal level.

This column was certainly personal for me, based on my passionfor technology and the journey I took building my support system,as well as my passion and love for my son and the incrediblejourney he is just beginning. If you haven't already seen “MoonriseKingdom,” check your local listings for a theater near you.

I'll leave you with this question: “What kind of bird areyou?”