On-the-fly office: Transform your hotel room into a productive workspace with these essential tools

The truth about business travel is that the travel frequently gets in the way of the business. When you’re displaced thousands of miles from the workstation you use every day, your productivity can grind to a halt. To ensure that you don’t fall behind, we’ve rounded up some road-ready tools that deserve a spot in your carry-on. With these items, you can create a powerhouse workspace in any extended-stay suite.

If you’re a multimonitor user in the office, and you’re concerned about the limitations of working on the road, take heart: You don’t have to sacrifice all that screen real estate when you travel. Pair your laptop with the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421, a lightweight 14-inch LCD monitor that offers a reasonable resolution of 1366 by 768. Designed for portability, it’s powered by the same USB 2.0 cable that drives the display.

The Compass Mobile Stand for iPad by Twelve South is a stylish, compact folding easel that can hold your iPad in landscape or portrait mode, making it ideal for conducting hands-free FaceTime meetings and working easily with presentations and your favorite apps.

Flip down the secondary leg, and the Compass angles for comfortable typing on the iPad’s on-screen keyboard. Bonus: It works just as well on an airline seat tray or on a poolside table.

Traveling with sensitive data puts your files—and your business—at immense risk, so it’s critical that you take steps to secure them. The Lok-It Secure Flash Drive encrypts data with 256-bit AES for your peace of mind. An integrated numeric keypad offers operating-system-independent authentication, allowing for a level of future-proofing not found in driver-specific competitors.

As an extra layer of protection, the drive is encased in a waterproof aluminum shell. The Lok-It is available in capacities of 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB, priced at $62, $92, and $125, respectively.

Nothing hampers a client call or a videoconference with the home office like the buzz and clatter of ambient noise. With its noise-canceling microphone and acoustic echo cancellation, the Logitech Wireless Headset Mono H820e delivers audio so clear, you’ll have clients and coworkers convinced that you never left your desk. The headset works with unified communications platforms such as Lync, Skype, and Google Hangouts Pro, among others.

Touchpads are fine for use on a plane or in another compact workspace, but only a mouse will do in a fully functional work area. The wireless Microsoft Touch Mouse is equipped with a large touch-sensitive surface that supports multifinger gestures as well as horizontal and vertical scrolling capabilities. But what really sets it apart is Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology, which allows you to use it on the lacquered-wood tables and other glossy hotel-room surfaces that can confound ordinary mice. It’s also optimized for Windows 8.

Clients, staff, and family expect quick answers even when you’re traveling. The Pepwave Max On-The-Go router is a travel router that offers cellular 3G/LTE wireless access on top of Wi-Fi and ethernet WAN, so you’re always connected. It supports up to four USB modems. The Max On-The-Go is priced at $149 for the single-USB version and $399 for the model with quad-WAN load-balancing capabilities.

All those gadgets you’re toting on your business trip need something to feed their insatiable hunger for power. Light and compact, the Kensington AbsolutePower Charger has an outsize ability to charge your laptop, tablet, and smartphone simultaneously. Touted as the most powerful charger in its class, it offers up to 100 watts of power to the laptop and 2.1 amps of output to USB devices. Interchangeable “smart tips” make it compatible with major PC brands.

You don’t need to whip out a fancy study on how background music improves mood and focus to know that your favorite playlist is an essential productivity tool. To maximize its benefits, try the UE Boom, a portable Bluetooth wireless speaker that delivers 360-degree sound in a compact device. Rechargeable via a standard Micro-USB port, it offers 15 hours of music playback as well as speakerphone capabilities. The UE Boom is available in a variety of colors, too.

The Waterfield Gear Pouch is an excellent travel pouch for stowing your mouse, plus all the cables and power adapters you’ll invariably need. Equipped with two pockets, the pouch incorporates self-locking zippers to keep contents secure. It’s available in three sizes, priced at $19, $22, and $25, respectively.

Like your play to be as productive as your work? Check out these chargers, hotspots, and more to keep your gadgets going when you’re far from the modern world.