Easy access: It is possible to print directly from some digital camera memory cards

It?s not unusual for business travelers to carry a laptop, a BlackBerry or an organiser, but few carry printers. Nonetheless, being on the road doesn?t mean you won?t need hard copy.

Depending on where you are, getting documents or photographs at a hotel room, a conference room or even in the front seat of a car can be almost as easy as printing them at your home or office. There are a number of options, including portable printers, service bureaus, hotel printers and, for photographs, local drugstores.

Portable printers come in two basic flavours: photo and general purpose. Canon, Hewlett-Packard and other companies make specialised portable printers for photographs. A photo printer could come in handy if you need to print photographs at a conference, a party, a client?s office or a hotel room. But if you have time and transportation, you may be better off using a photo kiosk like those popping up at drugstores, Wal-Mart stores and other locations. Most accept standard digital camera memory cards; some take CDs, floppy disks or USB flash drives. HP and Canon offer mobile printers that can produce 8.5-by-11-inch text documents as well as photos. Both also support an optional adapter for wireless printing from a Bluetooth-enabled PC, organiser or cellphone. A Compact Flash card slot makes it possible to print directly from some digital camera memory cards.

As with photos, there are ways to print text documents without having to carry your own printer. Many hotels have business centers with laser or inkjet printers. It can sometimes be difficult to connect them to your own laptop or organiser, but there is usually someone there who can help you find a solution.

You may be able to transfer the file on a USB flash drive. An alternative is to e-mail your document to someone at the business center or the hotel?s front desk and ask them to print it. If the hotel has a PC connected to the Internet and if you have Internet access from your device, an easy solution is to set up a Web-based e-mail account at a free service like Yahoo or Hotmail, and e-mail the document to yourself. You can then log on to your e-mail account at the hotel?s computer and print the document.

If formatting is important or if the document is a PowerPoint presentation or an illustration, you can save it as a portable document format, or PDF, file. Macintosh OS X supports creating PDF files without additional software.

Several companies specialise in helping hotels, airports and other places offer wireless printing for guests and visitors. Each location has a unique Web address that travelers can use to route their documents to a printer. Documents are stored in memory in the printer until the guest enters a code to release them. When you enter your location at the Web site, it finds a connected printer near you. The service works with any Internet-connected device, including e-mail-enabled cellphones and organisers; it does not require drivers or other software. Hotels buy a small keypad device, which is placed near the printer. A user who has routed documents to the printer enters a code to start printing. Some stores allow you to plug your laptop directly into the printer.

Windows users have the option of downloading software at fedexkin kos.com/fpkf. This installs a special printer driver that routes your job to any FedEx Kinko?s office. You can pick it up there or have the documents delivered by Federal Express. One advantage to FedEx Kinko?s and other remote printing services is that you can route documents before you leave your office. This can save shipping charges and space in your luggage if you need multiple copies of large documents. (NYTNS)