HAS the road soldier’s virtual office fantasy gone too far?

First liberated in 1904 by Frank Rose, of Groton, NY, who invented the Standard Folding Typewriter, this portable beast was handmade of real steel and aluminum and lugged around in a black box with a handle – like a heavy, square suitcase.

The portable computer arrived on the scene decades later, severing business travelers from their desks and desktop PCs and Apples. The first Kaypros and Compaq portables were the size and weight of sewing machines but lost heft and girth as they evolved into notebooks.

This was followed by the Canon portable printer, cell phone (brick-sized at first), beeper, WiFi, Palm PDA, BlackBerry, Treo, CD player, IPod and now these slim-jim camera phones with speaker, text messaging, able to call Prague from Pasadena and watch the Sopranos episode you missed while you were in Toledo.

Too much to carry in a briefcase, this mountain of electronics sent luggage makers to their drawing boards a few years ago. They tricked out the roll-aboard bag and created the mobile office on wheels with handle, zippers, compartments for storing files, papers, gear, gadgets and power cords so business travelers can work anytime, anywhere, in any part of the world.

But Kenny Johnson, of Dallas, a former food service sales manager turned inventor, and his wife Melissa, an expert witness on workers’ compensation cases, have come up a with a clever idea. It’s not going to revolutionise the luggage industry – and I doubt Tumi or Samsonite is planning a knockoff.

But the Johnsons’ brainstorm walked off with a top innovation award at the Travel Goods Association show in Las Vegas last month.

It’s called Cartdesk and it let’s you set up shop in 10 seconds and go to work anywhere you can find something to sit on. Some nine years in kitchen-table research and development, Cartdesk is essentially a two-wheeled, zippered and compartmentalised rolling office bag with something akin to an airline first-class-size tray table, which flips down to become a mini desk, attached to its handle.

It holds a 17-inch screen laptop, supports 30 pounds and meets all airline carry-on restrictions. The bag is detachable from the desk.

The price for the combo bag and desk is a rather reasonable US$129, but a faux wood-grained desk is coming this year, probably at $189. Now we’re not talking bulletproof construction and materials, and it does not come with a lifetime guarantee. But Johnson isn’t touting it as indestructible, either. It goes on sale July 1 at www.cartdesk.com and (hopefully, for Johnson) at other retailers later this year.

Gadgets, not gimmicks

Don’t expect to see the Cartdesk at the four Edwards Luggage stores in Northern California (www.edwardsluggage.com).

Marty Reininger, a co-owner of 60-year-old Edwards, says gimmicks are eye-catching and newsworthy, but business travelers want everything lightweight and festooned with compartments.

He should know. Reininger is immediate past president of the National Luggage Dealers, an association of 200 luggage retailers.

So what are smart buys today? Anything small that fills the breach left when cost-cutting airlines take away things we need. Cocoon goose-down travel pillows (12 by 7 inches) and the Coolmax travel blanket are bright ideas because some airlines are jettisoning them. Plus, do you really know how well they’re cleaned?

Reininger says Coolmax’s lightweight fleece material is warm and insulating; a 6-foot-by-3-foot blanket runs $30, the pillows cost $28 and you can get a silk pillowcase for $10. All can be stuffed in a “stuff bag.”

“The jury is out” on the luggage line from Ricardo Beverly Hills that has a built-in scale in each piece to make sure you’re not exceeding the 50-pound-per-bag weight limit and surcharged. Ricardo’s idea also won a Travel Goods Association award.

Small and stowable is really in.

A little $25 hanging scale from Eagle Creek to weigh your packed bag makes more sense than a bag with a built-in scale that could be damaged by baggage handlers. Eagle Creek also makes mesh and nylon cubes and Pack-It Folders that are inexpensive, practical, hold everything and take up scant space.

From France with style

It’s tough to beat the French for stylish, craftsman-quality leather goods and Noreve St Tropez’s new leather Universal Laptop Briefcase is proof enough.

Known for its high-fashion yet practical leather carrying cases for cell phones and computers, this model handles a 17-inch laptop or a smaller model with room for cords and two document pockets. The computer rides securely and snugly thanks to 3/8-inch padding on both sides of its notebook compartment.

Crafted out of a high-grade leather, it has a flat bottom so it – and your computer – will stand rather than tip over. The inside is a smooth, almost silky cloth, the clasp is brushed metal and the leather strap is adjustable and detachable. The case comes in sizes to fit a 12-inch or a 15-inch computer and in black, camel, and, yes, pink.

The downside: Noreve’s designs and workmanship are so elegant, it calls attention to the case. So keep a close eye and firm grip on it when you are, say, rocketing through the Chunnel on the TGV, sipping a mimosa in first class on your way from London to Paris for lunch. Available on the Noreve Web site, www.noreve.com, for 210 euros – equal to about $260 plus $6.50 (and that’s all) for shipping it to the States.

Yet another reason to carry on

Pack light and tight or ship ahead because here’s some grim news: A Swiss airline consultancy says a record 30 million bags were lost in 2005, or 1 per cent of the 3.7 billion bags checked and boarded on airlines worldwide. Checked bags are at an all-time high, too.

You say the odds are still 99 per cent in your favor? Sure, but if that 1 per cent loss is your luggage with all your clothes, important possessions, samples or equipment, you’re 100 per cent out of luck.

Your bag may not be gone forever – but it might be. Some 240,000 “mishandled” bags were never seen again. The other 30.7 million lost bags were recovered an average of 31 hours later. But the stress, worry and sheer inconvenience make it seem a lot longer.

Some 61 per cent of the lost bags were “mishandled” while being transferred from one plane to another when the traveler has to make a connection.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation has said US airlines lose, on average, 10,000 bags daily – 23 per cent more than a year ago, and the worst record in 16 years.