First, thanks for the great advice.
But, any ergonomic advice at all for MacBook/MBP users (aside from just don't do it)? E.g. can anyone recommend a good keyboard replacement or app or something else?
Oh, my main machine is a MacBook. The secret is to realize that laptops are for occasional use in libraries or lectures or hotel rooms, not for real work. It turns out that there really is a reason why pros work in real offices with real desks instead of at a table in the local coffeeshop.
To save yourself from your Macbook, pretend it's a desktop as much as you can. Buy an external keyboard. (I recommend the Kinesis, of course, but even a cheapo standard keyboard is better than the one on the notebook itself.) Buy the nifty Ergotron arm that lets you sit the laptop, open, on a tray and then move the tray around in space until the screen is at the proper height and distance. (http://www.provantage.com/ergotron-45-192-194~7ERGT06R.htm )
Now, since you're stuck at a desk anyway, buy a real monitor -- I have a 20" widescreen -- and another Ergotron arm (they have very nice 2-packs -- follow links from here: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000959.html) and mount that on your desk, then have the laptop drive it as a second monitor. Now you are more productive, because you have more screen space, and you also have a real desk with a real keyboard that you can mount where it needs to be: in your lap.
The problem with laptop keyboards isn't the keyboard, per se; it's the fact that the thing is attached to the screen. You either have to stare down into your lap or raise your arms almost to the level of the screen. Either of these things can eventually cripple you. Obviously, your mileage will vary depending on how old you are, how much you type, your physical condition, your genetic heritage and the phase of the moon -- but, once you even start to think that you're feeling pain, you should immediately get serious about ergonomics.
I've been thinking about how to travel and still get work done. It's not an easy problem to solve. Carrying around my Kinesis and some sort of contraption that lets me elevate the laptop and its screen would be great. A sort of clamp-on, foldable, lightweight, portable keyboard drawer that could attach to the edge of a hotel desk and hold the keyboard at lap level would be truly great... though perhaps rather difficult to implement.
I'd strongly encourage you to rent some screens and a keyboard while you're abroad, buy them (used, if possible) and sell them used when you leave, buy them abroad and ship them home to yourself, ship them to your destination and then ship them back...
Whether or not you will be able to find any desk space abroad is, of course, a different problem.
Keyboards and monitors are now lightweight and cheap. I'm hoping to make this fact work for me when next I need to relocate temporarily...
