an iPad won't help OP much since the storage capacity is so small and the IOS makes file management rather difficult.

my suggestion: get a lacie rugged or western digital external hard drive. wd makes a version that's small, requires no power outled and has 2tb. every apple store has it, as well as the lacie rugged drives, which are a bit more expensive. throw that sucker into your bag. carry a bunch of 16GB or 32GB CF cards with you. you will run into someone every other week who will let you borrow their laptop for an hour, right? so connect the card reader you are carrying anyway, connect the USB port on the hard drive and download whatever images you can before you lose access to the laptop. done. you will never run out of space.

however: you lose the ability to edit images on the fly. unless you are really opposed to carrying a laptop, I'd throw in a mac book air with aperture or lightroom as well as the external drive. (airs have small hdd's.)

and then travel knowing that there are always more hdd's to be had anywhere you go.