Gack! I'm so glad it wasn't worse!
I did this once with a laptop and one of those silly PC card dongles for an ethernet interface. (This was before laptops routinely came with ethernet on board.) It worked, despite broken plastic and bent pins (carefully bent back into place) until the laptop was stolen about a year later.
Just keep an eye on it, be very careful about moving it while it's plugged in, and replace the silly travel hub as soon as possible.
I, too, HATE the connector on the bottom of the iLiad. That's right up there with lack of sleep mode in design errors, to my mind.