Traveling With a Laptop; Should You Bring Your Laptop When You Travel?
Traveling With a Laptop; Should You Bring Your Laptop When You Travel? To laptop or not to laptop huh?! A tricky question indeed. This is an issue close to my heart, one that thought long and hard about before first hitting the road. When I first started my blog (it only takes about 20 minutes, and $20 or so to start a blog, check out how to start a travel blog in my step-by-step guide here) I knew I’d need to ‘work’ on the road. But then you run the risk of losing it, or damaging it. You better hope your digital nomad insurance covers it. Maybe it’s better not to bring it along?
For years I fought with the idea, and finally came to some conclusions. Check them out below. First, let’s look at some of the pros and cons involved with bringing your laptop:
Table of Contents
CONS: Why You Should NEVER bring a laptop on vacation:
HASSLE
Generally, you have to carry it in your hand luggage to avoid some underpaid and overzealous local transport employee hurling your backpack and smashing your laptop into a million pieces.
WEIGHT
Laptops can be pretty hefty and are normally a couple of kgs additional weight to lug around with you. Do you want to cart around a MacBook on your 3 days in Bangkok?
FEAR
For me, this is the worst of all problems when bringing your laptop on holiday. The constant mental task of trying to keep your laptop safe from theft and damage. It’s got to always be on your mind. Where did you last leave it. Can someone pinch it. Will it get damaged. $2k or so of gear to worry about is something many prefer to do without.
MINDFULNESS
Whether on holiday or on a long backpacking trip, maybe this is your time to switch off. All our lives we’re stuck in some kind of stream. Finally your latest adventure can offer a break from that. Focus on the moment. Maximise the freedom. Stay screen-free.
PROS: Why You Should 100% Bring Your Laptop When You Travel
ONLINE
You have access to everything from home. Emails, banking, logistics. You don’t have to worry about what’s going on.
NETFLIX
What better way to avoid hitting the booze for yet another night than settling down with your mate for a Bridget Jones session The Godfather trilogy. A laptop can keep you on the straight and narrow. Of course, you can use your phone, but no one likes watching full movies on their phone!
PICTURES & VIDEO
With your own laptop, you can edit and upload your pics properly the same day as taking them. You can use your phone of course, but the editing functions are limited.
BOREDOM
Believe it or not, traveling isn’t all bungee jumps and foreign beers. Many evenings you’re left at a loose end. With your laptop, though you’re rarely bored. You can blog, play games, read books. Anything to keep your sanity so far from home.
So Should you bring your laptop on vacation?
It comes down to 2 things:
- The length of your trip
- Why you are traveling
If you’re trip is a weekend break, or something similar, your phone will more than suffice. If it’s a week or longer, then you’re getting into laptop territory. Work emails, edits, banking etc. That being said, if your holiday is a holiday, then leave it at home regardless! That brings me to the final point.
Why are you traveling. If you’re a blogger, or a digital nomad, or want to become one of those then 100% you need your laptop. I left to go traveling with 0 in my bank but I had my laptop. By the time I finished my ‘every country’ journey, I had $2m of online income made. All because I brought my laptop on holiday. So yeah, if you want to hustle, you can’t do that only from your phone. Bu the hustle comes at a price. Being online, never truly disconnected, never on holiday. That was a worthwhile sacrifice for me personally. Only you can decide if its for you.
Remember, never travel without travel insurance! And never overpay for travel insurance!
I use HeyMondo. You get INSTANT quotes. Super cheap, they actually pay out, AND they cover almost everywhere, where most insurance companies don't (even places like Central African Republic etc!). You can sign-up here. PS You even get 5% off if you use MY LINK! You can even sign up if you're already overseas and traveling, pretty cool.
Also, if you want to start a blog...I CAN HELP YOU!
Also, if you want to start a blog, and start to change your life, I'd love to help you! Email me on johnny@onestep4ward.com. In the meantime, check out my super easy blog post on how to start a travel blog in under 30 minutes, here! And if you just want to get cracking, use BlueHost at a discount, through me.
Also, (if you're like me, and awful with tech-stuff) email me and my team can get a blog up and running for you, designed and everything, for $699 - email johnny@onestep4ward.com to get started.
Do you work remotely? Are you a digital nomad/blogger etc? You need to be insured too.
I use SafetyWing for my digital nomad insurance. It covers me while I live overseas. It's just $10 a week, and it's amazing! No upfront fees, you just pay week by week, and you can sign up just for a week if you want, then switch it off and on whenever. You can read my review here, and you can sign-up here!
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