Month long trip bring the laptop or not?

[imnontrad]

I have taken several trips of 4 weeks or longer - without bringing a computer along. All I had was my phone and everything was just fine. In addition, since I have T-Mobile, I had unlimited data in those other countries, as long as I had bars, I could connect directly to a cell tower. So no problems connecting to a hotel or other wifi network that may not be secure.
I do have a MS Surface at home in addition to a larger desktop and that surface rarely leaves home.

 

[Retired Expat]

Headed to Australia and New Zealand for a month long journey. Debating to bring my laptop or not. Everything financial is on the laptop/in the cloud. Feel like I am increasing a security risk if I use it. I did download NordVPN for my phone and I will use that all the time and I could hot spot the laptop to the phone.

I spend a lot of time browsing on the laptop which is not the point of the trip of course. Thoughts?

Recently, on a 3 week trip, I left the laptop home and only took my iPad. It was great! I use my iPad to read, get the news, pay bills, manage remote properties even watch TV. So much easier to travel with…. Unless I have a lot of writing to do, or need to really work on spreadsheets I hardly use my laptop since I got back. Probably could do it all on the the iPhone but it is just too small a screen however!

 

[skyking1]

I left it home on a 2019 cruise and regretted it. I had what was the small screen perfect storm.
A client that was parting ways with me, still had my servers going. They had taken over all the mundane desktop work and managed to get hit with ransomware which overwrote all the files in the Samba server.
I got the message as we were leaving Estonia bound for Stockholm, and I used the 4G until we got too far offshore. I helped them find the root incursion.
Early the next morning I had coverage again as we entered the achipelago, and in the 3 hours it took to get to Stockholm I had cleared out the directories and restored all the files and permissions from the backup server, using only my phone and putting in these dreadfully long strings of command line, and going blind proofreading them.
I have never missed 'tab complete' and a real keyboard more in my life.
That client was the last and is fully fired now.

 

[2017ish]

We bring two laptops on our trips, including the present 2.5 months in Fiji and NZ.

DW does extensive photography and her personal travel blog. I shoot underwater video. The editing/review process for each is extensive. I also use mine for quicken so as to avoid having to process weeks of transactions upon return (and to more easily keep an eye on balances in our checking and credit card accounts...)

Really missing my laptop after it died early in this trip, but are making do. Will have a couple days work on video editing and financial catch up when we return.

 

[1242Vintage]

I bring the laptop on trips.

I’m still doing a couple hours a week of post-retirement on-call consulting and need the laptop for that work.

I also bring a dress shirt (no jacket or tie though). Need to look half-way professional in the Zoom meetings … I do however let the background be whatever is behind me, even if it’s a beach in Belize!

 

[Scuba]

I always bring my phone, iPad, and MacBook Air. I use my phone and iPad when we are out and about, and also use the iPad to read books or play games at night. My Outlook email does not allow me to keep emails older than 30 days on my mobile devices. Particularly on long trips, I often need to access emails several months old. Also I can’t create any Word or Excel files on my mobile devices. Bottom line, I rely on the laptop to do things the other devices can’t easily do.

We are leaving for a two week trip soon and I’m going to try skipping the laptop and see how it goes. I think it will be fine, but I think I’d regret not taking it on our 2-3 month European trip this summer.

 

[2017ish]

I’d love to know how you go away for 4 weeks with just a carryon. We have a tour to Italy this year and I’m obsessing about how to pack because it’s for 16 days and we will be in hotels so no washer/ dryer, etc.Never mind toiletries for that long.

We do only carry on unless we are diving. We always travel with two laptops and DW's 35mm camera and 18-400 lens.

Perhaps the trip that stretched us the most on carry on was a 2.5 month trip to Santiago (fancy restaurants), Easter Island, Montevideo & Buenos Aires (more fancy restaurants), 3 week cruise to Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica, and a 35 day driving/hiking trip in Patagonia.

Another was a three week Italy trip that included his and her black tie clothing for a wedding. (But we still had room to stuff 4 bottles of wine in our bags for the train to Florence.)

How to do it? Buy tech clothing and an elastic braided clothesline. Do laundry in hotel/ship sink when needed, and dry it on the balcony or in the bathroom). Each of you need haircuts that require little or no maintenance. Wear the hiking boots and sports jacket on the plane. Get used to seeing each other in the same clothes.

 

[Scuba]

We do only carry on unless we are diving. We always travel with two laptops and DW's 35mm camera and 18-400 lens.

Perhaps the trip that stretched us the most on carry on was a 2.5 month trip to Santiago (fancy restaurants), Easter Island, Montevideo & Buenos Aires (more fancy restaurants), 3 week cruise to Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica, and a 35 day driving/hiking trip in Patagonia.

Another was a three week Italy trip that included his and her black tie clothing for a wedding. (But we still had room to stuff 4 bottles of wine in our bags for the train to Florence.)

How to do it? Buy tech clothing and an elastic braided clothesline. Do laundry in hotel/ship sink when needed, and dry it on the balcony or in the bathroom). Each of you need haircuts that require little or no maintenance. Wear the hiking boots and sports jacket on the plane. Get used to seeing each other in the same clothes.

You two are another of my travel idols!

 

[jayanu]

You may want to use 2FA until passkey becomes universal. Security while traveling is paramount!

 

[Yipper]

My Outlook email does not allow me to keep emails older than 30 days on my mobile devices. Also I can’t create any Word or Excel files on my mobile devices. Bottom line, I rely on the laptop to do things the other devices can’t easily do.

Outlook can definitely allow more than 30 days of email on your mobile device and you *can* create new Word and Excel files on mobile as well. Not sure why your situation is different but just know these are all possible.

 

[Car-Guy]

It's like American Express, I don't leave home without it.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I think the original question is a matter of personal preference. A laptop is simply not necessary for most of us. There are internet cafes everywhere. But I personally would not take a weekend trip without mine unless I were camping.

With partner retired and my retirement imminent and a few trips planned we are actively pursuing the carry-on only lifestyle. I've replaced in my huge noise cancelling over earphone that I got for covid and have loved on flights with noise cancelling buds for travel to reduce space and ordered a new smaller laptop that requires much less in terms of chargers and cable. This was driven by my current laptop dying yesterday rather than travel though. Planned replacement was next year so not a big hit.

 

[Trooper]

I still bring mine when we go away for more than a few weeks, especially if via car. If I fly I probably wouldn't. Certain tasks are so much easier on a laptop.

Also, if you're a Vanguard customer and want to trade bonds TBills or CDs, you can't on its mobile app, at least Android's. Only mutual funds stocks or ETFs.

 

[audreyh1]

I still bring mine when we go away for more than a few weeks, especially if via car. If I fly I probably wouldn't. Certain tasks are so much easier on a laptop.

Also, if you're a Vanguard customer and want to trade bonds TBills or CDs, you can't on its mobile app, at least Android's. Only mutual funds stocks or ETFs.

Except that you can use their internet browser interface on any mobile device. I certainly can with Fidelity on my iOS devices. I’ve bought Tbills on my iPad via the Fidelity web page.

 

[Trooper]

Except that you can use their internet browser interface on any mobile device. I certainly can with Fidelity on my iOS devices. I’ve bought Tbills on my iPad via the Fidelity web page.

Good point I will check that out.

 

[Chuckanut]

Except that you can use their internet browser interface on any mobile device. I certainly can with Fidelity on my iOS devices. I’ve bought Tbills on my iPad via the Fidelity web page.

+1

 

[Car-Guy]

I'm take mine most every trip. Still use my smartphone for the small stuff but I'll pull out the laptop for serious or extended use. Most hotels where I stay have free (and easy) wireless access these days so it's nice to have it if I feel like surfing in the evening.

 

[Flyfish1]

Just a follow up after 26 days of traveling to Australia and New Zealand. Great trip - super happy and not even that jet lagged today after arriving on the US East Coast at 11 pm last night. Anyways, on the trip I opened my laptop twice! Huge waste of time and weight for me to bring it. My wife did use hers more than I did, but I mainly used my phone the whole time. We both had Nord VPN running the whole time. For future trips I might bring an iPad or a tablet. Also, I never looked at my investments on the entire trip, a big change for a guy who watches the accounts daily. Just my thoughts...

 

[TheWizard]

Flyfish Is right.
A good smartphone is all you need nowadays, assuming personal travel, not business travel.
Also assuming you have good enough vision to use the various websites and apps that you need.

And I tend to use my financial apps no matter where I am.
I pay off my CC balances, move money from checking to my taxable Vanguard account, set up limit orders.
It hardly matters where I am in the world anymore...

 

[brett]

What do you use for a phone then ?

In foreign countries I swap the sim (usually get google FI now as it's great).

We have only used our phone (we very seldom even take it) once in 13 years of frequent international travel. A large number of those trips were 6-9 weeks in length.

That was last year in Portugal. We had the phone because we did some travel at home before flying.

I did buy a 30 day sim card from Vodophone. 10E I used the phone exactly once. Only becauase I had it. I could have easily done what I needed to do on my ipad.

 

[TheWizard]

We have only used our phone (we very seldom even take it) once in 13 years of frequent international travel. A large number of those trips were 6-9 weeks in length.

That was last year in Portugal. We had the phone because we did some travel at home before flying.

I did buy a 30 day sim card from Vodophone. 10E I used the phone exactly once. Only becauase I had it. I could have easily done what I needed to do on my ipad.

So maybe it depends on how you use your smartphone for data based applications in the US, not just voice calls.
I use mine considerably, as in typing this reply.
If so, and if you have Google Fi (or similar) then it hardly matters where you are in the world...

 

[OldShooter]

Yes, the phone may be essential or not depending on how you use it.

We use almost no data, but we do use AirBnB lodging frequently. Contacting the host for information on finding or getting into a property is an essential use of a phone

We often use private guides, so the phone again is essential for making and maintaining contact.

Amen on Google FI. When we land we are connected. No messing with SIMs. This was a huge help in Vienna a couple of years ago. DW's bag was lost and to work on that problem we had to stay in the baggage quarantine area. Our private guide was on "the outside" beyond the exit doors. Planning to buy a SIM card would have done nothing for us, but having Google Fi made establishing contact trivially easy.