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The Laptop Question
Tue, 05/19/2009 - 14:56
JR2010
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My boyfriend and I are going to Europe next summer after we graduate from College. We’ll be gone for about three weeks and plan on keeping the cost of the trip as low as possible without skimping out on quality. We often travel throughout the United States on road trip (we live just outside of New York City and drive to Colorado/Seattle/Chicago often). The last two trips I’ve brough my laptop, but they’ve been road trips that we have driven through, no planes. If we have taken proper precautions about bringing our laptop in a hard case and whatnot, is it worth bringing to Europe?

Summer 2010
I am leaving from New York City with $5000 for 33 days
Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Madrid, Lisbon
Requesting help with Transport, Hostels, Budget, Itinerary, Nightlife, Sights
All By Myself
I am leaving from JFK and traveling for 92 days
Dublin, Belfast, Liverpool, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Venice, Rome, Nice, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Madrid, Bordeaux
Requesting help with Transport, Hostels, Budget, Itinerary, Nightlife, Food, Sights

Europe on a budget? Yes please!

Tue, 05/19/2009 - 17:14
#1
Don
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I love my laptop, but I don’t take it with me travelling — too much hassles. I have a wi-fi mobile phone, and just pick up mail and Skype whenever I get a free hotspot.

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 11:13
#2
swill
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This has been discussed quite a bit on the forums recently, so you may want to check out the comments there. In general the answer is No, don’t bring it.

The only reason to bring your laptop would be:

  • If you expect to spend more than 30 minutes a day on it.
  • If you don’t have a wifi phone and need internet every day.
  • You have to do a lot of writing and you are not used to european keyboards.
  • You want the extra exercise by making your pack 6 pounds heaver. Smile

I took both my laptop and my iPhone when I went. I did not need the laptop really at all. I ended up writing all of my blog posts on my iPhone cause it was easier to just sit down somewhere without having to ‘setup’ a laptop and having to worry about it if you had to go to the bathroom ect…

Stay at hostels with WiFi (almost all of them now) and you will have access to enough internet to plan stuff and keep yourself in the loop…

Wills First Eurotrip
I am leaving from Montreal, Canada with $1600 for 16 days
Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Florence, Nice, Barcelona, Paris

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