Bringing Your Laptop Computer

Unless you're in really bad hotels, it should be OK if you take some precautions. Don't leave it out in plain sight.

But laptops can be a hassle and limited in their usefulness depending on what he wants it for. For e-mail and web access, Internet cafes are probably better. For downloading digital photos, they can be nice to have.

We took a laptop with us, and it was essential to have. We used it for work (minimal!), e-mail, Skype, uploading our photos and videos, managing our iPod audio tours, calendar, checking travel websites, etc.

We never took time out of our day to do any of this, so an Internet cafe wouldn't have worked for any of the stuff that wasn't specific to our laptop. We just spent a few minutes every day or two just before bed.

Security was never an issue. We always just buried it in our duffel when we left the room, just in case.

Just make sure that the power adapter is up to 240V, so you can get away with a European adapter, rather than a voltage converter.

Leslie H, you do mean a Voltage Converter don't you???

Nancy, my suggestion would be to leave the Laptop at home, as these tend to have a high "worry factor" (theft, damage) and if he just wants to check E-mail or whatever, Net Cafes are a far easier choice. Depending on what Hotels you're using, you may or may not have Wi-Fi or Internet access, so he'd be forced to use it only "offline".

One of the other problems with Laptops is that children might have a tendency to sit there pounding away on the Keyboard for hours on end, rather than experiencing the sights that you're spending thousands of dollars to see.

So far I've avoided travelling with a Laptop, and I don't see that changing anytime soon (I do use an I-Pod Touch though, just for checkng E-mail where Wi-Fi is freely available).

Happy travels!

I bought a sumcompact computer stricltly for travel. But after getting it, I've decided to take it when it's absolutely necessary for work, and stick with my Palm TX for personal trips. It has built in wi-fi, games, mp3 player, takes an external SD card, and enough memo/calendar software to keep all my info I need for my trip.

And as its been said before, Europe is to be seen, not a place to spend hours chatting or playing games.

The only issue that it different about bringing a laptop to Europe is making sure it will work on 230V and I would be shocked if any laptop manufactured in the last 10 years wouldn't - this is easily checked anyway as others have said above.

Other than that the pros and cons are the same as travelling in the US, you have the same security issues and the same transport issues. I personally never travel with my laptop because it doesn't suit my travel style but I know some people who never leave home without it.

On our recent trip, I didn't have my laptop with me and we regretted it. Not only would it have been useful for email purposes, we could have used it to find restaurants and directions in the various cities. I felt that it would have been cumbersome to bring, and I think it might have - but the next time I think we'll endure the inconvenience of the extra weight and bring it to enjoy the convenience of being in touch.

Ken - Oops, yes, I meant voltage converter, and I have corrected my post. Thanks.