Laptop --To bring or not to bring--and what to bring it in?

Is there a special reason to bring it other than to stay connected by email? That could also be done at an internet cafe. Even my husband who will spend a week in Rome on business before we go on a family tour of Italy is considering to leave his laptop at home. He is not too keen on lugging it around. You do need a special case for it that is an extra piece of luggage to take care of. You cannot carry on 3 pieces of luggage and would have to check in one of them.

We always bring one, mostly because one of us almost always has to contact work through VPN at least once when we are away and also to download pictures from our cameras. Whether you need to bring yours or not is up to you, if just for email, then its not worth it. There is some added stress if you take it with you, making sure you have it locked up in some safe way when you can't keep it with you.

I brought a Samsung Q1 UMPC on our last Europe trip to Italy. It was great! We were able to call home using Skype, looked up places to go at night, and I even edited some pictures to pass the time on the flight home. We were staying in american brand hotels and were able to get free internet using my job's Ipass account. It was definately worth it for me, but if there is no WI-FI readily available in your hotel at a price that you like, it would then perhaps be better to leave it behind. I found lots of WI-FI in Germany and France (McDonald's had free WI-FI), but Italy may be more limited. My PocketPC with WI-FI worked great too and we used Skype over that as well.

If all you need is to to occasionally check email and do some light web browsing, consider picking up an iPod Touch. It has an excellent web browser and very good email capabilties, assuming you can find a place with Wi-Fi. Plus you can use it for listening to Rick's free audio tours while you're visiting major sites, watching a movie or listening to music on the flight, etc.

I always carry my laptop on overseas trips since I must keep in touch with my business and do some real work even when on vacation. I always just pitch it into my carry-on, or sometimes wrap it in clothes and put it in the center of my checked luggage (along with my travel mouse, charger, etc). There's no need to have a special case for it. If it's in your carry-on, you will need to take it out when going through security. No big deal there.

I generally fly Northwest which allows 1 carry-on like Rick's 21", plus one other item such as a laptop in it's bag, or a small backpack, or a purse or briefcase. Since I pack my laptop in the carry-on (I have an ultra-small laptop) that lets me fill a daypack with lots of other stuff I can also carry on.

We recently spent 3.5 weeks in Italy. I have always bought my laptop with me for photo downloads and local research. This time I did not. Not only that, we hardly checked into Inet cafes; just a few minutes here and there.

It was great! I find that computers can tend to suck time out of my brain. At home it seems to be a worthwhile trade off. In Italy, not having computer time freed up my time for persuing history and art. I spent a few extra bucks and purchased mega gigs of sd chips for my camera.

We stayed in apartments and so had no English speaking TV either..that freed up more time to live like a local!

We had the setup you're going to have...a civita day pack (no shoulder straps) and a Rick Steves back pack. It was great traveling by train with both hands free at all times (the civita day pack can be slung around to your front). A laptop would have added to our burden.

We DID bring a Rick Steves book for each city (Rome, Florence, and venice) and the Italy 2008 RS book. Since RS has most of the numbers we needed to call for reservations to museums, etc...we didn't need a computer for that.

My recommendation - if you are traveling for vacation - leave the computer at home.

Either way...Happy Trails!

Peter McG

I almost never travel with my laptop. (That's why I seem to "disappear" as someone called it from posting for about 5 or 6 days at a time...)

When I have taken it with me, I like to put it into a hard case that I've lined with microsuade for a little extra protection. It's not a commercial case, just a very close fitting plastic food container that fits into my carry-on.

If you'll be going for 17 days you might want to bring it. Especially if you're not wanting to go to an Internet Cafe that often. (For my usual 5 days away I stick to using the Internet at the Hotel's Business Centre which is free. If I was going for a longer trip, like your 17 day, I'd strongly consider bringing my Lap Top.)

I recently got an ASUS EEE subcompact computer for travel purposes. They weigh only 2 pounds, have built in wi-fi, webcam, software, linus or windows xp, dual votalge power cord, measure 9x7x1, and cost anywhere from $300-$550 depending on size of screen, hard drive and operating system.

I used to carry a PDA with built in wifi but hated tapping the screen's keyboard so I bought a foldup keyboard. Then I had trouble connecting to wifi a few times. So, I got the ASUS. It works great.

They also come with their own custom made sleeve so you can throw it in your daybag if you need to carry it with you.

It depends why you need a laptop while travelling. I carry one with me all the time because I do business online, but just recently I purchased a phone, that looks like a little computer with a real keyboard. It has Windows mobile on it and connects to the internet. That's all I need.I have a big heavy laptop, 14.5 screen, 7 lbs, and it was a hassle to carry it around.

I take tons of pictures, have big memory cards and never think of bringing my laptop with me. If I need to check email, I find an internet cafe and pay a few E for the service.

I can't imagine lugging my computer with me on vacation, it's enough headache taking it for work.

I'd really worry about it in the hotel room too, plus there aren't a ton of places that offer free wi-fi, it's not as common as the US.

My vote is to leave it at home, you can do without it for 17 days. Take a vacation!

I'd leave the laptop at home. There are internet cafes to stay in touch & download photos onto disc. Laptops are a somewhat fragile piece of luggage and a favorite item among thieves at train stations.

I vote to leave it at home, but if you have to take it, L.L. Bean has a lap top capable bookpack on sale for $50. It has over 2000 cu. in. of storage.

Wow! Thanks for the input and the clarification!! I bought a 4 GB memory card for my camera and plan to leave my laptop home and sign out of cyberspace for 17 days and take a vacation! Thanks again for putting the laptop dilemma into perspective.