Bringing an iPad: pros and cons

Take it. Don't carry it around.

For the past few years we have been taking first a small laptop and now a tablet with us. We take 3 - 4 week trips either driving or using public transportation and we use email to let our children know that we have arrived at each location safely and to send emails to the grandchildren. We carry it with us on planes and trains and leave it in a suitcase at our hotels. Most hotels have wifi, some in the rooms and some only in public areas. Some towns even have free wifi in public parks. The signal strength varies depending on location so it's sometimes frustrating when trying to get a connection. We find it very useful.

Just like anything else of value. Always possibility of being lost more likely than stolen. It has a useful function and not a heavy weight penalty. Facetime actually works better but you might find the hotel wifi doesn't have a lot strength. We always stick ours in the suitcase and lock it. Of course, they could steal the whole suitcase but not likely. We went to Europe thirty years ago with no internet (advance reservations), no cell phones (getting calls to and from), no GPS, no debit card, no Rick Steves, and survived just fine. You still do that but it is convenient.

I bought the adaptor for an SD card. Input my photos on the iPad in the evening and enjoyed a slide show. I also put so e pictures on Facebook that our friends enjoyed. We had free wifi in every B and B and hotel except 1. I really enjoyed having it. This was the second time to take it. I left it in my suitcase during the day.

I love bringing my iPad mostly for entertainment on the flight to and from. I am upgrading to a mini (I have the first iPad now) before I make long flights to and from Africa in October. Weight will be an issue once we get on a small plane into the bush, hence the excuse for upgrading. It allows me to take numerous books and downloaded television, which I always use long plane rides to catch up on. I can also entertain myself on train rides in between looking at scenery. Also, if there are guidebooks I want parts of, I can scan them and read the pdf's on my iPhone or iPad. Love it!

I take it, but don't take it out with me while out touring. It's handy for looking things up while you're in your room, communication with family, and putting the days pictures on it with an adapter. For daytime touring I have used an iPod touch using wifi. I now have an iPhone so I will use that on future trips.

I can't imagine going any where without my iPad. It has my books; It has my maps; I can toast my photos with photo toaster. I can read the NY Times. I can play games when I'm waiting. I really wouldn't go anywhere without it. : ) Pam

I have taken mine the last two trips ( Italy and Spain). Wifi was everywhere and it was great for staying in tough (email) and for the web access. I did not carry it around during the day, and did not worry about theft. Next trip I plan to use FaceTime to stay in tough with my family.

Rick, It will depend on what you want to do with it while youre traveling. I was surprised how many people had their faces buried in them while i was at some really famous and interesting sites. But to each his own. I currently take a 3 ring binder with all of my travel info in it. Including air/train ticket info, times and such. hotel reservation and itinerary of things/do see. I take the info since i dont want to do the "wing it" travel, but make the most of my time & $$$$. one day i will leave the garbage behind, but for now, im on a mission and want to make the most of my time. i can see where a pad like device will take up alot less room and if i need to use it to make changes in reservations or look at the WWW when the airlines leaves me high and dry, it may come in handy. whatever you choose, happy trails.

I'm planning to take my IPad2 with me on my next trip. I prefer not to have to carry it around all the time, but will need to if I use the walking tours feature. It will be my reading material, since my Kindle books are all on it. I will still need to find a pc somewhere in order to print out boarding passes. My small Acer pc has a dead battery, so I can't travel with that any more. The IPad2 has a long-lasting battery; it will be more flexible for situations where I can't plug it in.

Swan, you can print from your iPad to a wireless printer.

Plan B is to take a "throw away" device. Pre tablet I traveled with a low end mini/netbook Atom device stripped of confidential files and no saved passwords. Now I use a Nexus 7 device, also with no financial records or saved passwords. Its also small enough where I could carry it around with my downloaded Rick Steve's guide if so inclined.

I took my iPad to Europe for the first time this year and used ot a lot. I took as many photos with it as with my camera. and emailed some of them home easily. I also took photos of train/bus schedules, and pre-loaded turn-by-turn screen shots of google maps for some driving trips. It became my ejournal as well, and I set reminders to pay bills online (I was traveling for three months. I took it everywhere with no problems; I even dropped it once without any damage.

I am taking my wife and her mother to France next month and for the first time will not have a laptop with me. I've taken my 15.5" company laptop on three previous trips but I'm retiring on 9/6 and that won't be an option. My personal laptop has a 17" screen and the keyboard is one with a built in number pad, so taking it is not practical. Friends with iPads have suggested that I get a tablet of some sort with both WiFi and cellular, and reading all the iPad comments here leads me to ask your opinion about my buying a new iPad to take with us. We leave on 9/14, so I'd need to move quickly if I get one to learn how it works. I would like to have access to the Internet for research, sending emails and entertainment on the long flights to and from Paris. In the past I would take DVDs of 8-10 movies, concerts, etc. which worked well on the laptop. These are all things I've recorded from cable channels, television programs and always my RS DVDs of the area I am traveling to, this time Normandy and Provence. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or comments about my predicament, and any info about how to get movies on the iPad that are not purchased through iTunes. I have an iPod with several thousand songs and lots of podcasts. My wife has an iPhone 5 with Verizon. Thanks.

I love my iPad2 and use it all the time at home and elsewhere. I'm using it right now. It is wonderful to travel with. I do have the ability to have data on it. I would never buy one with data that requires a contract. Mine is month to month and I can have it or not. When my iPad needs to be replaced I will probably opt for the iPad mini, as it would be even better for travel. I have an iPhone5 and it works well to sync things between devices. My husband has a Galaxy S3 phone and just bought an 8" Galaxy tablet in advance of an upcoming trip. He's loving it.

I am a total geek. I took my Ipad. Ipad invaluable. We were able to find fast internet connections in our accomadations in Paris, Amsterdam and Brugge. Made reservations and checked updated train schedules etc during our downtime as well as notified next accomodation of arrival times etc. Uploaded pictures to Facebook through the SD card adapter. Checked my banking on a secured device.
Our library has Rick Steves book you can also checkout and download on your Ipad. So you carry a couple of those on your iPad and leave the books at home. Coolest thing was the screen grab function. After looking something up, I took a screen grab of the information(picture) that way if I needed the information and I didn't have a connection or couldn't remember the site I would have a copy of it. I made maps, had train schedules, thalys ticket etc all stored as pictures on my iPad.