email/photos--- laptop needed?

Lynn,

I'm also not a fan of dragging Laptops along on trips, however I might give it a try just once to see whether this is something I might want to do in future.

As the others have suggested, there are usually lots of Net Cafes and Photo shops around to transfer photos to DVD's. Some people have two DVD's burned for each card, keeping them in separate locations (or mailing one home). That provides a bit of extra "insurance" as once the Memory card is re-formatted, it's almost impossible to recover photos.

I wouldn't plan on sending a lot of digital photos (depending on the file sizes), as this tends to be a bit of a "time waster", due to slow upload speeds in some places. I tend to use Net Cafes for brief E-mails and trip updates and worry about the photos when I get home, as I want to enjoy each of the locations I'm visiting as much as possible.

Happy travels!

I certainly wouldn't drag a laptop along -- just a big, heavy piece of luggage that will keep you constantly worried about thieves. Just about any sized town will have a photo shop which will transfer your photos from the camera card to a cd. This will: a. Free up space on the card. b. Provide a safe copy of the photos of your trip. c. Enable you to go into any internet cafe with your cd and send photos via a webmail account (e.g. gmail, hotmail, et al). Enjoy the trip.

Yes, you can get photos transferred to a CD easily - to free up memory in your camera and to email. I personally have a large memory card that holds at least 700 pictures, and wait until I get home to edit and email them to family and friends.

I just bought and brought a Palm TX on my most recent trip, it fits in my pocket, carried my itenerary, recorded my journal, carried my slide show to show photos, allowed me surf web, check rail and bus schedules and send email including pictures. (I even had all the maps of Paris on it). The best travel tool I ever took.

I have personally found a computer to be a necessary tool for me when traveling in Europe. I have train schedules loaded on it, keep my journal, can view and organize my digital photos on a full 800x600 screen, and I keep detailed expense reports on Excel. However, it's not an ordinary laptop. I bought a small (smaller that a sheet of paper), light weight (2.9#), used Toshiba Portege on Ebay for around $100, just for my travels. It's easy to carry, I take it with me everywhere, it's unlikely to get stolen because it's so small no one realizes there is a laptop in that case, and it's inexpensive enough that I don't worry about someone stealing it. On my last trip to Germany, I found that it was far more likely for small, family run hotels to have wifi than for there to be a cybercafe in the neighborhood. In one town I waited in vain for three hours for someone to get off the only computer in a sports bar and finally left without being able to use it. What's more, I can use my computer on wifi late at night in my room, after the cybercafes are closed.

I left my laptop at home and my wife took 1,800 pictures with her digital camera. She used up two SD memory chips (one 2gig and one 1gig). We transferred everything to a computer when we returned home. This worked out just fine. It certainly beats packing around a laptop which I normally do for business.

It is definitely worth having a small, light-weight laptop to take along. I love my Toshiba, but I had to do some work on it (not a problem; I'm a geek). Otherwise, check out the Asus EEE described at "Technology Tips" on the Grafitti Wall. At that size and only 2#, "lugging it around" should not be a problem.

My gosh, thanks
I am awfully concrened about managing luggage on the trains and thought carrying it might be hard.

Mainly want to communicate with the high school age daughter who is anxiously awaiting college acceptance letters. She is staying home with my husband who hates to travel (she goes on a school trip to Greece and Iatly in June, don't cry for her)

Sounds like I will do fine without it , especially if I take my palm.

I sure appreciate the help. I normally just take a daypack if I go for week, dreaded lugging stuff but miss the family still at home.

Lynn,

To keep in touch with family back home, I just send short SMS / text messages using my Cell phone. If I need to send lengthy notes, I wait until I can access an Internet Cafe. I find the text solution to be ideal, as the phone is always with me and there's no problem with time zones - my family replies to the message when they get it (usually after they wake up, given the 8-9 hour time difference). Also, if we're both awake, the messages are dealt with in "real time" with replies being almost instant.

Happy travels!

I second the mention of the Palm TX....it's great.

Built in wi-fi.
On Screen keyboard.
Photo viewer.
SD Slot.
Built in MP3 player.
Can upload games for those long plane/train trips.

Take extra SD cards for photos. Move the SD card to the TX for viewing and attaching to emails to send back home. The TX can do it.

It weighs only a few ounce and can fit in your pocket.

And if you write a lot, get a collapsible wireless keyboard that folds down to the size of the TX.

If you don't want to spend the money on a new one, lots of used/refurbished ones are available.