I always encounter this simple question from new travelers - do you need to bring your laptop on your round the world tour? This may be a no-brainer question for those traveler who are working full-time as a Digital Marketer like me, a full-time travel blogger or a freelancer who really needs a laptop when they travel. But if you are someone who doesn't requires to bring a laptop when you travel, this pros and cons are for you to consider.
Disadvantages of Bringing a Laptop When You TravelSafety, Worry and Fear - Just like how you keep your passport as safe as possible, it's the same importance as your laptop. You need to keep in mind how to keep your laptop safe from theft or damages.
Weight - As a traveler, we only pack our things as light as possible to avoid excess baggage fee. But some laptops are pretty heavy that adds up to the weight of the baggage. Bringing laptop means more weight in your pack and on your back as you hike to hostels, chase down buses and make a mad sprint for your train.
Hassle - I remember when I was in Singapore and needed to check-out in the Hostel by twelve noon but I still have to visit other places nearby. I have an option to just leave my luggage in the reception area of the hostel but I'm afraid that my laptop might be lost. Even if it's hassle for me to bring my laptop stuff, I had no choice but brought all of it since I only have one big backpack and no laptop bag.
Advantages of Bringing a Laptop When You Travel
Time Efficiency - When you travel you'll experience a long hours of waiting from the terminals, buses or trains. So instead of killing your time while playing your favorite game, it would be efficient to write your recent tour (the fresher the experience the better to write about it). Laptop also allows you to create a draft of your email, edit or sort your photos, pre-write your blog article or edit your videos.
Storage - If your main gadget while taking photos or videos is your smartphones or cameras, you know that they are limited when it comes to storage. Though you can buy tons of memory cards, it would be cheaper to just copy it to your laptop wherein you can directly edit and sort your media.
Kill Boredom - Traveling isn't all days of adventures and nights of non-stop parties, there's always a time when you feel like you just want to lay down on bed and do nothing. Though you're rarely bored, you can read e-books and articles, play games or blog.
Connect Instantly - With free wi-fi everywhere, you can catch up with news online, updates from friends and families, update your social media accounts, upload photos and videos, publish your blog post, etc.
Watch Movies and Read E-books - Aside from updating my blog, these two are the main reason why I want to bring my laptop when I travel. As a writer, I always look for an inspiration of what to write and study how someone writes. Movies and books are my main source of learning to write better.
So with that in mind, I hope these pros and cons will help you decide wether you bring your laptop or not on your next travel. I know a lot of people who dream of not bringing their laptop when they travel and they really enjoy the lack of contact with their normal life. But of course, there are some people who loves to bring their laptop. A common solution these days is a netbook - small, cheap and light, unfortunately this is not an option for me since I'm an apple convert. I love to bring my laptop when I travel, although the cons still exist, but the pros outweighs them.
Happy decision making!
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