Aby The Liberal

Dmitri April 25th, 2007

This is a continuation of my earlier article ‘Travelling With Your Laptop - Before You Leave‘. I am sure by now you have finished your packing and waited nine days for the next step. Well here it is, in this issue I will give the tips and precautions to take care of at the airport when you travel. Train and other modes of travel will have to wait as these modes are varied in different parts of the world. I will follow up an article on trains next, mainly trains in my home continent. And Russia if anyone arranges for my travel. Well for now we talk about planes as it is that I have an emotional attachment for airplanes.

Leaving On A Jetplane With A Laptop
This days it is normal to carry a laptop on any airline just like a bottle of water. If you are not sure, call the ariline and make sure your country aviation regulations allow it or you might have problems at the airport. As a handy reference most countries from Japan to USA allow laptops on board except a few laptop phobic ones in between.

Your Laptop is Not a Cargo
Do not put your laptop as check in luggage. You don’t want it to face the extreme environment and high degree in-laptopic torture faced by the luggage both in and outside the plane’s cargo hold. It could also get stolen, in fact in the unattended luggage hold area in airports laptop thefts are not uncommon. Try to keep it with you as a hand baggage even if it means you have to check in the laptop bag and carry the laptop in your hands.

Security Screening Your Laptop
Do not put the laptop on the screening machine with the case. Take it out of the bag and place it gently on the conveyor belt. Do not put anything on the laptop, not even a couple of coins or your car keys. Pick up your laptop after the screening is over and be careful about this. If you get a little lax, your laptop could get nicked or stolen. You might be asked to turn on your laptop so keep the batteries charged and handy.

As a precaution to prevent a situation where your laptop gets security screened while you are waiting in the queue for security check, put your laptop on the conveyor belt only when you are ready to pass through the metal detector. Generally you will know that if it is a queue passing through and it is your turn. This will ensure you can pick up your laptop as soon as you get screened and there wouldn’t be much idle time for a thief to make a quick nick.

Safety of Your Laptop from Nickers
Never leave your laptop bag unattended anywhere in the airport and if possible use a bag which does not cry out “It is a laptop in there!”. Most of the laptop thefts happen on laptop cases with company logos which is why I recommend a generic case rather than company one. Personally company cases are a strict no no but if you don’t have alternative try to cover up the logo if you think you might lose sight of your laptop.

Check my previous article Before You Leave for handy packing tips.

• Technology , Computers
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Dmitri April 16th, 2007

This is a handy guide I made for you to have a pleasant experience having a laptop (or notebook, as you call it) as a traveling companion. For those who own laptops, extra care is needed when you are traveling to prevent damage or theft to your laptop. You also need to be able to connect to internet or charge your laptop on the move, otherwise it beats the purpose of having one. I will use the word laptop to define laptop or notebook, whatever you call it is your personal choice.

Plan Your Packing Before Journey
First you need to plan your journey and packing in advance, otherwise you might miss out things or ignore precautions in a hurry which you could regret later. This might mean you forget your charger, cable or it could anything which you need with your laptop or travel.

Get a laptop case
This is very important. You need a case with soft paddings inside which can take the rigours of travel without much shock to your laptop. You also want a case which is comfortable for you to carry, I recommend you buy one from reputed brands like Targus, Samsonite, etc. Get a laptop bag with extra pockets so that you could pack in chargers, mouse, CDs, documents, etc. without getting too cramped. I suggest you avoid the manufacturers case as the brand logo could be an invitation to laptop thieves.

Charge the Battery
Charge the battery well in advance before you leave so that you have ample power to enjoy your laptop during your travel. If you have an extra battery, charge it too. You never know when your next opportunity to charge will be on way so you need to be prepared. Even if you are sure to be able to charge at your hotel, keep your batteries charged. You could be delayed while on travel.

Backup Your Important Data
Backup your important documents, pictures, videos or any files either to your desktop (if you have one) or write them to a storage media like external hard disks, CDs, DVDs, etc. You don’t want to find yourself in a sticky situation after a hard disk crash where all your valuable data is lost and you have no option but to cry.

Save Web Pages, Ebooks and Movies
You can save some web pages, Ebooks or movies from discs for entertainment while you travel. It could be a good use of leisure or a productive use of your travel time. Not to mention a respite for those boring moments when you don’t have internet and nothing much to do, which happens often with me when I am on travel.

Pack in Everything You Need
Pack in your charger, mouse and any necessary laptop accessories which you need during your travel. And do not forget your laptop, it would be a pity if you packed every accessory but left your laptop behind. Pack some screen wipes and a couple of blank CDs or DVDs too which could be handy in case the need arises. If you listen to music pack in your headphones.

Start Your Journey
That is the most important step during your travel. Unless you start your journey you wouldn’t go anywhere beyond your home on a travel. It would make all my present and forthcoming tips a waste of your reading time. Quips apart, get going and make sure you read my next article on laptop care which will be out soon.

Adieu,

Dmitrious Poulos

• Technology , Computers
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