10 nightmares traveling with tech -- and how to prevent them
When traveling with smartphones, tablets, and laptops a small hiccup can derail work
As a business traveler, you typically can't do your job without functional smartphones, laptops, power adapters and charging accessories. Add to this the stress of getting materials ready for meetings and deadlines and you can find yourself disconnected, offline, and frustrated. If you have to travel for work this holiday season, you can relate to these following issues with tech and travel.
1. Potential loss of your laptop or mobile device
Never bring a laptop along that you aren't willing to lose, or have damaged or confiscated. While customs and TSA officials do not randomly confiscate laptops, the hard truth is that if they see something about your laptop they don't like, they can prevent you from taking it onto the plane. This is more of a danger on international flights than on domestic ones, but even so you should pack a tablet or a laptop that you won't be sorry to let go of if the situation demands it.
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There is a very minute chance that this will even happen according to both the TSA and customs. The TSA is primarily interested in scanning your laptop for explosive devices, and won't even turn it on. Customs only refers a very small percentage of travelers to secondary inspection of electronics, and of those only a very few are subject to laptop searches. Even so, in the course of traveling, anything could happen to your devices, and bringing your prize MacBook Pro along for the ride may not be advisable unless you can readily afford to replace it.
An iPad or other tablet with a Bluetooth or USB keyboard is a great option for casual traveling, while a lower-end laptop is good for a more business-oriented trip. The iPad has a number of productivity apps that you can use, as do some Android tablets.
Storing important documents and files in the cloud while you are traveling is advisable just in case your devices are damaged or stolen. While it would be a disaster to lose your prized tech, it would be worse to lose the presentation that you've traveled at great expense to deliver. Microsoft has some great tips to help you prevent theft of your laptop and gives some tips on how to use Microsoft Office to protect valuable data.
2. Not having the right bag for the checkpoint
Make sure your laptop bag is "checkpoint-friendly" according to the TSA guidelines. A company called Aerovation manufactures bags specifically to these guidelines that you may want to consider if you are a frequent traveler.
