Laptop Travel Lifestyle

Preparing Your Laptop for Travel

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 09:54:10 -0800

Get a heavily padded carrying case or pack that fits your laptop computer, your peripherals and any accessories you need to carry. It's wise to select a case that isn't obviously for a laptop, to deter theft. Backpacks with laptop compartments work great. My Lululemon Cruiser Pack works very well for me. Leave your external DVD-ROM drive or other components you won't really need at home, but rememember your charger adapter. If you're going to be gone for more than a week, and you store more data than it's practical to backup with an online service, you will want to bring along a compact backup hard drive. I've discovered that the padded water bottle 'parkas' they sell to winter backpackers at camping stores work great for protecting external hard drives. If you're going to use your laptop on the plane, bring an extra charged battery or two. Remember to take out your removable disks from drives and any memory cards before your trip. If you're traveling internationally, bring power and telephone-jack adapters. Find out the power requirements and plug shapes for your destination before you leave. Do not plug your laptop directly into a foreign outlet, even if you have something that changes the plug shape, or you may melt your computer. Always use a quality adapter for your computer that claims it can handle the voltage at your destination. You'll want to confirm that the adapter can handle your computer's current draw as well. Do some checking online and through your travel agent. Is wi-fi Internet available where you're going, or will you be connnecting with a telephone cord? Learn how you can connect to your ISP if necessary and obtain the required telephone numbers. If you will be purchasing Internet access cards where you are travelling, remember to allow for them in your trip budget. Scan and back up all important documents before you leave. Check your insurance and warranty coverage. Be sure your battery is fully charged before you leave, so you can boot your latpop if required by customs or security personnel. Avoid leaving your computer unattended in the airport or coffee shop. If you have to leave for the washroom, don't leave your computer and luggage in the care of another trustworthy looking traveller. Airport theives usually pose as travellers with their own luggage in tow. Bring your laptop bag along with you to the washroom. If you can't fit your luggage into the stall with you, use your cable lock to secure it to a pipe or stall leg. When using a cable lock, always attach the cable directly to the computer. Do not loop a cable through the handle of your luggage. Airport theives are professionals and they carry knives to cut luggage handles. Deter theft and damage by monitoring your laptop closely as it travels through the x-ray machine. An X-ray machine will not erase your data, but a metal detector can. I ask for a manual inspection. Keep your laptop out of overhead bins and in plain sight when flying. When you land, change the date and time settings and the modem settings, if necessary. Happy travelling!

Timothy Ferriss - $40,000/Month at 4 Hours/Week

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:40:11 -0800

Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and only 4 hours per week. Imgine... a half million a year income, only working half a day per week! Talk about having your cake and eating it too. In his new best selling book, Tim tells you how to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you really want. Aside from a Monday morning check of your emails from your laptop, you're as free as a bird. I couldn't put his book down. I've been happy making a portable income from my laptop for the past few years. Tim demonstrates that it's possible to make a spectacular portable income while hardly working at all, joining the 'new rich'. Now that's a laptop lifestyle! Tim encourages his readers to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent mini-retirements. More information on Tim Ferris: Tim's book: The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich Tim's website: TimothyFerris.com TIm's blog: The Blog of Tim Ferriss Read more inspiring profiles.

Travel Inspiration Screensavers

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:13:20 -0800

Here's a little inspiration someone recently shared with me. Every time you come back to your laptop in the hotel room you'll be greeted with gorgeous 3D animation. Best part... they're free! You do have to install the free toolbar, but you can deactivate it after you download the screensaver :-).

The Great White Wolf of the North

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 16:47:26 -0800

A few years ago I took a break and went to the high arctic for fifteen months. I lived on the land with the Inuit for periods of time, living off game and fish. One day I was out hunting with some friends and one of them pointed to a pond, some distance away, asking me if I'd seen the ducks land. Being one of the few white men up there, I was often the butt of their jokes, so I wondered if they were pulling my leg. One of the hunters was a pastor at the local church. I looked to him and he nodded, indicating there were indeed ducks in the pond. I grabbed my shotgun and began my trek towards the pond over the rough tundra. When I got there, sure enough, there were three ducks. The natives would likely have waited until all three were in close proximity, shooting them all with one shot. Being a kabloonak (white man), I felt that would be entirely unsporting. I flushed the birds into the air. To my dismay, they split at hard angles. I shot the far left bird but discovered the other two were already out of range for my 20ga. 'gentleman's gun'. I picked up the single duck and headed back to camp. When I returned I could hear them howling with laughter. "What now?" I demanded, a bit annoyed. "Silly white man." one of them replied, "On the way back you stop and look at your duck. Oh, nice duck! While you look at the duck them other two fly right over your head and land right back in same pond. Ha, ha! Great white hunter, the great white wolf of the north." I never lived the nickname down. Over time the name became inextricably linked with the many fond memories of my northern adventure. When I returned to the south I began signing illustrations and airbrush artwork with White Wolf and my design company became Whitewolf Design & Media Group. Visit Travels North for more information about travel to the arctic.

Ty Coughlin - Beach Bum

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:08:17 -0800

You've probably seen the ads for Ty Coughlin's Reverse Funnel System. Ty claims to make over $200,000 per month from his laptop computer. Ty was a construction worker until a few years ago, has since purchased a lavish beachfront home in Hawaii and spends much of his time traveling, monitoring his business by laptop computer. Ty Coughlin created a system, that is converting like no system anyone has ever heard of. He hired $20,000 per page copywriters, world class programmers, and consulted with the who’ who of Internet Marketing…to put together a fully automated system that makes it’s users $1,000 sales all day long. Ty claims you need absolutely no previous skill, knowledge, or experience and the system will work the exact same for whoever uses it. Is Ty the only one making money from selling his Reverse Funnel System, or has he developed a system the average traveler and home business owner can use to make an extraordinary income? Guru or scammer? Are the endorsements on his site fake, as they are on most get rich web-mercials? I've Googled him and all I've found is a lot of people plugged into his system, promoting it. I'm looking into the Reverse Funnel System and will keep you posted. I look forward to your comments. Check out Ty Coughlin's site. Read more inspiring profiles.

Submit Your Profile or Press Release

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:32:31 -0800

Inspire someone with your story. If you are full or part-time laptop traveler, or developing the income stream(s) to live the laptop travel lifestyle of the working nomad/notebook vagabond, we welcome your profile, story or press realease. If you'd like to become a Laptop Travel Lifestyle contributor, your stories and articles are welcome. We are prepared to pay for helpful well-written articles from regular contributors. Contact us at submissions@colewiebe.com.

Anthony Page - Working Nomad

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:05:39 -0800

Dropped out, but no drop out. Anthony's office is no longer at the end of an overcrowded train journey. Over the last six months it has been where he has chosen. His office is a cafe by the beach on a tropical island, a cool hill station in the mountains or an airplane at 30,000 feet. Anthony Page (Working Nomad .com) was in 1995 sentenced to life in the corporate world of information technology. After 7 years of labour he was let out on parole for good behaviour and then started to discover our wonderfully diverse planet through independent budget travel. In November or 2003 he was returned to inside the prison walls of the City of London and once again found himself in a suit and at the mercy of big business. You need funds to travel and Anthony's only way to make money was to do what he knoew best and what society deems correct. Temporary escape from the rat race was not enough and Anthony started to seek out ways of maintaining an incomve independently and remotely. Not being chained to office politics, bad coffee machines and long English winters was his target and dream. In October of 2005 Anthony left an autumnal Heathrow Airport with a backpack, a laptop, a small income stream from his web sites and a dream. He set out to travel around Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand entirely funded by income from the web. Anthony's trip has been a heady concoction of free wifi spots, making many new friends, living the tropical island life and the odd 13 hour bus journey with angry teams of Indonesian huskers. He has managed to find the perfect balance between adventure travel and building up a sustainable income and has proved that the Internet is truly changing the the way people can live their lives. Six months and seven countries later Anthony is still living his dream as a 'working nomad'. Over this period of time Anthony's income from web sites has trebled and he will return home in profit. His dream of having an independent portable career is now reality. The most satisfying part fro Anthony is the positive feedback he gets from his personal travel blog (www.workingnomad.com) which is inspiring others to make the break to freedom. Read Anthony's Aug. 12/07 comment on this blog. Read more inspiring profiles.

Robert Young Pelton - The Adventurist

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:43:44 -0800

The Extreme Laptop Travel Lifestyle Author and filmmaker, Robert Young Pelton is known for overcoming extraordinary obstacles in his search for the truth. He has made a career of bypassing the media, border guards and the military in his goal of getting to the heart of the story. In his travels to and through the world’s most dangerous places, Pelton has shared risks with his hosts and often has become the sole surviving witness to history-shaping events. His recent journeys have taken him inside the siege of Grozny in Chechnya, the battle of Qala-I-Jangi in Afghanistan, the rebel campaign to take Monrovia in Liberia, inside the hunt for Bin Laden in the Tribal Areas with the CIA, with insurgents during the war in Iraq and running RPG Alley every day for four weeks with Blackwater in Baghdad. Read about this inspiring laptop traveler/photographer/filmmaker on his 'Come Back Alive' website. Read more inspiring profiles.

Terror on Open Water

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:53:13 -0800

I finished work early on a beautiful Spring day in Tuktoyaktuk. The sun's rays were bright on the arctic snow and I squinted even with my dark 400nm sunglasses. When I arrived back at camp I checked the cupboards and refrigerator, looking for a bit of inspiration for dinner. I decided that ptarmigan a la orange on a bed of wild rice might be tasty fare for that evening. I grabbed my trusty 20ga. Winchester Model 12 from the wall and headed out the door to fire up my Ski-Doo. A few days prior I had noticed some ptarmigan (arctic grouse) in the willow brush about a kilometer down the coastline of the Arctic Ocean, near the mouth of the McKenzie. The sea ice was still nearly seven feet thick, but changes in weather had opened some rather large leads (cracks of open water). On several occasions I had to travel well out of way to skirt these leads. Small ones I would simply jump with the snowmobile. The ink black water was very cold and death by hypothermia usually comes within three to five minutes to any hapless traveler who falls into the sea in these conditions, tempering any curiousity I may have as to just how big a lead I could successfully jump. I found the ptarmigan where I had last seen them and shot two birds for dinner. I unzipped my parka because of the sun's warmth and took the hood down. Only a few weeks remained in the snowmobile season and I decided this gift was not to be wasted. I headed further along the coast, exploring the shore and little coves. I spotted some movement in an inlet and raised the binoculars to investigate. A small arctic fox was picking his way along the shoreline. I decided to move closer. The fox froze, studying the approaching intruder. Often instinct dictates that remaining motionless, hiding the white coat in the snow, is the best strategy. It's the one he opted for. As I reached a distance approximately half way to the fox my snowmobile's contact with the surface suddenly changed. Everything became smooth. The engine's raspy high pitch drone lowered a semitone. Terror gripped me as I grasped what had happened. My Ski-Doo was driving on open water, covered by a thin skin of windblown snow. If I slowed even slightly the machine would cease to plane and would surely sink to the bottom of the sea. If I sped up, responding to my fears, I could spin out on the surface snow, again sinking the snowmobile. I held the trottle steady for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, I felt the thud of the track slamming into the edge of the ice. I was back on a solid surface and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The fox was just ahead and I nudged a bit closer and killed the engine. The fox looked alarmed. We just looked at each other for a minute and then I spoke, "You're in luck today, my friend. Had I been an Inuk (Intuit), you'd be dead and in my sled. I suppose we're both very lucky to be alive today." The sound of my voice sent him trotting away. He stopped and looked back one final time. I tugged the cord to fire up the Ski-Doo and headed home to prepare dinner. Say "Ciao" For Less. RT Flights Abroad From $243+

I'll Try Anything Once... Well Almost

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:05:16 -0800

One evening, during my fifteen month stay in Tuktoyaktuk, I went to visit my friend Boogie. He was putting some food on the table and inquired if I had ever tried Ooksook. I told him I hadn't and foolishly volunteered that I'd try anything once. He smiled mischievously and disappeared into the enclosed porch, returning with a white plastic ice cream bucket. I was sitting in the living room and could see him opening it in the adjoining kitchen. Within seconds I nearly fell off the sofa from the pungent stench. "That's Ooksook?" I inquired. "I'm not so sure I want some now." "Ah," he replied disappointedly, "You said you would eat some." My word is my bond and I wasn't going to welch out. A few minutes later, everything was ready for our feast. There were pieces of raw Arctic Char on one plate, slices of Quaq (raw dried caribou) and a bowl of what appeared to be half-melted lard. "How do you eat it?" I inquired. "You dip the Quaq into the Ooksook, like chip dip." I had eaten Quaq often, but now picked up a slice hesitantly. I dipped it in the Ooksook and waited, thinking. It occurred to me that the best strategy might be to pop it in my mouth, chomp on it a few times and swallow it immediately, trying not to taste the offensively smelly dip. I proceeded on that course and had it down in seconds. Evidently, my stomach wasn't all that impressed with it, as it attempted to wretch it up in several heaves. I managed to hold it down. "You want more?" Boogie asked excitedly. "Put hair on your chest." I assured him I would gladly die hairless rather than eat that vile stuff again. "Why would anyone eat that?" I inquired. "Keeps you warm when it's cold." Thinking about it, that made sense. Well rotted whale blubber, three years in the decay process, would be predigested fat, entering the blood stream in only minutes. Later, Boogie reminded me that I enjoy old cheddar and blue cheese. I suppose Ooksook must also be an acquired taste, but one I choose not to cultivate. 3-day Denver Sale. Round-Trip Flights From $170+

Airline Descrimination Against Laptops

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:32:01 -0800

Tightened security in the UK and other countries has caused some airlines to put a ban on electronic gadgets like laptops, iPods and cell phones on board. Laptops, in some cases, have been added to the items banned from entering the plane, apearing on the same list as liquids and lotions on the Transportation Security Administration's list. I think anybody who takes a laptop and puts it into a conventional suitcase is out of their mind. They aren't made for the kind of abuse airline attendants and in flight compression can dish out. While tough luggage like my Halliburton Zero case would likely protect the computer, I can only imagine what a dented piece of scrap aluminum would emerge in the carousel on the other end. A possible solution may be the rugged laptops designed to withstand intense physical demands such as drops, shocks, spills and extreme temperatures. Anyone had any luck with checking in your ToughBook or Itronix? Even if you've got the Hummer equivalent in a notebook computer, another concern is loss and theft of the data stored on a corporate laptop. If you're carrying highly confidential data, you should use encryption and other mechanisms to secure the data in case the notebook is stolen or falls into the wrong hands. You are more likely to lose data from a damaged hard drive than have the data stolen, so backup should actually be your first consideration before you check a laptop as baggage. Make sure to check with your airline before booking a flight to make sure you can bring your laptop and other electronics on board. Heightened Security In the UK Means No Laptops, Cellphones and iPods On Board [Gizmodo] 'Mass murder terror plot' uncovered [Guardian] Local Travelers React To Terrorist Plot [WKTR]

Stupid 'White Man' Tent?

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:24:05 -0800

I was in a hurry one day to get to the door, while living in Tuktoyaktuk for 15 months, slid in some half-melted snow in the porch and slammed my little toe into a wooden platform that held our boots. It was very swollen and I think I broke it. The next day I had plans to go on a week long hunting trip with my Inuit friend Emmanuel. He came by to pick me up in the morning and I limped along with him to his boat, wearing an oversized boot. We traveled along the coast of the Arctic Ocean for about eight kilometers and set up camp on a small peninsula. Emanuel set up his traditional cotton duck tent with driftwood poles and I set up my geodesic expedition tent. When we were done he came by and smirked and shook his head, making some remark about my stupid white man tent. We had a quick lunch and then headed out by boat again. He wanted to kill a few seals to feed his dog team. We came across a few ducks and I shot one, planning to make a curried duck soup that night back in camp. As we came near the duck, floating in the water, he suddenly turned the boat around and opened the throttle. "What are you doing?" I demanded. "We never picked up my duck." He told me a storm was coming in and that we must head back to land immediately or we would be in serious trouble. I looked at the sky and back at him. Everything looked fine to me and I shook my head, puzzled. Within minutes, our tiny aluminum boat was bouncing up and down in high breakers and I was frantically bailing with a large coffee can. We made it safely to shore, but nowhere near our camp. We began walking across the rough tundra, and came upon a camp of tents. Within minutes we were warm and hung up our soaked parkas to dry. Six or seven hours passed and as suddenly as it had come, the storm left. I thought we would now take the boat back to camp. Our boat had vanished in the storm, floating somewhere in the ocean. Emmanuel told me that the peninsula would be inaccessible until the waters went down, so we would have to hike back the eight kilometers to town. Needless to say, it was an excruciating ordeal with my damaged toe. Three days later we were ready to hike back to camp. A friend had come across his boat and had tied it up near our camp. I hobbled across the eight kilometers of very rough tundra back to camp. To Emmanuel's dismay, his tent had blown down and the contents were spread across the peninsula, some items were floating in the ocean nearby and some gear and supplies had been swallowed up by the storm entirely. I was delighted that my expedition tent had lived up to the brochure's claims of extreme weather resistance. I zipped open the front door and crawled inside. My sleeping bag was perfectly dry. My food was still in the bag, completely dry. "So how's your tent?" Emmanuel snorted. "Oh, just fine," I grinned. "Would you like a cup of tea and some lunch? He took a seat on my dry sleeping bag and Thermarest mattress." As he took a sip of the warm tea, comfortably seated on my dry camp bed I inquired with a wink, "Stupid white man tent, eh?"

Don't Drive a Ski-Doo Off a Cliff

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:20:55 -0800

(Continued from Lost in The Barrens) The next morning, after a huge breakfast, we went ice fishing on the lake outside Boogie's cabin. His son Lucky and I drilled holes in the thick ice side by side, unwrapped the strings from our fishing sticks and began jigging the shiny spoons in the dark water below. For some reason we weren't very lucky in our fishing, which I found comical considering I was fishing with Lucky. An hour or so passed and Lucky came over. "I'm bored," he said. "We should maybe do something." "Like what?" I inquired. "Maybe we ride your Ski-Doo." I agreed that we could use a break and fired up the Ski-Doo. "Where should we go?" I asked. "Up there," Lucky yelled over the engine, pointing to a hilly area covered in small willow bushes. As we began to climb the hill the snowmobile bogged down in the soft spring snow and we began to sink. "Go faster," Lucky shouted. I gave it more throttle and we shot up the hill, the skis gliding on top of the snow's surface again. A second later, I screamed in horror, "Jump!" We both leapt from the Ski-Doo as it left the edge of a bluff into the air. We tumbled some fifteen meters down the steep snowy slope, slowed by the willow brush we crashed through on the way down. There was a sickening crunch and a few thuds as the snowmobile hit the ice and bounced several times. Fearing the worst I walked over to my machine. The engine had died and pieces of it were lying on the ice. "Wow, good thing it land on the track," Lucky exclaimed. The windshield and fiberglass cowling had been held on with rubber bungee fasteners. I clipped all the pieces back on, fired it up and took it for a quick spin around the lake. It seemed none the worse for wear. Lucky hopped on and we went around the tip of the peninsula back to our fishing holes. "How come you told me to drive off that cliff?" I inquired. "I thought you would know the area around your cabin." He just shrugged and laughed, "Guess I forget about that place." "Well, that about does it for the excitement for today," I joked.

Lost in the Barrens

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:08:34 -0800

I went on a trip with my friend Boogie, a few years ago, to his cabin, about 75km from Tuktoyaktuk. We were travelling by Ski-Doo. After staying overnight at the cabin, we rode another 70km to Inuvik to pick up supplies with our komatiks (sleds). After loading up, we headed back for the cabin. At one point Boogie stopped and suggested I lead for a while. I would look back frequently to make sure he was following. When looking back about an hour later, I discovered he wasn't there. I stopped and waited. And waited... and waited... I finally decided to turn around and backtrack. He was nowhere to be found. I returned to my original position and waited again, about an hour. Before leaving for the arctic I had watched the movie "Lost in the Barrens", an account of the adventures of two boys who became separated from their party, lost in the endless, featureless tundra and lakes of the high north. My mind now raced back to that movie and a wave of terror swept over me. I was lost in the barrens, with no guide, completely alone in a hostile and unfamilar place. "Dear God, I could die up here, and they'll find me as a frozen popsicle in a few years, or what's left of my carcass after the wolves finish with it." After a few minutes I decided I really needed to get a grip and calm my mind. I took inventory of my situation. I had five gerry cans of gas, or five days of travel with my Ski-Doo. Yes, but in which direction? I could make the situation much worse by travelling the wrong way. I had the sled and tarp, which I could flip over to build a make-shift shelter. I had a 20ga shotgun and three shells, not much good against Polar Bears, except perhaps to hasten my end by pissing them off. I had $3,000.00 of food on my sled. I wouldn't die of starvation, at least. I'd be nice and fat when the Polar Bears happened upon me. The sun was setting and the chill of the arctic night was creeping into my bones, even through my thick parka. I had to keep moving. And then I remembered some advice my Inuit boss, Jimmy, had given me, one night while we were stranded in his cabin during a fierce storm. He told me that if I was ever lost, I should trust the spirits (instinct, sixth sense). "You close your eyes, then turn round, maybe ten times. When you think you face home, you mark the snow with your heel. You keep your eyes closed and do it again; maybe five times. Each time you make the mark in the snow. You open your eyes. If the marks mostly point the same way, then the spirits show you which way you go. You watch the sastrugi (drift marks) so you stay on course." I figured I had nothing to lose. Sure enough, the marks were pretty much all pointing the same way. I revved the Ski-Doo and headed off in the direction my heel marks had pointed. An hour or more passed. All I could see was the narrow shaft of my headlight on the snow, my eyes focused on the direction of the snow drift patterns. And then, I could see another headlight, coming in my direction across a lake. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Whoever it was, they could help me get back to Boogie's cabin, or home to Tuk. It was Boogie. "Whoa, you get me worried I have to call your mother and explain how I lose you and I never find you again. Lucky thing I keep looking for you, huh?" As we were about to travel, I had to ask, "So, was I heading in the right direction?" "Yeah, you heading for the cabin. You do okay for a white man." The next day I drove my Ski-Doo off a cliff, but that's another story. (To be continued tomorrow)

Product Review: Lululemon Cruiser Backpack

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:30:12 -0800

Traveling Light

I recently purchased the Lululemon Cruiser Backpack. I've tried several other packs along the way, but this one is my fave. It's waterproof! The pockets are well thought out and clearly labeled with color-coded raised icons and zipper tags. Thirteen pockets hold my Bluetooth headset, cell phone, PDA/GPS, iPod , laptop computer, CD/DVDs, digital camera, wallet, keys, sunglasses, various chargers, and more... Wearing t-shirts and jeans, there's room for two full changes of clothes (plus the ones on my back). It's very well made and has been tested with weights up to 50 pounds. Rolf Potts in his book "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel" suggests carrying only a single small pack. I've gone on a significant luggage reduction and am traveling much lighter these days. This pack is the perfect carry-on. It comes in green and charcoal grey. You might also like to read Ross' post on Matador Travel: Traveling around the world with your laptop: not as tricky as you'd think. I think this waterproof pack, with lots of pockets, may be the perfect solution. Make it to Ireland this autumn: One-Way Flights From $159+