4. Consider bringing a small laptop
Although I own a small laptop, nay, a tiny laptop, I did not bring it with me when I went to Thailand. I figured there would be computers available, from either cyber cafes or hostels, if I absolutely needed one, it would be extra weight, extra liability and I just did not need it.
In hindsight, there were a couple of times, although not that many, where my life would have been greatly simplified if I had just brought my laptop and also, possibly, an external hard drive to dump photos onto.
I did, however, make do with my phone in Thailand.
When I went to Vietnam, I had my laptop and two external hard drives. I did not want to risk losing any photos, so I brought redundant backups. Having a laptop did make life easier and it was not that much of a pain when moving about. It allowed me to write, to read, to research, to dump my photos.
That’s the really important one though, the researching. Having a laptop allows you to research, important if you’re like and and don’t have specific travel plans.
Consider investing in a padlock so you can lock your locker, if you’re staying at hostels because there’s no reason to be carting it everywhere.
If you don’t own a small laptop, consider buying one (although I would suggest against chromebooks). Fry’s often has them on sale for 80-90 dollars and, coupled with an external hard drive, you should be fine.
I personally own a Lenovo 11e that was on sale for $200. The screen is terrible, and small (12 inches) but it gets the job done and that’s the most important thing.
Find all of the travel lessons curated here.
Pillars over a canal in Bangkok, Thailand. Taken on Dec. 5, 2015. This picture has nothing to do with laptops. But it is pretty!