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Keep Your Electronic Gadgets Safe on Your Next Vacation

For many of us, our summer vacation packing lists these days have more than just swimsuits, beach towels and travel guides on them. They probably include laptops, tablets, smartphones and digital cameras, too. After all, these devices play essential roles in our everyday lives, and they can make vacation more fun. But taking your gadgets on the road also means you’re taking risks.

Harried travelers often leave gadgets behind on airplanes, in taxis and at airport security checkpoints. Charging cords are forgotten in hotel rooms. Slick thieves target distracted tourists who turn their backs for just a minute. Devices receive accidental baptisms in water or sit too long in the hot sun.

There’s nothing like the loss of expensive electronics or irreplaceable family photos to ruin your vacation. Being a smarter traveler can go a long way toward protecting your gadgets -- and ensuring you don’t go home feeling more stressed than when you left.
Your Pre-Vacation Gadget Checklist:

• Pack only what you need. Consider whether you actually need to place so many gadgets at risk. One smartphone can take pictures and videos, provide GPS directions, surf the Internet and do many other useful things on a trip. Leave any extra stuff at home.

• Do your research. If you’re traveling outside the United States, research the power requirements for your destinations and bring the proper universal power adapter. It’s frustrating to run out of power, only to find yourself scrambling to buy an adapter -- or use the wrong adapter and risk frying your device.

• Prepare your technology. Laptops get stolen all the time so back up your data and remove it off of your laptop prior to going on vacation and store sensitive data elsewhere, such as on an external hard drive or in the cloud, until you return home. Back up photos stored on your camera’s memory card. Many people keep their pictures on that large memory card in the digital camera. Doing so puts your pictures at risk of being lost if not backed up.

• Beef up security. Consider remote tracking programs that lock down your data and help track your laptop in the event of theft or loss. Also install tracking capabilities on your smartphone. Take the time to password-protect your gadgets when possible. And keep security software updated and running.

Safeguard Your Electronic Gadgets on the Road

Once you’re on the road, follow these tips to ensure all of that preparation was not a waste of time:

• Protect your gear. One technique is to make a custom tech gadget kit with padding by using a bathroom amenity kit for power cords, adaptors, converter cables and headphones. When asked to remove the contents at a check stop at an airport, it is easier for everyone, it is faster as well.

• Bring your tools. A power strip will allow you to keep electronics in one place in hotel rooms. Having them in one place makes it less likely you’ll forget an item. Carry a small USB hub to enable family members to charge multiple devices at one time. Consider carrying an extra recharging cord if you’re traveling where it might be difficult to find a replacement for a critical gadget. Encrypted memory sticks can also be valuable vacation tools. You can use a memory stick to store data rather than keep it on a laptop that might be stolen. At the end of each day, place photos on an encrypted memory stick and upload them to an online photo service.

• Be vigilant. Don’t pay cab drivers until you have double-checked the back seat and retrieved your luggage. Assign someone to scour the hotel room before you check out. And of course, never leave gear unattended.

Source: Norton Cybercrime News/Kim Boatman