How to Use Your Laptop in New Zealand

Many travel to New Zealand for the brilliant green countryside and bucolic way of life. But being out of touch with your workaday world can have some stresses of its own. Take along your laptop to New Zealand, and you'll have peace of mind knowing that your responsibilities are just a click away. Using your laptop in New Zealand is easy when you follow the right procedures. Here's how.

Things You'll Need

• USB cable for digital camera
• Plug adapter
• Surge protector
• Ethernet network cable
• Phone cord
• Phone adapter
• Transformer

Instructions

1. Purchase a short-term insurance policy for your laptop before you travel to New Zealand. If your laptop is stolen, this plan will recover your costs. See Resources below for more information.

2. Prepare for differences in electricity. You will need an adapter plug to accommodate plug type "I" in New Zealand. You may also need a transformer. Check the transformer block on your laptop to see what voltage capacity it handles. If it cannot handle 230V, then you will also need to obtain a transformer.

3. Pack an Internet connection kit that contains a spare phone cord, an extra Ethernet network cable, a phone adapter and a surge protector. You may not need all of these items, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

4. Choose a hotel that provides a dataport for laptop modems and free high-speed Internet access. You'll be able to connect to the Internet right from your hotel room. This will save you time and money.

5. Locate Wi-Fi hotspots to use your wireless Internet on the go. See Resources below for a global directory of Wi-Fi hotspots and find locations close to where you'll be vacationing in New Zealand.

6. Use an encryption program to back up sensitive data in case your laptop falls into the wrong hands. Truecrypt, a free program, is easy to use because the encryption is real-time and automatic. The correct password will decrypt the data for you.

Tips & Warnings

• Download your photos to your laptop each night so you won't run out of memory on your camera.

• Charge your laptop battery pack each night.

• Digital phone lines are not safe for your modem. Check that the phone line in your hotel room is analog before connecting to the Internet.

• Back up all important data before you use your laptop in New Zealand in case your computer is stolen.