How to Use Your Laptop in Panama

Many people travel to Panama to escape the realities of work and chaos. These people may realize that being out of touch with the world can have some stresses of its own. Take your laptop when you visit Panama, and you'll have peace of mind knowing that your responsibilities are just a click away. Using your laptop in Panama is easy when you follow the right procedures.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Laptop
• Phone adaptor
• Transformer
• Phone cord
• Ethernet network cable
• Surge protector
• USB cable to connect your digital camera to your laptop

1. Purchase a short-term insurance policy for your laptop before you travel to Panama. If your laptop were stolen, this plan would recover your costs. See the "Additional Resources" section for more information.
2. Prepare for differences in electricity. Check the transformer block on your laptop to see what voltage capacity it handles. If it cannot handle 110 to 120V, then you will 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 the "Additional Resources" section to learn how to search a massive directory of Wi-Fi hotspots to find locations in Panama close to where you'll be vacationing.
6. Use an encryption program to back up sensitive data in case your laptop falls into the wrong hands. Truecrypt, a free program, is an easy program 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 to ensure that you don't run out of memory on your camera.
• Don't forget to charge your laptop battery pack each night.
• Make sure that the phone line in you hotel room is analog before connecting to the Internet. Digital phone lines are not safe for your modem.
• Back up all important data before you use your laptop in Panama in case your computer is stolen.

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