Laptops to Europe
 

I've never taken my laptop on an overseas trip before, but will be doing so next week to Spain.

Does anyone know of any Customs hassles either upon arrival in Spain or returning to the US? Would it be necessary to take my reciept?

One question- do you need to? If it's for business, never mind this observation and don't forget your electrical converter.

If you just want to keep up with your e-mail, there are Internet cafes EVERYWHERE, especially in places frequented by tourists. I'm in one in St. Petersburg, Russia right now and it's costing about 3 cents (one ruble) a minute for a very good connection.

Going to Spain you should have no problems at all.

If you are worried that American customs will think you brought the Laptop overseas and owe tax on it then take a photocopy of the receipt. But I have travelled with a laptop all over Europe, America and further a field and have never had any questions about it.

You won't have a problem at all, on either side of the Atlantic. In fact, the only hassle to carrying the laptop is having to remove it for screening at security in the US.

As far as power, most current laptops have a 'universal' power suppy, simply meaning that all you need is the appropriate plug. Enjoy your trip.

*Do* check this, though. Most now go 100-250 VAC, but not all. I've seen US consultants come into our office, only to get a nice little explosion as their power supply goes...

I have taken my laptop to Germany many times and have had no problem with the electric current. Just be sure that you read the power specs on your power supply. Just get an adaptor plug in Radio Shack. There should be no need to spend any more money.

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O Henry

My Sony laptop goes all over the world without a converter nor a problem. The only place where you might have an issue is Saudi Arabia where they may wish to scan your laptop for porn if they don't like the way you look. It hasn't happened to me, but I've heard stories. I know they will ask to see any floppy's or CD's you might have. I just tell them I don't have any and move on.

Generally the voltage is fine - most laptops are set up to take 110 or 220 on the fly (no need to tell the computer what it's being fed). For the plugs, you may want to look at this page

http://kropla.com/electric2.htm

for the right plug(s). Some top end hotels catering to US travelers have US plugs at the desk in addition to the local plug (i.e., Conrad Hong Kong), but I wouldn't count on it.

And I'm sure that those freaks have a very, very loose definition of what constitutes porn.

Whatta country though! Friday night beheadings on TV, but no exposed female ankles!

What a fine display of tolerance my friend!

I guess you also think that all othe countries that follow muslim law are freaks?

I've taken my laptop to Germany, France, Spain, UK. Never a problem using it, but for emailing only, I'm all in favor of using internet cafes as posted above. Carrying the batteries, cords, peripherals and the laptop itself cuts down on the amount of shopping I can do http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Ginger K (edited 10-06-2003).]

Why, yes I do.

Tolerance stops at the borders of state sanctioned stonings, beheadings, hand-chopping, sentencing raped women to 192 lashes for adultery, honor killings, and funding madras schools whose curriculum consists of 12 hours of bobbing your head over the Koran and learning to hate the infidel.

Some things are simply, fundamentally better than others. A Mercedes is better than a Yugo and Western liberal democracy is better than Islamic theocracy. Seriously, what part of, "you're 500 years late for your reformation" are these people having trouble with.

And, for what it's worth, I'm just as disgusted by the fundamentalist evangelical Christians in my own country.

Bravo csb. I have had enough of people killing beating or torturing people for the sake of religion. And to me it doesnt matter if it is someone turning an AK47 on his mom because she committed adultery (true one) or taunting kids trying to go to school because they werent catholic or protestent (I cant even remember who it was in Ireland that time).

You boys need to learn to differentiate between what some psychopaths does, what a government does and what the average Arab or Saudi does. The average person in Saudi Arabia is no different than the average person in the U.S. What do you feel when someone insults America? It's the same when you insult another country.

The reason the Saudis prohibit pornography is that they believe that it is immoral. They don't want their society to decay morally to the point it has in other countries. It's that simple and I respect this restriction.

Your political arguments belong elsewhere.

Disagree

Agree

Nudge, nudge and getting back on track, I have registered laptops with US Customs (my company required it then) so to avoid any problems upon return. Someone may have a link regarding this. I dont take laptops overseas anymore thus I search out nearby internet cafes.

Get a POP3 mail account so you can log onto it but remember, it aint always very secure. Be wary of using passwords, cc numbers. I always try to get an internet cafe where the computer reboots after you use it (or I will do the reboot manually if possible).

MisterNice

I try to avoid carrying a laptop from a weight standpoint by sometimes only carrying a handheld (IPAQ) that I can get mail on. I can sync with my cell phone to my desktop so I dont have to worry about cafe security issues. The IPAQ mail sync is efficient enough that the call is completed in about 3-5 minutes, even with a slow (9600) CSD connection. That is about a dollar and a half on a good prepaid cell call. Many times though I need the laptop for something so I have it along. The only time I have ever seen much attention paid was in Argentina. A friend from there told me they are pretty strict about citizens of Argentina bringing in stuff without paying the taxes. Once they scoped I was a US citizen they waved me through without any problems. I doubt US customs pays much attention to laptops since they often cost a lot more in places other than the US from what I have seen. I have had people come to visit over here from Europe tell me they wanted to go to J&R for instance to get one because they were much cheaper than in their country of residence. I suspect you will have no trouble in Spain or returning.

[This message has been edited by GadgetFreak (edited 10-07-2003).]

In europe nearly every hotel room I've ever been in had a converter in the room. If not, I've asked at the desk and they usually have one there. As for religious conversion, I don't think laptops have religion (unless you count mac vs. pc. Some people are pretty religious about that). http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Unless you will arrive at a very odd hour, it will probably be easier and less expensive to get a plug adapter at your European destination than in the States. U.S airport prices tend to be high and the things are not widely available elsewhere on these shores.

U.S. phone cords work in continental Europe but not in the U.K. Phone jack adapters are easy to get there, though. In addition, business hotels often have RJ-11 ports in the rooms, and the concierge should have an adapter.

I just find I cannot travel without my laptop any more, business or even holiday trips. I do all my e-mails through my office account to keep everything in one place so I sync back there to get all my messages, e-mail photos to people at home, etc.

Latest reason is my digital camera. When I first had it I downloaded daily when on holiday as I only had the basic 24-photo memory card. On my Concorde trip I downloaded in mid-flight! Now I find I am taking the laptop to do a slideshow of all my photos for the family, or to act as a backup in case the camera is lost.

Regarding electricity overseas, look at the plate on the back of your power supply, it should say somewhere something like "Input 100-240V 50-60Hz". This shows it can handle anything. Laptops are entirely driven by low voltage DC (they have to be to run off battery) so the power supply just converts it. It saves the manufacturer having to do separate power supplies for each market.

I love the knowledge of those high-paid consultants visiting from overseas, referred to above. One of them told me once that his laptop tended to overheat because the fan only ran at 5/6 speed, because the frequency in the UK was 50Hz, not 60Hz. Hmmm!

Be Careful with this. Continetal Europe has MANY types of phone sockets. I have a bag with loads in. Luckily most phones have the standard jack on the handset end so you can plug it into your laptop. Watch out for digital phone lines in hotels giving you fun

As mentioned previously, Internet cafes are more and more prevalent around the world, so there's usually reasonably-priced access nearby, depending on your destination.

On the other hand, we lugged our laptop to France for a one-month stay, and found to our delight that we could sign on at the Internet cafe one block away from our apartment for a mere Euro (unlimited time) per session.

This allowed us to compose e-mails at our apartment at our leisure, and the other big advantage I can think of is being able to use your own keyboard. The French and German ones, at least, have their own quirks, as they would say ours do, and amusingly one of the trickiest steps is learning to create a @.

Cheers,
Fredd