Managing Technology and Photos on Your Solo European Trip

Let’s talk about the devices themselves first. I have taken a tablet on all three trips.  I use a laptop here at home all the time, but I wouldn’t want to lug that around Europe. That’s because both of the weight and the potential to somehow damage or even lose it.

I have met many people in hostels who do not take a tablet or any such device, especially now that the smartphones are so powerful for computing. I have decided to continue to take my tablet simply because at the end of the day when my body is too tired to do anything else, I enjoy browsing the internet to read some of my usual news and commentary sites, and occasionally because I am curious about something at home. I find looking at a larger screen much more pleasant.

I own a few ebooks too, and if nothing else, I can always browse for youtube videos or look at photographs. I also like to write (you wouldn’t know that, would you?), so that goes much faster with a tablet than on a phone.

For this third trip though, I am leaving the detachable keyboard for my tablet at home. It adds weight and I have become good enough with the pop-up digital “keyboard” on the business end of the tablet that I’m deciding to leave the keyboard at home. If I wanted my writing to be somewhat more polished, I would take the physical keyboard along, since I certainly make fewer mistakes on it.

If none of these sound important to you, or if you have mastered the art of accomplishing all these things on a phone, you can consider leaving the tablet or e-reader at home.

Then of course let’s talk about the phone. It’s very rare now to see a travel forum post from someone who says they aren’t taking their smartphone because they really don’t need to stay in touch with anyone at home and don’t see any use for it.  So the chances are great that you are taking it.

In the detail pages that will be built out in this section of the website, I will get into some of the choices I’ve made about my phone and the reasoning behind them.

What I would like to say here is that with each trip, the phone assumes more and more functions. Let’s think of it; I can call home freely, send and receive texts all over the world, use mapping apps to provide detailed directions and find nearby restaurants and hotels, find out what time it is and set alarms, replace a flashlight, calculate, translate languages, find out how long it will be before the bus arrives, point at QR codes, visit the website of the next sight I plan to see, and much more.

In the category of “more,” of course, the leader is taking photos and videos.  I notice among friends and buddies interested in travel, it is becoming more and more common to leave the camera (if they even own one now) at home and rely totally on the phone.  On my first trip, I took my point and shoot camera and shot lots of photos.  For the second trip I left the camera at home and used the phone.

I tested how satisfied I would be with that choice by walking around my neighborhood and taking photos of the same thing with both.  I couldn’t tell any meaningful difference, so I went with the phone alone. I am not a serious photographer or don’t plan to enlarge and frame my photos, so the phone works fine.