estimates are 4BILLION $ a year in stolen cell phones calls suffered by tourists who lose there phones or have them stolen I travel without phone or computer world wide. so think carefully if you insist on carrying your phone.
1
julie_l
Yeah, I don't get it either. Why carry around with you something that you can hire at your destination (as in payphones), and why travel if you have to speak to everyone back home every five seconds?
2
xscorcho
i travel with a 7 year old brick nokia phone and that's all. hasn't been stolen yet lol :D i think many people are scared to show up unprepared and find their way by talking to people. can be comforting to have everything organized and it's pretty easy to do that now with all the information available on the web.
with that said, next month i'll be traveling indefinitely and leaving my current country with no plans to return so i will be taking my laptop. am already dreading being responsible for it!
3
julie_l
xscorcho - why do you need to take a laptop?
- it's also very easy to 'have everything organised' by making phone calls from payphones. Remember them? Most places even have the internet these days. Granted in 2001 there were only a few places in Mauritania with internet cafes, but everywhere else in the world that I've been to since has plenty of the buggers.
4
xscorcho
i personally don't think you need a laptop - like i said i don't travel with one. but i think others don't think they can live without it and do a lot of their planning on it. to make the call from the payphone you first need a number (which can easily be found via laptop). it can also be useful for photo storage if you're into that. my point was just that i can see why many people want to travel with them (because they can be useful!)
5
pia2am
I like to travel with my phone, not because I want to keep in contact with family at home ( I travel with my family), but so I can research my next destination, book accomodation (again I travel with my family - husband and 2 children so we like to know where we are going next). If you take care of your things and stay streetwise then I can´t see it´s a great risk to carry a phone.
6
genghis_caterpillar
I carry my phone when I travel for the same reason I carry it when I'm at home. Because its an integral part of my daily life. I use it to communicate by phone, by email, and by SMS. It holds my address book, my hotel and travel bookings, and a lot of other associated info. It tells me the time, and reminds me of time critical appointments such as flight times and meetings.
And most importantly, I carry it because there is no good reason not to: I'm no more likely to lose it while I'm travelling than I am when I'm at work or at home. The risk is there, but if I spent my life avoiding risk then I wouldn't be doing any travelling either.
7
muteki
World Health Organisation estimates 10,000 black market operations involving human organs take place each year. PLEASE consider leaving your organs at home!!!
8
mothercourage
PLEASE consider leaving your organs at home!!!
Well, I did consider it, but - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZI12WHWvAg
9
aclevela
Topics like these crack me up. We're supposed to leave our phones at home just because we're going to a different country........where the local population most likely uses cell phones. This reminds me of how female travelers are sometimes told not to carry a regular purse....as if the females in other countries don't carry purses.
People get robbed in their own homes, bad stuff happens. Just be mindful....
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