More Tech Tips From Travelers - important for traveler

An Internet tablet saves the day in Italy, a tourist avoids looking touristy, and a traveler instantly shares pictures with folks back home--all thanks to their portable gear.

A few weeks ago, I featured tech tips from world traveler Randy Ross, a former PC World executive editor. Since that article appeared, over two dozen readers wrote to share tech tips from their international travels. Here are some excerpts.
When Stranded, Consult Your Internet Tablet

"Last summer I spent a month traveling with my sister through Spain and Italy," writes Philip Neumann from Los Angeles. "I brought along the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet to access Internet sites on the go and stay up-to-date with relatives and friends. I was happy to discover the tablet's memory card slot could also access images stored on the memory card in my Canon camera.

"After traveling a week through Spain, I was able to upload dozens of images to my Yahoo, Gmail, and MySpace accounts, for friends and family to track our movements in real-time.

"But the tablet proved a lifesaver when my sister and I were stranded in the Pisa airport for about 12 hours. We needed to find an alternate way home. The airport had Wi-Fi but no computer terminals, so I whipped out the N800, paid the 12 euros for 90 minutes of access, scanned the airline Web sites for alternate flights, and ultimately saved the day by finding a discount flight home.

"I am definitely bringing the tablet with me to Europe this May when I return for a two-week trip. I highly recommend this device to anyone traveling through Europe or the U.S. or Canada and who wants to stay in touch without lugging a laptop or having to go to cyber cafes."

The Nokia N800 tablet has a touch screen, a stylus, a built-in Webcam, Skype preinstalled, and full Web access. It earned a PCW Rating of 70 (good) when we reviewed it last February. Recent prices started at $200 online.

A newer model, the N810, adds a slide-out QWERTY keyboard (the N800 has an on-screen keyboard). The N810 received a PCW Rating of 75 (good) in a December review. Prices begin at $400 online.

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