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Introduction - The author of upcoming eBook, ‘’Travels With My Laptop’’, Tim Strahan says: "I confess to being schizoid when it comes to computers and making a living. On one hand I love everything technical and logical, which led to a degree in math, and a career in personal computing in the 80s when I published and edited the second only disk-magazine in the world at the time. But parallel to that was the ‘natural therapist’ side, which took me into the study of acupuncture, energies, meditation and the like, and which in the 90s became a full career, and which led to a marriage of the two sides when I began developing ‘energy products’ or health devices and selling them via mail order on the web, as well as in my practice. These products were the result of trying to get the world of energies to meet the world of technology, such as a natural way of ‘energizing’ water coming through the water pipes to a home. I want it all! All of which is a long-winded way of saying that I love computers and technology and I love the world of energies and human development, and I love travel. Part of my travelling obsession is about connecting to the energies of place, to the mysteries of the Mayan ruins, for example, where I am right now in southern Mexico. Travel is a necessary part of my life, and I won’t give it up." Can I have it all? Can I still run a business in Australia and travel or live in exotic places? Well, no I certainly couldn’t in the mid-90s when I just had to choose between traveling and running my business. As a result, business suffered while I was gone. But I can have nearly all of it now because computers and the Web have reached the point where you can run certain businesses remotely, where communications have reached the point of being cheap and efficient, and where internet connections abound nearly everywhere.  The experts are out of date. If you search through the web for good information on the nuts and bolts of this you’ll encounter a lot of very out-of-date information (some ‘experts’ are still talking about using modems!) by people who may understand modems, but who don’t travel and keep up with what’s happening on the ground. Try looking up ‘laptop travel’ yourself and see what you get. Things are moving very fast in this area. And you need a lot of technical knowledge to follow the few useful discussions on how to get to the point of using it yourself. So what can you do with a computer on the road? Here are some answers from my experience over the last year as I moved through South and Central America, plugging in to the electron stream in the most unlikely places. I can run my mail order business. This involved hiring someone (a friend) to do the administration, and physical chores related to getting products out to the post or to couriers.  I can do everything else: picking up messages daily from both a landline and a cell phone, using Skype2.0 internet phoning. Then I ring clients who need to speak to me, at about 1 or 2 cents per minute, no matter whether they’re in Australia or the US. I can pay bills using internet banking, and it’s quicker and easier than it used to be writing cheques. Clients can use PayPal to pay me and vice versa, a simple system linked to credit cards which works seamlessly. I can do the books at the end of the year – my assistant uploads the accounting software file to me and I put the accounts together from the internet banking records. I can speak to suppliers directly by phone, or of course use email to make orders and sort out any issues that arise. In all cases, most people I speak to from the other side of the world think I am still in the office, taking care of business – and, really, I am. It’s just that my office has become where I, my computer, and a broadband signal come together, and that could be in a café, an internet café, a hotspot in a hotel or restaurant or airport, on a beach or anywhere else you can imagine. I can update my websites whenever I like – I add to the site, and upload the new version (via ftp, the web method of communicating with your site) and it’s ready immediately. And, the most important thing is that I’m still earning money that I would not have been able to earn 2 years ago.  The bad news My practice of consulting with clients one on one is difficult to maintain. In the future, though, I can see how I can connect by videophone to clients from anywhere, and run a session. It will require some ‘training’ of clients in the meantime. . Case study – Andrew, an attorney I met Andrew in an internet café in Oaxaca in southern Mexico just last week. He’s a 38-year-old attorney from California who now lives with his Mexican girlfriend in Oaxaca and the beautiful coastal towns nearby. He says he can do all of his work, mainly legal reports, with his laptop, send it in by email as an Acrobat or Word file, and nobody knows the difference. And life is much more pleasant and cheap for him in Mexico. Andrew is on top of it!  . What about Internet phoning? This capability alone is enough reason to take your laptop with you. This side of computing has developed exponentially in the last year. It’s amazing what a real free market can do if left to develop in its own enlightened self-interest! There are many possible packages these days, and many different price tags, and many ways of approaching this capability. I will go into further detail on this topic in my forthcoming eBook. For now I will describe what I chose as the best approach after trying many other options. Skype  In the end, the simplest and the best telephone system for the traveller or expatriate is Skype. Skype is free to download, register and use between two (or more: you can conference too) Skype users. This encourages rapid spread of the technology and uses ‘web psychology’ in the best way – give something useful away for free and get people in. You even find some internet cafes will let you use Skype on their computers (though not often – they like to charge for phone calls at much higher rates). - Article Continued Below -

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Once you have Skype working on your computer, you can get more serious – you can buy credit (using PayPal, or credit card) which allows you to use SkypeOut, that is, you can call any phone number anywhere (except some emergency numbers), be it a landline ( 1 or 2 cents per minute) or a cell phone (10 cents per minute approximately). I use this constantly for business and friends who don’t have Skype-to-Skype installed yet. Skype claims that $13 credit will give you 10 hours speaking to landlines round the world. 

You can go further and get SkypeIn, meaning that you can pay about $10 for your own phone number (for 3 months) in any of about 10 countries currently available. I (an Australian in Mexico) have a California phone number which appears on all my websites as if I have an office in the US, making it possible for any American to call me at US rates. The calls go to my computer and are answered by Skype, whether I’m there or not. Either I take the call, or redirect it to other numbers (at Skype costs, very low) or take a voicemail. I could also have a number in the UK, and numerous other countries round the world. 

I have been using all these features for months and I can tell you that it works well. It is even something you should have on your computer at home, whether you travel or not – you can save a lot of money in phone bills. I know, because I have saved plenty in Australia. See SkypeZones below for more capabilities.

Wifi hotspots around the world
Wifi is a system of connecting phones or computers to the web wirelessly. This too is spreading exponentially, as places such as hotels and restaurants, neighbourhoods and even whole cities are in the process of becoming ‘unwired’. Usually this needs to be paid for but some businesses provide a free wireless connection. In San Cristobal in southern Mexico where I write this, I can sit in a picturesque café owned by a German guy who adds to his revenue by providing internet connections through his own computers – but he also provides a wireless network for free! So I can sit anywhere nearby within the reach of this local network and access the internet, and Skype phoning, while I write this article. This is enlightened! And he is not the only one, though normally they ask you to pay a little for the privilege.

The good news is that this will spread widely and rapidly, and further good news is that Skype has come to an agreement with a group called Boingo who provide wireless hotspots around the world (25000 at current count). The upshot is that for $7.95 per month, you can access this network via Skype, meaning that you can cheaply access any of those thousands of sites in airports, restaurants, and hotels to access the internet or call internationally as described above. 
You can pay much more to do this using other systems, but this arrangement is the best I’ve come across so far, and it integrates with what you’ve already set up on your computer.

What else can you do with a laptop? (Details on these subjects coming in an eBook available soon)

• You can trade futures and stocks and shares on web platforms as you travel from place to place – make money as you travel. This is the Holy Grail in my opinion, and I’ve discovered how to make it work.
• You can interface with your digital camera to immediately edit, upload, and publish on the web your digital photos and videos. Find out how to have your own ‘server’ for your photos, your websites, your business, and anything else you produce. There are possibilities of earning money with your travel photos.
• You can watch movies on your computer’s DVD drive.
• Set up your computer system as a hi-fi system.
• Set up your computer system and your jukebox and your digital camera as a tape recorder.
• Set up faxing (in and out) on your computer so you don’t need to use commercial services.
• Use the web to find all the travel information you need, locate the hotels and other services you want, and find the best deals, and call them immediately on Skype for reservations. Make those travel agents obsolete! Never carry a heavy guidebook again!
• Run conferences with and without video for business or friends in real time.
• Write your travel memoirs and articles, as you go.
• Interface your mini-jukebox (iPod, iRiver, etc.) to your computer, to capture all the sound files (music, spoken, interviews, etc.) you want to listen to later. Find out how to use your computer to charge your jukebox and do away with the battery problem.
• Link together your digital camera and jukebox battery system to optimise the power situation for your various devices.
• Set up a Calendar system for note-taking and reminders as you run your business

I will also cover the following, and more, in my coming ebook 

• All the details of how you can do the things mentioned in this article, explained in a way that’s not too technical, and easy to put into practice.
• More case studies of people actually working and travelling with their laptops.
• How to set up Skype on your computer, step by step.
• The laptop computer as a money-saving device when you travel with it – we’ll look at the economics of it all. You can save a lot of money if you travel with a computer, in costs of phoning, books, entertainment, etc. 
• What to watch out for in terms of the best hardware to buy to optimise your travel experience. All the equipment you need to take with you in detail. - the memory stick, the earphones, etc. In detail, including plugs and other adaptor hardware devices you need for travel in different places.
• The sorts of businesses or jobs that are good candidates for travel.
• All the objections to taking a laptop with you - listed and dealt with one by one.
• What you can do with internet café computers, and what you just can’t do.
• Different ways to upload your photos and videos – using commercial online services or your own ‘server’.
• Using Skype to send files, to chat, and to conference.
• Keeping information you find on the web for later perusal offline. 
• The best websites online for the savvy expatriate or traveler.
• Downloading interviews and other mp3 and video files for later viewing.
• Compacting and reducing the size of files.
• All the best software you need to keep the computer running best
• A full collection of travel tips, fully updated, as they relate to computing and travel.
• How to get the real information on deals for hotels and travel by entering searches in local languages to sidestep the big commercial English search engines which only find the expensive services 

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It's a favorite of those seeking a calmer lifestyle in close proximity to the wonders of nature.  Like a un-planed 2x4 full of splinters, Belize is sturdy, rugged and full of sandfleas, but it also has it's share of beautiful islands, adventuresome spirits and rum soaked nights. It's the place we dreamed about as children.  A place where we could do what we wanted without being called in to wash up for dinner. It's a place where you need to know how to repair your own car and replace parts of your plumbing with bailing wire and tape. It's also a place where big brother isn't looking over your shoulder and you can set your own building codes or own a flock of chickens. It's a place where you can spend the day fishing without trying to keep up with the Jones's. It's also become one of the hottest expatriate destinations in Latin America. ...it's not for everyone, but it may be for you. 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