yellowpellican

I noticed that the hotels I am booking in France & Belgium have free wifi. My Riverhboat (Uniword) also has wifi. Is it smart to take my macbook pro to Europe. Is it easy to charge it in my room and what type of plug do I need? Complications of being a traveling senior.
Thanks

Wekiva

It depends on how much you need your computer for day to day life. I'd be hard pressed to not have a computer (or at least an iPad) with me. The big problem is it's a very expensive item that can dropped or stolen. Only you will know if it's worth taking along. It certainly is nice to be able to keep communicating with friends/family while you're traveling.

As for charging...just about all modern electronics can accept electricity from the USA and Europe. If you look on your charging cable there should be a large amount of text somewhere (either on the plug that goes into the socket or the "brick" that is in the middle of the cord). Somewhere on there it will say something like "100V-240V. The 100 (or 110) will mean it can accept electricity form USA...while the higher number (typically 220) will mean it can accept the electricity from Europe. I would assume your mac would accept both but you should look just to be sure and to familiarize yourself with the concept. You should look for this number on all the electronics you're taking. If your device doesn't say the higher number (around 220V to 240V) then you'll need a converter to reduce the voltage BEFORE it gets to your device.

Most likely what you will need will be an adapter. This is different than a converter. All the adapter does is change the prongs from your device to the country you'll be in. The USA has two flat bars parallel to each other and maybe a round grounding prong. Many countries in Europe will need two round prongs. The adapter will let you plug your USA device into one end and then have the local country's prongs sticking out the other end. Just google the following:
power plug adapter (your country of travel)
...and you'll find out what adapter you'll need.

DebitNM

I agree that taking that large and expensive of a computer seems a bit of a burden. Do you really need to have something with such a wide range of functions? Since you are a senior, perhaps just checking email and doing some searches online [maps, things to see or do] a smaller netbook or iPad would be sufficient.

As far as plug adapter, this will work for a 3 prong US plug into a 2 round pin European receptacle:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Europ...5398329&sr=8-2

adrienne

I would not take something that expensive on a trip. I bought an inexpensive Acer netbook for traveling. It's not fast but I don't need fast on vacation. It's perfectly adequate to check email and look up things on the internet. Also good to upload photos to see them on a screen - fun to re-live the sightseeing without waiting to get home.