I will be taking my teen age sons to Utah and the Grand Canyon over spring break. What are the pros and cons to bringing my laptop with modem along? Do people have strong feelings about whether electronic connection makes or breaks an outdoors vacation? (I do not use the modem for my work; this would be for e-mail/ICQ/gaming.)

Though I'm a real computer junkie, I leave all such communication devices at home.

We annually go to the Keys. And various other places around the country on vacation. Only once did I take a laptop with me--a Toshiba Libretto to the Bahama a few years ago. Though I was in a reasonably-safe environment, I still had a concern about theft and/or damage.

It really is liberating to leave the electronic stuff of our lives at home. And that's the start of a good vacation.

We took our laptop on a vacation to Europe last summer and on the first flight of the trip my son was sleeping and accidentally kicked a glass of orange juice with his foot and it landed right inside the laptop. It was unusable the entire vacation, but we still had to lug it around. My husband thought he and the kids couldn't survive without access to DVDs, computer games and email, but guess what, they did. There will no doubt be a few days of withdrawl and whining, but they will get into the vacation more if they don't have the laptop to entertain them.

I would be a person who has "strong feelings" about electronic connections on a vacation - particularly with teen agers in tow. (I'm also a mom with a now-grown son and daughter.)

The experience you have with your sons in Utah and the GC *without* electronics (and the erstwhile games)will be a vastly different one than if you lug the stuff along. You'll be amidst some of the most magnificent scenery on this continent. Leave the stuff home; let the boys learn to relate to one another, to you, to the stars and all the rest of it...SANS electronics and yakking with friends back home.

If you really need it to check email, I have found that lots of hotel business centers have computers for your use for a small fee.

My husband is surgically attached to his laptop. However, once is accompanies us on vacation it is very difficult to limit teenagers use of it. It is useful on planes where even I can not insist they do something more useful, educational, creative or interesting. However, when we went to Egypt we left it home and it forced my kids to spend more time together and create things to do, even on the plane to alleviate boredom. So I am ambivalent about it.

I've never taken a laptop, even though we have one, on vacation. I wouldn't dream of it. I really don't think anyone will miss it, and if they do, you've probably chosen the wrong vacation destination.

I guess I have strong feelings against taking them. Why go on vacation if you are going to waste time looking into a computer screen?

Just to relay a story about a co-worker of mine. He was going through security at Orlando Airport and had his laptop "dusted" and trace amounts of nitro glycerin were detected. He could not explain why it was there. Needless to say they would not let him board the plane with his laptop. Lucklily he had a car in the aiport to leave it in so that he could make his flight. But I could not imagine what you would do if you were not in your home city. Just a thought.

Leave it at home. Enjoy your vacation.
My other half is also attached to his
laptop (and cell phone.)
He lugged it all over Italy, Australia, California. Italy was the most entertaining place - we were staying in small pensione type places with bad phone lines to begin with. He became obsessed with getting the computer to work in our room. Spend a whole afternoon wandering around in Venice looking for an electronics shop to buy some sort of connector. When he finally got is going, the only time he could actually get online was at 2 or 3 am.
This was definately not part of the dream I had of seeing Venice.
He has no idea how close he came to
losing that precious computer in the
Venice canal.
You should spend the time doing things together, as a family.

Always take my laptop. I make all our reservations on-line and it is much easier to change them, if need be, on the computer than on the phone.

Left it home last weekend on a trip to Chicago and regretted it. Things like directions and times are so much more convenient to look up on-line.

Also good for games on long, boring drives between places of interest, (like the drive between Cincinnati and Chicago!)

My children must the only children in America without Gameboys, a game module for the TV, TVs in their bedrooms, etc. But then again, they are slender, active, physically fit, imaginative, love to read, etc. Leave the laptop at home. Make them read new books, learn to read a map, plan the upcoming activities, etc.

Although I'm philosophically in agreement with most of the posters here who've recommended you leave the laptop at home, my husband (like Gail's) has surgically attached himself to his laptop and always brings it along. We don't have kids, so our situation is different. He's up at the crack of dawn and I like to sleep in when we're on vacation, so he can amuse himself with the laptop until I rise and shine.

ALSO: We were on Maui when the world went mad on 9/11, and I've got to admit that I was glad we had the laptop with us at that time. Rather than calling everyone we knew long-distance to let them know we were OK (and to find out if THEY were OK, too), we just sent out a lot of e-mails and stayed in touch that way until we were able to return home. No, I'm not saying you should bring the computer just in case a similar tragedy happens again (God forbid). I'm just saying that there are times when it can be very helpful for reasons you can't possibly anticipate before you leave home. Just a thought.

My other half likes to take his laptop with him on trips and we've actually found it to be quite useful. We've used it in cities we're visiting to find restaurants, wineries, directions, park hours, local music events, etc. It's never really interfered with any vacation we've had yet, because the laptop stays in the hotel room (hidden or in the safe, of course) while we're out hiking, sightseeing, and exploring. It only gets turned on when we need to find some information, or at the very end of the day for a quick check of urgent e-mails. We've never been tempted to surf the web or play games, simply because we can do that at home.

The cons to bringing it, of course, is fear that it'll be stolen or broken.