Laptops?

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:29 am

Hi all, my first post here on this excellent website and forum! My names Phil, I'm 28 and live in Essex.

Me and my Girlfriend will be jetting off to Tobago on the 1st of Feb for 2 weeks!!! We can't wait!!

This will be my 3rd visit to the island and Sarah's 1st!

I just wanted to find out if taking a laptop onto the island is a problem?
Now I'm sure it's just a stupid question but someone mentioned to me yesterday the grief they had taking a laptop into Peru and the mind starts worrying!!!

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year!!

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:38 am

Hi Phil

Welcome aboard! No need to apologise for living in Essex - somebody has to. (Only joking, I'm married to an Essex girl, all our families live in Essex and we're only two miles from the border).

You have no need to worry about taking a laptop - except for the fact that you're supposed to be there on holiday, not working (I assume). Be careful, or you will end up as sad as me. I have a 32kg flight case crammed with two laptops plus camera equipment and associated leads, chargers and cables, etc. Tobago Customs have never even asked me what's in the box, strangely.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:12 pm

That's great, thanks Steve! The laptop is only really gonna be used for watching films on the flight, flying with Excel again and find their in-flight entertainment quite poor, hard to hear through the rubbish headphone's and people blocking your view of the screen!! I know, sorry, I'll stop moaning!!!

Steve Wooler wrote: No need to apologise for living in Essex - somebody has to. (Only joking, I'm married to an Essex girl, all our families live in Essex and we're only two miles from the border).

I'm actually from East London and have only lived in Essex for 2 years and Sarah is from Surrey, although we plan to move further into Essex soon, hopefully somewhere near Chelmsford, South Woodham Ferrers is looking likely.

Quite funny you say about customs. On my first visit to the island I traveled with a friend and on leaving the country I was stopped by the airport customs at the security point, taken downstairs to the baggage area and quizzed about the possibility of me being a drugs mule!!!
They got me to identify my suitcase and opened it up to search. Now, I had no drugs but I did have some souvenirs for family back home. These were 3 carved coconut shells, which I'd wrapped in kitchen towel and then tied up individually in a cut up black bin liner. They checked every item including socks in my suitcase but didn't even ask me what was in the packages!! Bizarre!!

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:15 pm

That's what we love so much about Tobago - it defies logic!!!

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:53 pm

hmm, just spoken to the crown point hotel and they can't confirm that they'll have a large enough safety box for my laptop! Not sure what to do now, to take or not to take!!

Steve Pitts · Post by **Steve Pitts** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:40 pm

Hi Phil

Just a suggestion -

If you're taking your laptop just to watch films during the flights, then why not beg, borrow or steal a portable DVD player? If that fails, you can buy one for a little more than £50 nowadays. The only real downside would be the batteries required.

Other option would be a couple of good books and/or an mp3 player.

I would be surprised if most major hotels didn't have a safe large enough to accomodate a laptop, but then again I wonder if they would volunteer the use of the hotel safe, rather than the safety deposit boxes which are more often available. Sometimes hotels are not too helpful in this department unfortunately - where-ever you happen to be.

Cheers
Steve

Clyde Alleyne · Post by **Clyde Alleyne** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:12 pm

Phil, if you decide to travel with a laptop, you will find that customs has no problems with it. One reason why this is so is that computers can be imported into Trinidad & Tobago free of customs duty and VAT, so the customs officers have no interest in laptops. If you had planned to use the laptop for internet access please note that most Tobago hotels would not have high speed internet access in their rooms. There are a number of internet cafes scattered around the island however. I live in Trinidad and usually travel to Tobago with an EVDO Wireless broadband card supplied by TSTT, our local telephone company. This gives me wireless broadband access especially in the southeast, so I have even been online while relaxing at Pigeon Point.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:57 am

Thanks for the replies,

Hi Steve - Yes the idea of taking a dvd player was an option but the only one we have access to doesn't take batteries and the internal battery on it on our last flight didn't even last till the end of one film!!!

MP3 player and Books, yes we're taking those aswell, can you tell we get VERY bored on long haul!?!

Hi Clyde, thanks for the info, hmmm, relaxing at pigeon point, a carib in one hand and emailing everybody back in cold damp England!! Evil, but I like it!!!!!

Jill M · Post by **Jill M** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:12 pm

My husband has a video ipod and on our last flight to Tobago - he was realy embarassing. He was watching Lee Evans the comedian and roared with laughter all the way through

!! The rest of the plane were watching a boring movie on the big screen, but my husband has those noise reducing headphones aswell, so didn't realise he was being so loud - until I gave him a dig in the ribs of course

Jill.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:59 pm

Jill M wrote:My husband has a video ipod and on our last flight to Tobago - he was realy embarassing. He was watching Lee Evans the comedian and roared with laughter all the way through !! The rest of the plane were watching a boring movie on the big screen, but my husband has those noise reducing headphones aswell, so didn't realise he was being so loud - until I gave him a dig in the ribs of course

Jill.

Scott Charlton · Post by **Scott Charlton** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:46 pm

Phil O wrote:Hi all, my first post here on this excellent website and forum! My names Phil, I'm 28 and live in Essex.

Me and my Girlfriend will be jetting off to Tobago on the 1st of Feb for 2 weeks!!! We can't wait!! This will be my 3rd visit to the island and Sarah's 1st!

I just wanted to find out if taking a laptop onto the island is a problem?
Now I'm sure it's just a stupid question but someone mentioned to me yesterday the grief they had taking a laptop into Peru and the mind starts worrying!!!

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year!!

Hi Phil,
We are also off to Tobago on 1st Feb (Flying Virgin from Gatwick). The last time we went (2005) I took a laptop for the same reason as you. But I found the storage of it on the island was a pain as the Hilton would not put it in their safe for me?
This time I am just taking my (non-video) i-Pod and a few magazines as it's less hassle at the other end. I can't justify the cost of something like an Archos multimedia player as they are still around £500 for 160Gb version. If you must have movies and don't mind the small screen the video i-Pod is probably the best option, with a 'slot on' extra battery pack for up to an extra 12 hours of power (just in case).
Enjoy your holiday.
Regards,
Scott.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:20 pm

Hi Scott,

Good idea there, I have a colour 20gb iPod and did think about upgrading it to a video but it only gets used indoors and I have a Dension Link for it in my car, so even though it's two years old it's in great condition, so can't justify the cost of a new one!! Sarah's brother showed me his video iPod over Christmas and gotta admit the picture is very good, he's very happy with it.

We're just gonna take the laptop now!

Out of interest, did you just store the laptop in your hotel room then??

Maybe see you on the island!!

Scott Charlton · Post by **Scott Charlton** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:38 pm

Hi there,
Yes I stored it in my hotel room, but had top hide it in amongst my (empty) luggage, as was worried in case it went 'walkies'!
I know that the hotel is a trustworthy place, but it would be 'just my luck' if anything had happened.
We are staying at the Coco Reef Resort this time (its our honeymoon), so Yes it would be great to catch up sometime?
Give us a shout at the Hotel if you are able to meet up for a beer/meal or a night out at the Divers Den!!!!!!!!

We are there from the 1st to the 10th of Feb, before we move on to Antigua!
Best regards,
Scott & Leyla Charlton

BTW: Thanks for mentioning the dension i-pod link!!!!!!!

I am really 'hacked off' at the mo as have just changed my car, and am having to use a Griffin i-Trip as the std head unit will not work with an i-pod interface.

The sound quality leaves a lot to be desired!!
Oh well at least we have a lovely holiday to look forward to!! Ha Ha

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:48 pm

Yeah do our best to pop by!!!

Your head unit doesn't have a CD changer input, that's strange?!

Bought a Belkin FM cradle for Sarah's car and well, we're gonna take it back. It's ok sound (well, FM quality) but the problem is we do a lot of journeys round to Surrey and the reception keeps going (stations cutting in) so much so, that even the SIX preset spaces for frequencies is not enough!!! Absolute rubbish, another Dension needed me thinks!

Anyway, 9 days to go!!!

Clyde Alleyne · Post by **Clyde Alleyne** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:16 pm

Scott, in case you wanted to stay in touch with the rest of the world while at the Coco Reef, the hotel has a computer room for guest use, which is equipped with DSL. So you can keep everyone on mytobago updated on your experiences. Congratulations to you and Leyla, I'm sure you'll have a great honeymoon at Coco Reef!

Clyde

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:22 pm

Yes, forgot to say, congratulations to you both!!!

Scott Charlton · Post by **Scott Charlton** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:58 am

Phil O wrote:Yeah do our best to pop by!!!

Your head unit doesn't have a CD changer input, that's strange?!

Anyway, 9 days to go!!!

Hiya,
Thanks for the congrats! It would be good to see you both!
My car is a Jaguar XKR which has the std six disc autochanger, but the connection between that and the Jag headunit is a fibre optic link, not a std cable. Thats why the Dension or any other interface won't work! It is really frustrating! Nice car but crap audio set-up.
Regards,
Scott

Scott Charlton · Post by **Scott Charlton** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:00 am

Clyde Alleyne wrote:Scott, in case you wanted to stay in touch with the rest of the world while at the Coco Reef, the hotel has a computer room for guest use, which is equipped with DSL. So you can keep everyone on mytobago updated on your experiences. Congratulations to you and Leyla, I'm sure you'll have a great honeymoon at Coco Reef!

Clyde

Many thanks for the info Clyde,
I will search it out and see what I can do. Thanks for the congratulations, and Yes I am certain we will have a fantastic honeymoon on beautiful Tobago!!
Scott

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:22 pm

Scott Charlton wrote:
Phil O wrote:Yeah do our best to pop by!!!

Your head unit doesn't have a CD changer input, that's strange?!

Anyway, 9 days to go!!!
Hiya,
Thanks for the congrats! It would be good to see you both!
My car is a Jaguar XKR which has the std six disc autochanger, but the connection between that and the Jag headunit is a fibre optic link, not a std cable. Thats why the Dension or any other interface won't work! It is really frustrating! Nice car but crap audio set-up.
Regards,
Scott

Fibre optic, hmm, how annoying! See I went down the German route again and bought an Audi S3 last year and that has proper connections!

How about the Harman Kardon iPod set-up? Uses phono line in, maybe your Jag has phono input? Think Halfords do this set-up, about the same price as a Dension link I believe. Just a thought.

Scott Charlton · Post by **Scott Charlton** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:15 am

Hi there Phil,
Maybe I should have bought German instead??? It is a real pain but I have explored all options and the only solution is to change over the headunit. I am afraid that will have to wait!!
Oh well, only 5 x days to go!!!!!!!!!:lol:
Scott

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