Travel Best Practices for Using Mobile Phones, Tablets, Computers + Keeping Travel Blogs, Photos...

I have a lot in my head about how to travel and use electronics, so I thought I would put some of my thoughts down and back those with links to more information.  The travel issues are:

• Safety
• Expense
• Convenience
• Efficiency; ie, how to keep your blogs and photo commentary current without becoming obsessive and running your vacation.

Safety:  

Wifi Safety

What I am seeing is that a significant percentage of people get "hacked" when they go overseas.   The "visible result" are messages like this:

Hello,

I am sorry for reaching you rather too late due to the situation of things right now.My family and I had a trip visiting Manila Philippines,everything was going on fine until last night when we got attacked by some unknown gunmen. All our money,phones and credit cards was stolen away including some valuable items, It was a terrible experience but the good thing is that they didn't hurt anyone or made away with our passports.  
         
        We have reported the incident to the local authorities and the consulate but their response was too casual, we were ask to come back in 2 weeks time for investigations to be made proper,But the truth is we can't wait till then as we have just got our return flight booked and is leaving in few hours from now but presently having problems sorting out our  bills here and also getting a cab down to the airport, Right now we're financially strapped due to the unexpected robbery attack, Wondering if you can help us with a quick loan to sort out our bills and get back home. All we need is (3,000 $ )  I promise to refund you in full as soon as I return home hopefully tomorrow or next. write back now to let me know what you can do.

Thank You.

The basic best practice is to to use https: to communicate or, better yet, VPN.  

Another fundamental aspect of safety that applies whether traveling or not is to be able to both find your phone and to disable it when you can't find it.  

References

• Google "wifi safety overseas"  Pick articles
• How to Use Wifi Safely While Traveling

Expense:

There are two most important things to remember:

1. Keep your phone in airport mode and turn data off. The most common expense problem is that you leave your phone on and you are near a ship or hotel that charges a very large fee per minute.  The phone jumps on their service and you have a huge bill, not only for phone calls but for data usage.
2. If you are traveling overseas, your phone may not work.  This is because there are different communication standards; you phone doesn't support those standards.  

Cell Phone Communication Standards

Sim Cards

References

• SIM card primer

I will continue this as time permits, but I thought I would put this out as is because this is will be useful even when incomplete.   Add comments at any time.  Thanks,