Laptops

One of the most contentious issues with travellers is whether you should take a computer while travelling. You camera comes along without question, as does your phone and an incredibly unstylish jacket that could protect you in the arctic (or a swimsuit you'd never wear if you're heading for warmth). These are almost as essential as your passport. But your computer?

My dad and I are for it. My aunt and my boyfriend are against. My mother sensibly offers advice for either alternative. The thing is... I think my father and I are right.

My laptop has allowed for online chats with everyone I could possibly miss. It lets me watch movies during long flights and bus trips and it allows me to keep this blog. I've not at anytime felt like it was at risk of being stolen but even if it was, it's insured up to the eyeballs. It's safer here than back home!

Paranoia

I've been in Argentina for coming on three weeks now and as of yet, I am yet to go out in public without having a death grip on my bag. Paranoid? Yes. But I haven't had it stolen yet, have I!

Paranoia can be an element of life regardless of what you're doing, but for some reason when we travel; we take it to the extremes. Not everyone is as bad as me, (I freely admit I am a bit of a nutter) but it still plays on your mind. I have encountered travellers who compulsively check their room is locked (one girl went back to check twice after we'd left the hostel) and others who put padlocks on every zipper of their backpacks, or get suspicious of anyone who approaches them because "they could be trying to sell me something".

I think we get this way because those are the warnings we're given before we leave. Before leaving for Argentina, I was warned that I would almost definitely be pickpocketed. When in Cambodia, my fear was that someone would go through my luggage in the hotels, because that's what I'd been told would happen. There's probably a unique fear for almost every travel destination you could think of.

There are some fears, however, that follow us wherever we go. I, for example, cannot get on an unfamiliar bus anywhere in the world without tracing every turn we take on a map and holding my finger poised above the stop button. Why? Because I'm completely terrified of missing my stop. Who knows what could happen if I did! I could be lost for years! This usually gets me laughed at by anyone I'm travelling with.

But you know what? You can mock all you want, because unlike some people, I will never miss my stop. I will never come back to a hostel room and find I've left my locker unlocked and my stuff's been taken, and I will never be ripped off for coffee (because I've memorised the cost in both languages and I'm still holding the original menu I ordered off! Ha!).

And you know something? I've encountered eight or nine fellow backpackers already in Argentina who've had their wallet stolen. And guess who's still holding onto theirs! Coincidence? I think not!