The iPad was designed with travel in mind. Instead of taking a bulky laptop with a short battery on holiday, many people prefer to just take their iPad since it’s small and very useful when travelling. Since you can access your library of music, movies, and books without an internet connection, as well as edit documents and play games, the iPad makes for a perfect travel companion.
Important Accessories for Travelling
If you just take your iPad on a trip, you’ll likely realise shortly after that you probably could have bought some supplies to make the experience a little more enjoyable. Always make sure you take a charger, and possibly an extra cable with you just in-case, especially for a plane ride where you can’t just purchase another. Headphones are a must have, regardless of if you’re travelling by car or plane; nobody wants to hear your music or movie when they likely have one of their own playing.
Other than that, you may want to consider taking a heavy duty case, especially if your iPad is going to be sitting in your luggage or anywhere that it could get damaged. Attachable keyboards are great for editing documents on the go, but unless you plan on actually working with text you could probably avoid taking one.
Prepare for the Worst with Insurance
You may not know this, but you can actually get insurance for your iPad. There are quite a few companies that offer iPad insurance that covers you if your device is lost, stolen or damaged. The usual rate for iPad insurance ranges anywhere from £4 – £6 a month, or roughly £30 per year. You may not want to purchase insurance if your iPad doesn’t get much use or doesn’t leave your house very often, but if you’re a frequent traveller, look into Protect Your Bubble iPad insurance.
Alternatively, you could opt to download some apps to your iPad from the Apple store which enable you to trace your iPad via GPS. This is incredibly useful if it is lost or stolen, though you must read the small print as you may need to register your device for the app to work correctly.
Internet Access on Your iPad While Travelling
Depending on how you use your iPad, it may or may not be worth finding some way to access the internet while travelling. If you already have a 3G or 4G iPad with a monthly fee, you shouldn’t have to worry about this since you’ve got access pretty much everywhere. However, for those who just have a standard iPad with no 3G/4G connection, there are a few alternatives.
The easiest and most affordable would be to purchase a HotSpot service plan on your smartphone if possible. Essentially, your smartphone would then be able to broadcast its 3G or 4G network and allow you to connect through that with your iPad. Usually the cost of this can range anywhere from £10 – £30 per month, but this usually is based on your phone service provider and how much data you plan on using. Do keep in mind that utilising 3G/4G internet abroad can work out to be incredibly expensive so if in doubt, opt for Wi-Fi.