Weeks before my last trip across the ocean, my Dell laptop stopped recognizing it was plugged in. The power cable itself worked, but the laptop just didn’t see it. So the battery slowly drained until 0% and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Once at 0%, and after a few reboots, it finally noticed it was plugged in and started to recharge. Everything was OK until I unplugged the laptop, and this process started again.
Since I’m a Dell fanboy, I quickly ordered a new, overly priced, but ready-to-ship model. It was hundreds of dollars more expensive than I needed, but I needed something fast! I even paid for expedited shipping.
Unfortunately, the laptop didn’t arrive before I left Canada for Spain. So my brother picked up the laptop and shipped it to me via a courier service.
In a mistake I will never repeat again, I accidently declared the true and full value of the new laptop. Between the international shipping charges and the customs & duties, I paid an additional $1000 for this puppy.
Ouch.
Funny enough, when I shipped back my old laptop with the same courier service, I labelled it as “broken” and put a value of $50. Shipping charges were minimal and there weren’t any customs or duties. Lesson learned!
The takeaway
When you’re a digital nomad, always have backups of your tech. This includes your laptop.
FYI, I picked up a Chromebook tablet/laptop as mine.