We hopefully (over the coming weeks) will have a series of posts with lessons learned from our 2+ years (so far) of living out of suitcases and backpacks and traveling the world.

The #1 post here is that I would ditch the wireless router.

A wireless router lets you connect multiple computers or devices (like an Android Phone or an iPhone) to the Internet, even if you have only one hard line Ethernet cable coming in.

However, a wireless router is an unnecessary item (which I’m embarassed to admit, but I didn’t know), especially when traveling.

Any laptop running Windows Vista or Mac OSX can quickly and easily become a wireless access point, just like a router.

Here’s how to turn your laptop into a wifi access point:

Thanks CNet for teaching me this… I’m amazed I didn’t think about it before.

We would have saved at least $80 NZD (which we paid when we bought a router in New Zealand), and a fair amount of annoyance in Costa Rica. We might have also still had the wireless router which we managed to fry (with the wrong voltage) in New Zealand.

UPDATE:

I’m still learning… My G1 WILL NOT connect to the wireless network. So if you’re traveling with an Android phone, you may want to travel with a wireless router.

UPDATE 2:

This whole post is null and void. let’s say I want to shut down my computer, but Carrie wants to stay online… she can’t. My computer has to stay on in order for her to be online. I would definitely travel with a wireless router.

UPDATE 3:

For whatever reason, my computer now won’t set up an ad-hoc network at all, so Carrie has to use a USB stick to access the Internet.

Travel with a wireless router. Absolutely.

I like this one (pictured to the right).

Always something to learn. At least you’ve learned how to set up an ad-hoc network for laptops.