It’s important to know how to protect yourself and your data while on the road. There are free offers for internet everywhere. You can find it them the airport, at coffee shops and even at local fast food places nowadays. These tips apply not just for computers, but for smartphones as well.

And you maybe tempted to shop and give out sensitive information such as your credit card or passport number and so forth online using an unsecure connection. Knowing how to protect yourself and your data is as important as knowing where you want to go next.

Invest in a VPN – A VPN or virtual private network is very important and are very cheap. What a VPN does is mask your location. It disguises your IP address and routs your internet connection as if it’s coming from another location. This is important to keep in mind because although you might be shopping at an online store in Hong Kong, it will show that you are actually in the United States or another country depending on the VPN.

And if a VPN is not enough, look for a good browser to surf the internet. Avoid popular browsers like Google Chrome, Internet explorer or even Mozilla. Too many hackers know how these browsers function and thus are easy to hack.

Check out the free browser called Tor. It is a secure browser that gives you control over which information people can see and not see, and it does not allow websites to track you. Tor loads from a server although you download it to your computer. That means, the traffic you receive is doubly protected. As if that wasn’t enough, the browser also warns you of potentially dangerous websites.

But also be smart about how you protect your physical data. If you are at a public coffee shop, don’t leave your computer window open and go use the toilet. Close it, shut it down or better yet, take it with you. Keep your external hard drives in a secure location and avoid leaving all your electronics in one place.

A little caution can go a long way to make your next trip memorable…for the right reasons.