Both you and I have been there, that is, when you have everything set up on your laptop and ready to work in a quiet place in the airport terminal when nature calls.

What do you do when you have to get up for a moment to visit the bathroom?

You do:

1. Just put down your laptop and pray that someone will notice it or worse steal it.

2. Find a reputable and trusted travel companion to watch your laptop during your absence.

3. Take the time to shut down your laptop (this is about a 4 minute process for my laptop), yes, I mean save all files, close all applications, disconnect from WiFi service, and pack everything again.

4. Get a laptop lock that you can use to secure your laptop to one of the airport fixtures that is unlikely to move during your bathroom visit.

I must confess that I cannot tell you which of these 4 tactics you should use to secure your laptop while answering the call of the wild. Every situation is unique and I can’t tell you that none of the above tactics will 100% guarantee your laptop against any airport theft.

Throughout my years of travel working on my laptop in airport terminals after airport terminals across the country and the world, I have to say that I have used the above 4 tactics. I am very happy to say that I have not yet had a laptop that has moved away from me (knock on wood) throughout these years.

Okay, if you really want me to choose the tactic that I prefer, it would have to be tactic number 4. To me, carrying a laptop lock seems like the most logical and least complicated option. After doing some research, I also discovered that the sales figures for these laptop locks like my Kensington have increased considerably, while the number of laptop thefts at the airport has decreased. Something must be working and I mean it is the lock on my Kensington laptop and my good luck keeping my laptop from going away. So what should you do with your laptop? I still can’t tell you, but for me the laptop crashes.

Okay, don’t waste your time reading this post, here are some recommended laptop locks that can give you some peace the next time you have to walk away from your laptop just for a moment at the airport:

Kensington MicroSaver® Retractable Notebook $ 29.99

(I got my from Dell)

Targus DEFCON combination lock $ 33.00

You can check out some more laptop locks on Google.