For travel, a few weeks, month, what do you do Joe or recommend?
Do you bother with the VPN or just take calculated risk at the hotel or Starbucks? And there is no way to know if prying eyes are there?
There is no simple single answer to your question. It depends on where I am traveling for how long and where I will be using someone else's WiFi.
Some background effecting my choices/recommendations: I am retired and have no classified or proprietary information to protect but I have been hit with significant fraudulent credit card transactions every year or so (for example a $10,000 first class airline ticket from Dubai to Berlin). My bank and credit card accounts have very sensitive triggers to signal me of questionable or in some cases any transactions, and I have never lost any money, but neither have I been able to identify a source of the fraudulent transactions. I have no reason to suspect the internet as the source of the fraudulent transactions.
However, your questions make me wonder if I am more sanguine than I should be. On reflection I have to ask if I am any less vulnerable on my WiFi network at home than I am at the local Starbucks or a resort at Walt Disney World? Which raises the question, "
should I be using VPN all the time from everywhere?" IF...
- I had a reasonably priced VPN subscription and
- my various devices were configured to use it and
- it were virtually transparent in operation and
- it did not impose a significant performance hit
I might use VPN all the time, even on my computer at home. To the extent any of those IFs is less true the less I would use VPN.
If I am out for the day and using the internet at the local Starbucks, the Apple Store, the Cafe at the local museum,
etc. or if I am on the road and using WiFi in major hotels, resorts that have a vested interest in protecting their guest's privacy I will verify whose WiFi network I am connecting through and trust HTTPS to provide adequate security. (
On reflection if I were looking to exploit someone else's online transactions exploiting a WiFi network at a Starbuck's would offer a rich supply of tempting targets. I will have to think more about that. 😒 )
If I am on an extended trip away from home where I might be using
questionable WiFi networks such as at Airports, camp grounds, roadside motels, even highway rest stops. the extra protection offered by VPN would probably be enough to override any additional cost and inconvenience, but that is a situational judgement call.
Traveling overseas I would use VPN for many reasons beyond simple information security.
