Laptop or no laptop?... THAT is the question.  When traveling with photographers there is a clear line in the sand between the "No laptop, no editing on a trip" folks and the " I don't leave my house without my laptop so I can edit on the trip" folks.  I am definitely one of the latter. 

The first 5 things on my travel packing list after my camera gear are:

• Laptop
• *External Travel Hard Drives - 2 
• Memory Card Reader
• Mouse 
• Chargers and necessary cables for all of the above. 

 The top 3 reasons I highly recommend traveling with a laptop:

• Back up Back up Back up Back up, I cannot say enough about back up.  We spend a lot of time and money getting to once-in-a-lifetime locations (am I right?),  I am taking exactly zero chances on coming home empty-handed!  
• Daily Photo reviewing.  I upload all new images onto my hard drives daily, import them to Lightroom, and scroll through quickly to make sure my camera gear is operating properly.  This process enables me to find potential issues and correct them immediately, and/or change my shooting perspective while I'm still on location which saves me a lot of "I wish I had(s)" when I get home.  
• Quick social media editing, images for photo reviews on a workshop, and print order fulfillment while I am on the road. 

Many frustrating hours of inefficient execution lead to many more hours of YouTube videos, lightroom blogs, and tips and tricks I found via Google until I finally came up with a method that works best for me (also works with my "Keep it Simple" philosophy ;) ). 

          Before each trip

• Back up my Master Lightroom Catalog on a hard drive that I will be leaving at home.
• Log into my Adobe CC account and *update all of my Adobe CC Apps including Lightroom and Photoshop.
• Export the most updated version of my "Prints for Sale" collection as a catalog on my travel hard drive. Title = Prints for Sale Travel File Aug 2022
• Make a collection of photos I need to edit and export as a catalog on my travel hard drive.  Title = Photos I need to Edit 
• Make a new LR Catalog on my travel hard drive.  Title = trip location  i.e. Africa 2022 

                File > New Catalog > (name my travel catalog) ex: Travel Africa 2022 > Create

        During each trip

• Back up cards daily to both hard drives
• Number and File my used memory cards in my *Thinktank memory card organizer. I never ever re-format a memory card in the field, so it is important to carry plenty of spare cards.
• Import images into my location titled Lightroom catalog
• assign keywords and pick a few favorites using the 5-star system

        After each trip

• Simultaneously plug my travel hard drive and my master hard drive into my laptop
• Open my Master LR catalog
• Select "File" from the top left corner
• Select "Import from another catalog"
• Browse my travel hard drive and click on the travel LR catalog containing all of the photos from my recent trip i.e. Africa 2021
• When the import has finished, highlight and drag the folder containing all of the travel images onto your main hard drive (from within LR) and you are all set