Spring Break in 2022. It was my first chance to travel in two years, after a family trip to China was canceled because of a global Pandemic. A lot of road warrior memory is lost in that time. How to pack it. Dealing with travelers.
It was a chance to take stock of how I travel. One fix this year was going to be a travel router.
Why? I worry more about online security at home and on the road as I grow more conservative in my old age. That means no more connecting to the host's network. Same goes for hotels.
It was time to figure out a travel device. Here is how I did it.
I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that would end up going to a company, so I just bought a travel device and called it a day. This is the kind of thing that a Raspberry Pi is perfect for.
Due to supply chain issues, it's still not possible to buy a new Raspberry Pi. Not without paying a pretty stupid premium online.
A little Linux computer that fits in the palm of your hand is called a Raspberry Pi. It uses a microSD card for onboard storage, and is powered by a universal serial bus, which almost everyone should have on hand. The operating system is open source, which means you can do a lot of fun things with it. You don't need a neckbeard to rock Linux. You just need to be able to search for things on the internet and have a willingness to make mistakes.
I already have a couple of Raspberries Pi in my home and I'm still trying to make it happen. An antenna helps track airplanes. I have an ad-blocker on my home network. The other was being used to connect all our devices. Things that don't play nice with Apple HomeKit can work just fine with the built-in smart home hub. The less important of my Pi is that. I don't care much about HomeKit.
After a couple weeks of hunting and waiting, I decided to do what any self-respecting nerd would do. When my front door opens as an Apple notification, I will have to put up with seeing it as a Nest notification, which is worse than being able to see it when I already own gear. The pain.
I have to admit that I unhooked the wrong one to turn it into a travel router, because I forgot which one was doing what. I thought I was giving up the Pi-hole ad-blocking box, but decided to move it to the network-attached storage in my living room, which is woefully underused.
It serves as storage most of the time. It can do more than that, including acting as a server. After a few minutes of searching and a few more of actually setting things up, I pointed my router to the Pi-hole that I had installed.
It is like nothing has changed. The same thing is happening in a different network location because I backed up the ad-blocking lists from the other Pi-hole instance. The ads are still blocked across my network because they are blocked by a different computer. My family is not aware of it. I told them what I did and they got blank faces.
I spent a small amount of money on this project because I wanted the Pi in a more robust case than what I had buried in my entertainment center. You can even 3D print your own if you want, and I went with a $20 case that looked sturdy enough to live in a gear bag. I paid another $12 for a wi-fi antenna, which was the only necessity I didn't already own.
It's better to buy a company's routers than it is to buy the full project.
I won't go step-by-step through the project. You will be linked to the broad strokes.
I'm a nerd, but I still need a bit of handholding when it comes to Linux.
OpenWRT is the operating system. Open, as in free, as in beer, and as in Wireless RouTer. It's a free, open-source operating system that turns anything you install in on into a custom router. Very cool.
OpenWRT works well with any number of VPNs. I wanted to be able to securely connect to the internet while on the road, so I made sure to install that as well. You will need a PureVPN provider. I pay for ProtonVPN for my own use, and it's one of the more popular ones. Either way, the process is the same.
I'm a nerd, but I still need a bit of handholding when it comes to Linux. The free Network Chuck guide is what got me through this whole process. I don't mind admitting that it took a few tries to get it right, but that's on me. It's an excellent primer on a not-uncomplicated process.
While we are at it, we might as well use some ad-blocking again. Leaving your house and being reminded of how bad the internet is is nothing more unnerving. I went with AdGuard instead of Pi-hole. The basic premise is the same: The network requests of any device connected to the travel will go through AdGuard first, and it will squelch anything it deems bad. Like ads. Or something else.
The build took a couple hours because I had to go through it twice to make sure I got things right. It took $32 in new parts, but that could be less if you only need the antenna.
I can now control the route my devices take to the internet when I am on the road. I don't have to worry about connecting my phone, laptop, and tablets individually to a virtual private network because I have a fancy new travel router. It's the same for my family. I don't have to worry about what other landlords have on that network. The network of a hotel. I can't decide which is worse.
I will have the added bonus of blocking ads and other trackers when I am on the road. It isn't as fast or powerful as my full mesh system at home. It is less expensive and more secure.
Not bad for a little Linux computer that you can buy right now.
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