If it's only email, and you're already thinkin it's not worth the hassle, it isn't.
I get this question a lot from staffers that think they need to be in touch during vacations (usually the Friday afternoon before they leave for 2 weeks
). About half the time, they never log in to check their mail...the loaner laptop is to provide the peace of mind that they could log in if they really needed to.
If you're worried about key loggers, you can sign up for a throw-away email account (like hotmail, gmail, etc.) and forward your real email to it. Then ditch the temp account after your trip.
If you are joined at the hip to IT, then there are solutions like PDAs, Smartphones, etc. that can satisfy even the most hardcore info jones. I used a PDA on a trip to Italy a few years back and had GPS with a full set of maps, email, web and remote server login all in my pocket. That was nice and they're easy to make waterproof.
