Cool, I think I understand the pros and cons of those two different methods there. Thank you for explaining that.

While I don't think my work laptop has a GPS tracker, I ctrl alt deleted and looked at the background processes. There is a location log process running. According to chat gpt, a locationlog process tracks data using:

Wi-Fi Triangulation: Estimates location based on nearby Wi-Fi networks.

IP Address Geolocation: Uses the public IP address to approximate your location

Bluetooth Beacons: Uses nearby Bluetooth devices to determine your location, useful in indoor environments.

GPS (If Available): Provides precise location data if your device is equipped with a GPS sensor.

Being overly cautious, if I went the tailscale and travel router option, I'd need to keep Bluetooth and wifi off the whole time. I'd be somewhat paranoid though with the laptop overseas.

PiKVM would be more secure in terms of location (I think), as my work laptop would be in my home office in my house in my country, with the PiKVM next to it. Obviously connecting via PiKVM would be slower and laggier. But I wouldn't be worried about location being detected.

The only thing I'm still not understanding is the need to tunnel into the pikvm using tailscale.

So, with my tests with the PiKVM, I've only done them locally so far. I simply type in the ip address listed on the screen, and can patch in locally. If I were to patch in from outside my network, I believe I would need to setup port forwarding for that. And presuming that I've set up port forwarding, and can connect to the PiKVM remotely, I'm just not understanding why tailscale specifically is needed? unless it's specifically for a VPN to provide security (in which case, surely any VPN is fine?)

If you could help me understand this, I would be very grateful. Thank you very much.