Upload speed
Finding a fast upload connection can be a challenge if you are abroad. Hotels usually have slow connection. Internet cafes limit your speed in order to force you to spend more minutes etc. Your best bet is to borrow internet from a good friend on the location.
Travelling with "empty" laptop
Remember that it is not simply enough to delete the files from your laptop just before departure. Once when files have been stored on the harddisk, they can easily be recovered with the right software.
That means all your regular web browsing activity, instant messaging, opened documents might still be recovered. You are more safe with HTTPS websites, since browsers don't store them in the temporary files folder.
In the article it said that the laptops and the camera were moved 170 miles away. That could indicate that they were taken to a special data recovery laboratory.
Jim_Gunn's idea with Fedexing the stuff was probably a good compromise. Although I doubt there is no guarantee that those packages couldn't also be opened and copied. Who knows?