Gadgets You Backpack Around the World With? 625
ryrw writes "I'm planning to spend a year backpacking around the world and the hardest question I have to answer is: What technology do I take with me? Aside from the obvious (digital camera, ipod, et. al.) what technological devices would you you take? Specifically, I wonder if I should bring my nice and shiny MacBook Pro. I can think of lots of uses for it (offloading pix, updating weblog, email, etc.), but I'm worried it will be lost or stolen along the way. Does anyone have experience with travel while toting technology?"
Re:None of that junk (Score:5, Interesting)
Nokia 770 or N800 (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a pocket-sized "Internet Tablet" - WiFi and bluetooth with what I believe is the best screen on any pocket computer available.
As well as reading Slashdot I use it for viewing and uploading photos from my bluetooth cam-phone, playing Freeciv, reading ebooks, VoIP...
If you're going off the beaten track the meamo-mapper program will interface with a BT GPS and show you where you are.
The newer N800 has a camera and FM radio built in.
Carrying a laptop when backpacking is a major headache but my 770 does most of what a laptop would and lives in a pouch on my belt.
Re:Travel as light as you possibly can (Score:2, Interesting)
I've done a round-the-world and several extended trips. I always carried a palm with a butterfly keyboard. They don't really make anything as good these days, but a pda with wifi and a micro SD will get you your media and your internets. Then slip the micro SD into the converter and use it with your digital camera. These days cards are so cheap you might as well just carry a bunch. I've seen studies that seem to indicate they're pretty well impervious to everything.
Power conversion is tough - most plugs for PDAs are 100-240 volt and 50-60 Hz (it will say on the plug). A kit with four or five adapters should be enough to get you through. My old palm ran on AAAs, which was much more convenient, but I've not seen any lately that do this. Does anyone know of a handheld accessory that lets you use batteries?
That said, as internet cafes are everywhere, why not just use them? Note: do not put your media in the machines - you will get a virus. Uploading to flickr might be the one reason to carry a PDA.
The tripod isn't a terrible idea, but I found the latest superzooms with image stabilization let you do pretty long hand holds, and with a little leaning against doorframes (-not- against the 1000 year old carvings, please) you'll never need the tripod, and that leaves you with more space for underwear.
Cheap and tough laptop!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
why:
ABS and metal case - very tough
replacement 4400mah battery gives 6-7 hours usage
worth little so its safe to use anywhere
Running OS 10.3, it can connect to Wifi, dial-up, any ethernet router and bluetooth cellphone modems (via a USB dongle)
Its slow but its never let me down - and I can charge it from a cgarette lighter socket using an aftermarket charger
Re:Nothing (Score:2, Interesting)
That said, the one lifesaver was our Ipod, and decent, closed-back headphones. On an overnight train trip surrounded by the cranky, noisy children who packed our sleeper car, it was a life (and sleep) saver.
Whoever mentioned the pacsafe, I definitely second that recommendation. Since that trip, it's become the most popular lend-out-to-fellow-travelers item in our basement. Fits small digital camera, Ipod and a few other important goodies if you need to leave them, and provides a nice deterrent to easy-grabbers...
My Two Cents (Score:5, Interesting)
Pack what you think you'll need, and then leave 1/2 of it at home. No one ever gets on the road and wishes they brought /more/ stuff with them.
Forget the laptop. On my first extended backpacking trip through Western Europe, I took a laptop with me and shipped it home within two weeks. It wasn't worth the hassle.
Doing laundry on the road is expensive and can be a major hassle. Get used to being dirtier than you are at home.
A sleeping bag isn't as important as I thought it was going to be, but I was still glad I carried it. Most hostels provide (or require you to use their) linens.
A small shoulder bag or backpack is a good idea. Something to carry your camera, lunch, book, etc. while you're out and about during the day.
Don't pack a year's worth of supplies. Take sample-sized products (shampoo, soap, etc.) with you to start out, and then replace what you need as you go.
Buy the largest travel towel you can find. They're the ones which feel like thick felt, absorb crazy amounts of water, and dry out super fast. One of the best investments I ever made.
Take a padlock with you. Most places that provide lockers expect you to bring your own lock. A combination lock is better -- no key means one less thing you have to no lose.
Everyone has different ideas about security based on their own experiences. I happen to think the fancy cable/mesh things you can wrap around your backpack aren't worthwhile. They just make it look like you've got something worth stealing. A simple combination luggage lock on your backpack's main zipper compartment should be all you need. Of course, do whatever makes you comfortable.
Don't be the American guy who dresses up like Ranger Rick to walk around foreign cities. Having said that, I usually preferred to travel with only 1 pair of shoes so they have to be versatile. I usually wear my light Timberland walking boots. Sometimes I'll take my Vans with me too. I also carry flip-flops 'cause I have a thing about the floors of public showers.
A small flashlight for digging through your bag while everyone else in the room is sleeping. A cheap watch. A pocketknife. A few books. Don't worry about running out of books to read - books are a commodity and other travelers will always trade with you. Many hostels have a take one/leave one bookshelf.
The biggest piece of advice I can give you is something that took me a long time to learn. Forget about trying to take fancy pictures of every architectural marvel, work of art, and scenic panorama you find. Take some of those, sure, but what you'll want when it's all over is pictures of the people you met and spent time with. Trust me. I have thousands of pictures public sculptures, beautiful buildings, cityscapes, mountain ranges, etc. None of them are half as interesting as the group shot of everyone crowded onto the bed in the dirty hostel in Rome, or the girl who cooked you a birthday dinner in Seville, or the guys you played soccer with that one afternoon in Taxco. For some reason, it wasn't intuitive to me that the really good memories revolve around interesting people, not interesting things.
There's a thousand tips that people can and will give, but most of them you'll have to learn on your own. Have fun!
Re:Travel as light as you possibly can (Score:5, Interesting)
A nice small cheap GPS. skip the stupid mapping functions and useless color screen. Being able to set a way-point at the train station and then navigate to that waypoint 6 hours later saves your mind fast.
I would take that over a do-it-all watch any day.
Just bring a notebook (the one you write in) (Score:1, Interesting)
Granted, a digital camera/camcorder can be great, but actually jotting down your experiences in your own words is very rewarding. When you review your notes in the future it should make you remember the great things about the trip. You've documented a part of your life, in your own words, your own hand.
Not to mention all the technical and logistical headaches you'll avoid
Re:Nothing (Score:3, Interesting)
Odd then, that I had a "see my China pics" gathering, and many people came by to see my pictures. Perhaps you just suck at taking pictures. And I have never seen a picture of a dead emperor in the US, yet I returned with pictures of the coffins that still contain dead emperors. I have seen pictures of places, but rarely are the pictures good pictorials of a story. I had a story to go with the beggars I took pictures of in China and the ones I took pictures of in San Francisco on my long layover home. And yes, the 3rd world China has less of a beggar problem than the US does. And I got pictures of power lines in China. Why? Because a friend works for the electric company. I haven't seen a book on the world's power lines at Barnes and Noble. Pictures should be interesting to the person taking them, and the person who will later look at them, otherwise, they were not worth taking.
Re:Pacsafe (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, there's an upside, and a downside. The upside is your gear is safe from somebody just opening your door, swiping something and legging it. The downside it it screams "I HAVE SOMETHING WORTH STEALING" and nothing will survive bolt cutters. So you have to be careful: keep the fact the bag is locked to the radiator fairly discreet for a start. Don't take stupid chances.
On the lock front, I searched long and hard before setting on the Pelilock. Four digits, solid heavy brass, by the company that makes Pelican cases. These can be tricky to get in and out of the pacsafe holes, so check for a fit before buying. Otherwise, small padlocks are universally garbage as any lockpicker will tell you.
http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php [pacsafe.com]
http://pelican.com/miscellaneous.php [pelican.com]
I'd add: a monocular can be incredible useful. Cheap, small, let's you figure out if it's worth trecking across the bay to see if that cafe is open.
On the laptop front? No. If you *must* take a laptop, buy an old Thinkpad and throw Linux on it. The further you're traveling, the more that puppy is worth and the more of a boat anchor it becomes. Really, we're waiting for, say, the Apple Subnotebook or an OLPC device here. Travel with a laptop is just no good.
The other really good option for email and web access is a Palm TX and a bluetooth folding keyboard. I tried that but had serious stability issues due to a flakey keyboard driver, but that was a while ago. I've heard other people raving about the combination, however.
Re:Travel as light as you possibly can (Score:3, Interesting)
My best friend backpacking through Asia was a self-powered hard drive enclosure. Just plug your camera into it, hit the transfer button, and it copies all the photos, instantly freeing you up to keep on shooting.
It's great for remote locations where you don't have a computer to offload pictures to, and it's way cheaper than buying a bunch of large memory cards. I use an SLR and shoot exclusively in RAW, and on the average backpacking/sight-seeing trip easily shoot around 5 GBs of pictures a week.
Here's the link [macally.com] to the one I use right now. I would've given a Newegg link, but it seems they've stopped carrying it.
Re:Travel as light as you possibly can (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:None of that junk (Score:3, Interesting)
3500 in Scotland, 2500 in Ireland.
I'll tell you the best reason for taking so many pictures: you never know which ones will turn out to be superamazingfantastic, and which ones will just kinda suck for whatever reason. Out of that trip, I got maybe 100 really great shots, the kind of photo that we'll look at in 30 years. You need to experiment, try things that may not work, and most of all, just keep shooting.
Even with all that, there are a few things I missed, and regret not getting on film.
M-
Re:Travel list of champions (Score:3, Interesting)
"Also make a photocopy of your passport and keep it in a hidden place,that can save your ass."
Alternatively, scan all your travel documents and store them in a password protected zip file somewhere (along with a copy of the FilZip installer - just in case). Then just remember / write down the URL of the file. Works for me :)
Re:Travel as light as you possibly can (Score:2, Interesting)
That said, I did damage a Series 5 by getting it a bit wet. Fortunately, I had a spare machine, with a damaged screen, and I was able to swap motherboards to make a working machine.
It also depends on what the OP wants to do with it. The multimedia capabilities are extremely basic, for example. There is loads of software available for it but it's all rather dated now.
The other problem with a Psion 5 is that it can, due to the clamshell design, be a bit 'fiddly' to operate on the move compared to a Palm style PDA.
If you can work within the technical limitations of series 5, it's hard to beat for text entry/reading and basic PIM functionality:
It runs for ages on a pair of AA batteries.
It has, perhaps, the best small keyboard on a PDA. With a bit of practice, it's possible to get up to surprising speed with it.
There is absolutely loads of software.
As you say, it saves to a CF card. When I got some water in my machine, the data on the CF was safe. I suspect that you could probably submerge it in water and still be able to get the data off the CF card.
Re:Travel as light as you possibly can (Score:3, Interesting)