The Ultimate Travel Gadget?

Ali, how did you keep your images in their original size? Mine were upscaled by the picture upload interface. Anyway, these utensils are indispensable when it comes to bag packing:

My trusty Canon EOS300 is running on its eight year now. It has taken a number of beatings being thrown and pushed in under countless "seat in front of you" pockets and even though I dipped it in the Aral Sea once she is still serving me proudly.

As you can tell I'm quite the late adopter. I converted to mp3 player a year ago and have been using the Creative MuVo since then. Its main saving grace is that it frees up a tremendous amount of space in my daypack, removing the extra weight of a portable Sony CD-player and two Case Logic 24-packs of cds. Being lightweight and flash memory it has also survived many inadvertent drops to the floor, and of course I don't have to worry about having my precious cds lost or broken. A careful selection of songs means that 1Gb is more than enough, but I will probably replace it with another higher capacity player in the future.

And like Mr. Bean, you really cannot have too many pens and pencils... Reply to this

I carry a Cowon iAudio X5, which is a similar I-pod killer as the Creative Zen Vision W. The 30Gb is enough space for me to have half my record collection (about 150CD:s) in mp3 and Ogg. I also have two full length movies, some thirthy small movies, 5000 photos, Radio, audio recorder, microphone, camera connecting device and I can view notes I 've written in Windows note pad. It's a roaring little gadget, a digital treasure-box with memories and emotions attached. It's something you don't want to loose or break..
A shaver I found very useful too, instead of carrying razorblades, foam and all that timeconsuming stuff. A good shaver doesn't have to be that heavy and if you already carry electronical gear that neads to be charched you most probably carry some sort of transformer for different sockets and wallplugs.
The mini-solarpannel you carry Ali, how powerful is it? Do you have too load it for days just to keep your mp3 player going for an extra song or two? Or do you only hold it out in the sun for a couple of minutes so that you later during the night can run the local bar's soundsystem? How big and bulky is it?
All the best, everyone. Reply to this

All I carry is a camera and a tri-band mobile phone. My i-pod only lasted a few weeks in West Africa! Not a good advert for ipod. The mobile is very useful, you can change the SIM card in each country - it saves a lot of money on the very expensive International roaming charges.

I wouldn't carry anything else, unless you know of a handheld device that can do everything that a laptop can. Reply to this

Jabe,

I thought I was the only one carrying around a phone for the alarm clock! Sadly, I somehow managed to kill the battery charger, and since I'm too cheap to shell out on a budget alarm clock, I've just been oversleeping everyday. Heh heh. I think that will have to change before long, though.

My laptop (MacBook) has been pretty indispensible so far - though that's largely because I work from the road, and it saves me a lot of hassle (and money) when I can plop down in some plaza and find free WiFi. As much as it's nice to have for different photo capabilities, too, I'd probably leave it behind if I didn't absolutely need it. It's just a bit of an emotional drain to always have something so valuable to worry about, knowing that for all my vigilance, one careless mistake can cost me 1500 bucks.

Oh, and far as the weight goes: this puppy's about 5 lbs., which is a full HALF of what my old PC was. Toting that thing through Mexico for two months was the main reason I decided to buy a new computer. My back really appreciates it.

And I second grantcorp about the mp3 player (though I'm sure we all share the same sentiment). After awhile, hauling around my discman and Case Logic cases, I just thought to myself, "What sort of savage are you? Get into the new millennium already!" mp3's have saved my life!

Chris
Travel better. Travel Gator.
www.TravelGator.com Reply to this

I'm supposed to be studying for an exam now, but I'm finding many very efficient methods of procrastination.

Hey Ali, I'm pretty interested in your travel guitar! I travelled for about 3.5months before and I really really missed playing guitar. I had also become pretty rusty the two or three times that I came across a guitar while travelling... needless to say I was slightly embarrassed as I'm not THAT bad :P I'm planning on getting one for upcoming travels. How much are they, how big, where can I get them and are they durable?

I don't really care if it's crap... as long as it makes sound! Reply to this

Of course if all you guitar playing travelers just played the fiddle, life would be so much easier...problem is I've decided my fiddle is too nice to chuck about in planes so I am taking a cheap 'beginers' one (a stentor for any one interested) so I wouldn't be broken hearted if it got wrecked but I can still have a tune. But it is times like these that I wished I played the whistle. It remind me of a story of a piper friend who always takes his 'small pipes' away...in a mortar case which is fantastic protection but gives him now end of fun at air ports, especially when x rays show up loads of tubes, weird looking bellows and straps....

Are palm tops a good idea...? are there any simple ones that just do word processing and photo saving and something to plug into another computor, i.e what is the simplest thing for using for this kind of blog that would be independent...? Reply to this

I never go anywhere without my travel toothbrush called toob which has a refillable toothpaste tube in the handle of the toothbrush, also vital is my Petzl Tikka headlamp (flashlights just don't cut it when you have to go pee outside in the dark). Reply to this

Call me an old-fashioned curmudgeonly Luddite, but I think all the cell phones, ipods, laptops, solar panels, etc.... just get in the way of experiencing a place. You might convince me that an instrument like a guitar is a good cultural bridge. But the other tech stuff should be left at home, IMHO.

Plus, its heavy to carry all this stuff. I would wager some of you have or are developing back problems!!

I own an ipod but chose to leave it at home for my 9-month journey. I carry a small, lightweight digital camera, a Canon S-400 Powershot which is sufficient. And I carry a tiny Garmin Gecko 201 gps to catalog remote locations I have visited on treks in the Andes. In truth, I could probably do without the gps, since even the smallest towns have lat/long coordinates available over the web at http://www.fallingrain.com/world

Recently I bought a Sony ICF-SW22 shortwave radio in the La Paz electronics blackmarket so I could get some BBC news now and then, since reading the news on the web isn´t really my idea of fun. Its a quality (though non-digital) compact, lightweight model. But I will probably ditch it when my month-long Spanish study is up and I am on the move again. Reply to this

Well, since all of my good travel gadgets have already been 'dispensed' of (hunting knife, leatherman tool, mp3 voice recorder, etc.--all disappeared), or have barely even been used (solo mosquito net, water purifier, etc.), I would have to say that my best tool has been my sewing kit. A simple needle and thread is a brilliant investment. Keeps your clothes mended and gives you the ability to modify clothes and backpacks with neat patches and things.

Woo-hoo! Reply to this

Don't leave home without your handy swiss knife. This is the one I got and it is quite light and does the job (mainly uncorking wine). Another useful gadget is the good old compass. Christmas wish: a swiss knife with a compass and a corkscrew. Reply to this