I like to bring my camera, mp3 player, and camera phone. I use the phone as an alarm clock and I text messages to family and friends to keep in touch with a quick hello; I find that music can really set the scene for me (and when I get home I associate my travels with certain songs); and of course my camera for loads of pictures.
But I must say, I'm tempted to go on my next trip with only a small bag, a sewing kit (great idea Mad Greek!), and my phone (doubles as a camera and alarm clock). Leave everything else at home, including the hair dryer (a hat solves that problem) and makeup (its so nice to take a break from this stuff anyways hahaha!!).
Reply to this Actullay, I just realized that on our next trip to Eastern Europe, the hubby and I are planning on bringing our PSP's (he hates flying so at least this way he can be occupied with games and movies)....along with the camera and camera phone!! hahaha...so much for my minimalistic intentions!!
Reply to this I travelled with a couple of guys in Laos who'd brought a PSP. They loved having it. I'll admit, it was great to kick back and play some video games here and there. However, it's hard to focus your eyes on that little screen in a gyrating bus... and you miss all the scenery. I've mostly been longing for all those mp3s since I left mine at home, but I suppose it's better not to have it. Forces me to go out and find something genuinely interesting to do when I get bored.
Reply to this I loved my folding bowl and cup, that plastic oragami(spelling?) stuff, it came in handy a lot. And of course my digital camera, though after that got stolen I ended up just using disposable ones.
One thing I wished I would have taken would be a louffa! It sounds stupid, but it makes the body wash last longer and makes me feel cleaner. Plus, it would have come in handy when I was scrubbing my gross sunburnt skin off...
Reply to this Hmm I think they have a hand-held lap top sort of thing. Well besides a blackberry there are microsoft pocket pc's but I got a little bit confused when I tried to look into the price online. I know there are several types of palm style gadgets out there now with wi-fi and internet explorer although I can't personally vouch for them. It seems like the general pricing for them went from $300-$500, considerably less expensive than an anctual laptop but i'm not so sure they would be worth that price when a cell phone could probably do much of the same things.
Reply to this How do you solve the problem of making your favorite coffee or loose tea when traveling?
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Reply to this I was just thinking about this, and I realized that my perfect travel gadget is my Blackberry (or Crackberry to some of us). Its perfect for keeping in touch, taking spontanous pictures, jotting down notes about places that are interesting, and so forth. Its nice to combine lots of little gadgets into one.
But the PSP is still coming with me!! I have movies on it, and lots of games for those moments when I need to completely lose myself at the end of a long day.....
Reply to this I am a very light traveller. I suppose the only gadgets I always have are a few plastic bags to pack my clothes in before I pack them so they wont get wet if it rains.
My wish list.
It is not so much a wish list but items I would take with me when I travel if I would ever get around to buying them.
1. A universal sink plug
2. A paring knife with some kind of protective cover on it.
3. A coffee cone and filters and some ground coffee for when I am in places where only nescafe is served.
Mel
Reply to this My gadgets are a mobile used as an alarm clock and a means of contact for my bank should they query a transaction, my Canon Ixus 75 digital compact camera, my 80 gb Ipod id be lost without my music, Seagate 120 gb freeagent portable hardrive to back up photos and videos, my ipod speakers, head torch, leatherman and maglite, im sure i have brought too much....lol
Wishlist: ultraportable laptop, solar roll up matt and DSLR
Mike,)
Reply to this i know it sounds like the biggest wimp thing to carry but I got addicted in college to an alarm clock that had a noise machine which makes white noise kinda like an air conditioning unit. Anytime you are in a loud hostel, hotel or part of the world, no problems with sleep thanks to more than 10db of white noise. I love the thing and it runs almost a week on 4AA batteries. Not too bad...
Reply to this I never travel without a corkscrew. I used to just use the one in my Swiss Army Knife, but now I have a small, fancy but cheap, one that works really well and takes up about as much space as a toothbrush.
I also have a portable photo storage device (30Gb) that I dump my photos onto at the end of each day. It's a bit of a dinosaur, but it still works well (fingers crossed). I'm hoping it will last long enough for some portable storage devices with basic Internet capabilities to come on the market (I'm keeping an eye on the iPod touch, hoping it will come out with more Gb).
Reply to this My most important gadget has been my water purifier About three years on the road and I only had to contribute five or six plastic water bottles to the mountains of trash that seem to dot the landscape everywhere I go. It only took ten minutes to make two liters of water and it tasted great. I drink several liters of water per day, so I figure having the filter probably saved me close to a thousand dollars over the length of my trip. It did develop an annoying squeak towards the end of the journey though.
I also carry two different photo storage devices, one with a screen, an SLR camera and my ipod.
Reply to this Crikey! Are all these things really needed out on the road!?
Reply to this No they are not. But honestly, I like to be able to take a break from being a budget travel junkie and enjoy a bit of the life that is at home....keeps me sane. Especially for me, photos are the most important part of my trip. The more things I can take pics on, the better for me. I take hundreds upon hundreds of photos.....
Reply to this > Are all these things really needed out on the road!?
Nope - definitely not needed 😊 - but then if we strip it to the bare essentials we could travel with the clothes on our back and a credit card.
Each to their own - when travelling it all boils down to what you're prepared to carry and be responsible for.
My ultimate travel gizmo (imaginary) would be day pack sized bag that opens out into a huge space where I could store what I liked and had only a fixed weight of 5kg 😊
Reply to this Ali can i pinch that idea and make my fortune?............lol
Reply to this We started our travelling 17 months ago without a laptop and we got 7 months in and were so frustrated with internet cafes, connection problems we decided to buy a laptop when we were in Kuala Lumpur. We really wouldn't be without it now. It only weighs 2.5kgs but it is great, we can keep up to date with all our blogs and keep in touch with family and friends. So many places now have wi-fi you end up saving a lot on internet charges and the connection is a lot more stable. The laptop also acts as a music player, DVD player, photo storage etc and has a great battery life of 3.5 hours.
We also travel with a Creative Zen Photo MP3 player, great for long journeys with a battery life of 22 hours and we recently bought a mobile phone (never having owned one before) which now acts as an alarm clock as well as a phone which we only use every now and again to call to check reservations or to contact our embassy about a passport renewal as we did recently! We wouldn't be without our Canon camera, although because it's 4 years old it seems so big and bulkpy compared to other people's!
Other things not really gadgety which are good to have - a first aid kit, ours has been very useful for ourselves and other travellers; sewing kit; sharp knife (for self catering meals!) and plastic rain coats...we bought these when we got stuck in a super typhoon and the water was knee deep, we had never seen rain like it! these rain coats have had admiring and envious glances from locals and other travellers alike in heavy rain!
As Ali says it comes down to the individual...we are prepared to carry all this stuff, some people aren't. You just have to remember if you pack it you have to carry it so realistically pack all your bags and walk for about 20 mins with all the stuff, if you struggle you have too much stuff you need to repack!
Reply to this Hey Donna and Neil how much did you pay for your laptop in KL, i left without one and to be honest i now wish id packed less other stuff and taken a laptop, some internet cafes have been frustraing at lack of good connection and price and some days i just wish i had a laptop.
Thx Mike😊
Reply to this We paid £600 or MYR 3900 for a brand new (as in released that day!) Toshiba satellite laptop. The shop also threw in some freebies too and waived the visa card charges. We got Vista included and a trial of MS Office. That's what we found with internet cafes, so frustrating but now we can go to shopping centres find a spot near a Starbucks (they are useful for something!) and connect for free. Lots of hostels and hotels now have wi-fi too!
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