One Day to Departure (D+1): (Reluctantly) Entering the Digital Travel Age
I leave tomorrow. Wow. Even at my advanced age the beginning of a long journey brings excitement and anticipation. I am almost ready, and what doesn't get done didn't really need to get done.
The days of traveling with paper are over. Paper maps, paper guidebooks, paper journal, paper photographs, paper letters to be sent home are all dead. Electrons have taken the place of ink, view screens the place of paper. Herr Gutenburg would be amazed.
I feel like I am carrying more electronic devices than an Apollo moon mission. I know my devises are more powerful than what the astronauts carried and yet I am staying on the surface of terra firma.
I bought a Kindle Fire 7 inch tablet just for this trip. It surfs the web, takes pictures and movies, plays music, plays videos and weighs less than 10 ounces, all for under fifty bucks! There's probably an app that lets the Kindle do my laundry, but I haven't found it yet. Buy five Kindles and Amazon will throw in a sixth one for free. Amazon gives you six months free access to the Washington Post on line (thank you Jeff Bazos!) which I'll be using regularly. I added 64g of memory, a tiny keyboard and a case and basically doubled my cost. The Kindle will be my blog updater on this trip.
The Kindle is so handy I am thinking about giving it a name. Maybe 'Chuck' would be a good name for the Kindle. Later blogs might say that Chuck is sick, or that Chuck got lost or that Chuck is having a good time. Chuck will be to me as Harvey (the rabbit) was to Jimmy Stuart, only with more apps. And I can always ask "What's up Chuck?". Take that, Sirri!
Add to the electrics pile a handheld GPS unit. Great for navigating strange cities or areas where you can get lost. Mark your temporary 'home' on the GPS and you'll never be lost again!
And a camera. I am probably the last user of a point and shoot camera on earth. It takes great photos, is very small and runs on AA batteries. Using AA batteries eliminates the need for finding power outlets or esoteric battery types in remote areas. Another tip: the first photo on your camera's memory card should be how to find the camera's owner. When someone finds a camera they often look at the photos from the start. An honest person will contact you to arrange its return.
And an Ipod. It's small and includes an FM radio, clock and some other features. The Kindle is not good for storing music, so I am bringing along my favorite 500 songs on the Ipod. Mick Jager is a good traveling companion. And podcasts. Gotta have my NPR when traveling these days.
And a European cell phone. My cell phone is so old it barely works in the USA, much less in foreign countries. You can buy them cheap in Europe, but mine is a loaner.
Then there's all the mandatory add ons. A voltage converter. Extra AA batteries. Extra camera memory. Cases. Cords. The list goes on and the pile gets bigger. I am sooo thankful for miniaturization. All told I am using a total of nine batteries when I use all of my devices. Ouch!
If I wasn't such a Luddite I would have a single device that did it all. Probably something akin to a smart phone or smart tablet. But having all of the individual devises works for me and I get to avoid the cost of a big phone and data plan.
Saw a movie tonight where dinosaurs eat dinosaurs. Yuck. I prefer to think about eating french pastry while walking along the Seine River. Which I'll be doing in a few days.
