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Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Technology on the road
Today's dilemma - if we're going to be taking technology on the road with us, what kind? With our aim to ensure that Charlotte continues her education, and stays in touch with family, friends and school while we're away, our aim is to take a laptop computer, along with a digital camera and a digital camcorder. Then we can make short films to mail home (or host on the web somewhere), and be able to keep everybody instantly up-to-date with our latest adventures (and see them as well as read about them). The key question is: What will it weigh? What with my clothes, plus those of the girls, plus 3 sleeping bags, I'm likely to have a rucksack resembling a small mountain, so everything has got to be very, very light. This means that the technology has got to be light too. A conventional laptop weighs in at around 3 - 3.5 kilo's, which is quite a lot to carry with everything else. A Tablet PC weighs 1.8 kilo's, which is much better, but we're likely to need a keyboard for some things, so you add that into the weight, then add a disk drive etc etc. Fortunately, there's a whole new range of laptops appearing weighing in at under 2 kilo's, and including wireless support (which means that in some parts of the workd I can sit on the pavement outside of StarBucks/ANOther coffee shop, and use their internet connection for free/cheap. That'll be really useful when we want to email home pictures (we don't want our only digital copies of the pictures to be inside our rucksack - imagine if the laptop is stolen and you lose all of your trip photo's). The even better news is that there's a new Centrino chip from Intel that might mean the laptops become even smaller, lighter and run on batteries longer. Hopefully they'll arrive before June, when we've got a last chance to pick the technology. We're also keen to make sure that we can link into schools projects while we're away, so that Charlotte can still feel part of the class, so email will come in really useful (I can forecast hours sitting in the Canadian/Californian/Australian equivalent of EasyInternetCafe to keep diaries updated!) Interestingly, because I work with journalists in my job, there's some interest in following this story, from a technology and out-of-school education angle. I've been offered an irregular column in at least one of the educational journals, so perhaps things might suddenly be interesting... Saturday, March 22, 2003
WeightWatchers
Wonder why we'd be mad enough to give up a (promising) career, nice house and fast car for a backpack and a peripatetic lifestyle? Well, one of the principle reasons has to be related to my diet - and it's remarkably unsuccessful influence on my waistline. Compare: Travelling last time (the WeightWatchers way, or 5 months in India.) And now - in need of a bad diet   Sunday, March 09, 2003
Cameras, Cameras everywhere, but how to decide!
Well, it seems that for this trip, its the right time to go Digital with the camera. Last time we hit the backpacking road (10 years ago exactly) digital photgraphy didn't exist, and so we travelled with a brilliant Canon EOS 1000FN and a small Olympus mju-1. Both of them performed magnificently (and they are both still our everyday cameras). The Canon had a couple of lenses, that allowed us to go from wide angle landscape shots, to a 300mm zoom lens for the kind of shots that allowed us to catch people shots without the subjects becoming aware. It led to some great photograps (one day I'll scan some of the best and post them). This time, weight is going to be critical, because I'm going to be carrying the clothes & stuff for me and both girls), and we want to be able to keep everybody involved with our travels (family, friends and Charlotte's classmates) - web publishing /emailing photo's is going to be a big thing this trip. That means that digital will be best, but with digital cameras changing every five minutes, what do we do? I was loaned a year old Epson 3.3 megapixel by a journalist (who had it for review and Epson didn't ever ask for it back), but wasn't overwhelmed - the 3.3 mega pixels meant that quality was okay, but not great for enlargements (and let's face it, in a year I'm likely to take a couple of shots worthy of enlargement). It was also heavier than the old Canon, and battery hungry. I don't really want a rucksack loaded with heavy camera, loads of heavy spare AA batteries, heavy battery charger etc etc). And so, I started to read the magazines. The one I ended up drooling over is the Nikon 5700 - 8x zoom, 5.5 mega pixels, and seemingly well reviewed. And then I found out that a colleague had just bought one - so I'm now road testing that, and so far it meets my wishes - it is very light (about 400 grammes), has a reasonably long batter life, has a great zoom, and the battery charger weighs almost nothing (which seems odd, because most transformers weight a ton). So knowing that this hits almost my requirements, I've started to search for pricing. With a list price of £999(ish), seems that I could buy it on the web in the UK for about £820. But if I waited until Canada (first country to be visited) I could buy it for £700. And then I discovered, if I waited till the US (second country on the list) I could buy it for £600. (But then I'd have no digital photo's of Canada). Haven't yet decided what to do! If I buy it in the UK I'll get to play, test and be sure it works well, but I'll pay £120 for the privilege! (Huh, decisions, decisions - have to decide later!)
Canada
Started to research what we intend to do, and where we should go in Canada. We'll be flying into Vancouver early August (when the whole place will be heeeeeaaaaaaving with visitors). Although we've found lots of information about travelling around Canada, we've found little that gives hints or good ideas for Canada with children. Anyway, what we have found is....  Gulf Islands - off the coast from Vancouver, there's Victoria Island (big), and lots of other little islands which collectively make up the Gulf Islands. They're served by a network of ferries drifting back and forth, and from some travel writing we've read over time, it seems that they are a great place to relax and get away from urban hustle and bustle. One of the hostels that we like the look of is on Salt Spring Island, called (amazingly not) Salt Spring Island Hostel. In addition to the normal hostel accommodation, there's a couple of tree houses, plus a genuine Tipi (but sadly, not for children under 14). Although it's closed for the winter, it will re-open shortly for bookings. I think we may well make this the first stop in Canada - perhaps stay for a few days after we arrive, so that there's time to relax and wind down, and the children can adjust to travelling, without too much hassle around them. I guess the last couple of weeks before we leave will be hectic, with all the last minute preparation and packing (how many times can you repack three rucksacks!) plus all the last chance visits with friends and family to get in. Other hostel sites that look interesting include: - the SameSun Hostels, who promote the idea of family accommodation (pretty important to not end up in too many hostels full of gap year, late night drinkers - something that we'll use our judgement on, but always useful to have pointers about!) - Central Station Hostel in Vancouver, which has got rooms that would be ideal for us - C$35 a night for the whole family, and right in the centre of the city. (There's also a link here to lots of other links!) - this Shaughnessy Village accommodation seemed really curious. Seemingly good value rooms, but reading it makes me think it's attached to a hospital or something similar - now why would I want to stay in a lifeless hostel that smells of disinfectant? Anybody know anything better? This Vancouver and Whistler website was really useful, with lots of links and handy hints. Run by an individual who is an experienced traveller, it contains the kind of info that will help us make the most of our time (and it's always great to find an unofficial website where you can get a feel for who's opinions are expressed!). Sadly, no specific family section, but hey, travelling the way we will be is a puts us a bit outside the mainstream! Friday, March 07, 2003
Work
Read back through our travel diaries
Today was the day when my boss told my department I'm leaving to go around the world. Although I won't be leaving work until the end of June, we are going through a departmental reorganisation and so it made sense to tell everybody now, so that somebody could be hired to replace me, and leave no gap in the department. Everybody was really excited for me - over the day lots of people congratulated me on making such a big decision, and wanted to hear all about it. (Makes me worry if I've done the right thing - hadn't realised it was such a big decision as everybody is making it!). I'm sure over the next few weeks the message will get around the business, and I'm sure others will be wanting to know why I'd be so dumb to give up a good career for a backpack (but once it's in your blood, it's difficult to shake it). We're definitely born travellers - Charlotte our eldest at 7 years has already visited 17 countries, so she's going to have the same travel bug as we've got.
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