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What's in our backpacks? Gear for round-the-world travel

Product reviews in real-time, based on our epic round-the-world journey. Travel clothing, guidebooks, electronics, luggage, and accessories of all sorts.

Monday, September 12, 2005

How many memory cards does it take to travel around the world?

If we were to take an average of 100 photos per day, we would need over two-hundred 256MB memory cards to capture the entire trip. At $20 per card, that's over $4000. Ouch.

Instead, we'll carry 1GB of flash memory and transfer photos to a hard disk drive. And what better hard drive than an iPod?

Apple makes a small camera connector (approx $30) which enables direct transfer of photos from a digital camera. We tested this during one of our pre-RTW trips, and it seems to work pretty well.

Photo transfer is initiated by connecting the camera to a color iPod (using standard USB cable and the camera connector), and switching the devices on. The iPod creates a new "slideshow" (essentially a folder) for each transfer.

Photos can then be transferred from the iPod to a PC using the standard iPod USB connector.

Pretty easy, although I strongly recommend testing this a few times before you begin your travel -- since not all cameras are compatible or easily configurable. There's a list of compatible digital cameras on the Apple website. Even if your digital camera isn't listed (as was the case with my Lumix FZ-5), it may very well work.

Also, be sure that your iPod and camera have sufficient charge when transferring photos. A 256MB transfer drains over 50% of the iPod's battery life, and can take quite a few minutes.

Now all I have to do is find enough bandwidth on the road to transfer photos from the iPod to flickr. Wish me luck!

Thursday, September 01, 2005

A man's wardrobe for the road, or performance wear that'll probably make me stick out like a sore thumb

Probably on the luxurious side.  Detailed reviews to come once we start travelling...

- 2 pairs convertible pants/shorts (north face paramount & rei sahara)
- 1 pair swim shorts (speedo, but not the wee little itsy-bitsy kind)
- 1 long-sleeve performance shirtn (ex-officio airstrip)
- 2 synthetic t-shirts (rei)
- 1 short-sleeve travel shirt (royal robbins)
- 3 pairs synthetic boxer-briefs (patagonia capilene midweight, ex-officio; blue and charcoal colored respectively)
- 1 long underwear shirt, 1 long underwear bottoms (rei)
- 1 microfleece sweater (arc'teryx)
- 1 rain shell (rei elements)
- 1 broad-rimmed, waterproof hat (outdoor research gortex seattle sombrero, baby!)
- 3 pairs sock liners
- 3 pairs wool socks
- 1 pair boots (reichle, one piece leather; super heavy, but gotta protect the dogs)
- 1 pair amphibious shoes (salomon)

So that's it.  Oh yeah, and one bandana, treated with permetherin of course...

Saturday, August 27, 2005

What should I pack, honey?

"What should we pack for our trip?"

My wife and I have been asking each other this question for the past 6 months, as we've geared up for an epic round-the-world trip. Many hours of research (and lots of credit card bills) later, our bags are pretty much packed. Just 3 weeks before takeoff!

Since we'll be carrying and living out of our backpacks for 7-8 months, we've had to be judicious with our packing. And since we'll put in lots of gear use on the road, we've decided to share our product experience in real-time on this blog.

Will three pairs of underwear really be enough? Which clothing is the best: Patagonia, North Face, or REI? And how effective is DEET against African, Indian, and Asian mosquitoes?

Just some of the questions that we hope to answer on our trip. Enjoy!