Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip

Family travel through a slightly twisted lens. Sense of humor required. Shoes optional.

Gearing up: My list

by

I am something of a nut and have possibly gone overboard, but I have considered all the things I hope to do while in Africa and worked out a Plan for the trip and all my fancy junk. I have a Wenger padded computer backpack that will actually hold ALL of my stuff, and a few things for others.

My list of stuff:

  • HP Mini netbook and charger
  • Nikon D40 camera with batteries and 2 chargers (just in case!)
  • 70 to 300mm zoom lens
  • 18 to 55mm zoom lens
  • 35mm lens
  • Canon HD Video camera and charger (I may get a second battery)
  • 3 2gb SDHC media cards (Netbook, camera and video camera all use sd cards
  • 16gb SDHC media card
  • 32gb media card
  • 320gb external hard drive
  • usb smart media card reader
  • Apple iPod (Hey, its a LONG flight!)
  • Book(s) (To read)

I will also be carrying in that pack (for others):

  • HP Mini Netbook and charger
  • Sony HD video camera and charger
  • Canon digital snapshot camera
  • 2 pairs of binoculars

This will, of course, be my carry-on luggage for the air travel portion of the trip.

It will be quite full of course, but all of the stuff DOES fit securely and is not uncomfortable when worn as a backpack.

Two tripods will be in my other luggage going on the plane, but once there my tripod will often be attached to the pack as well.

I will be staying in lodges or hotels every night, so not exactly a “roughing it” trip, and this is apparent with choice of “stuff” I think. Other trips and locations may require other choices. For one, I am not bringing my cell phone or cell modem (incompatible service). Trips with less of a weight limitation for luggage might make a desktop replacement laptop a better choice than my netbook to edit and render photos and videos during the trip instead of archiving them and doing it all when at home!

A trip that is REALLY roughing it would probably mean just cameras and batteries (and maybe a charger for each battery type in case you do find power.) A few weeks in Land Rovers and sleeping in tents every night might make charging a laptop daily difficult.

Modern electronics can enhance a trip in many ways: music for long flights, maintaining contact with those at home (or elsewhere) and ever more durable and accurate records of vacation activities. But unless you are actually filming a documentary, don’t forget that the idea is to DO things, and try and get some records of it; seeing and doing things outside of the normal daily grind is the main point. Try not to get so bound up with taking pictures that you miss something you may only see on tv for the rest of your life.

Personally, I spent a good chunk of change on my video camera expressly for this trip, and if I can get 15 minutes of truly decent video out of it, I’ll be satisfied.

Gearing up: Other considerations

by

Cameras/Video

The largest consideration next to connectivity is probably camera “Stuff.” Media cards, batteries, card readers and cables are good things to have spares of;  pretty horrible to be halfway through a day’s activities and find that you have no more room for pictures, or have the camera battery run out of juice. It is just as bad to finish off the first day of a trip and realize that you have no way to transfer your shots to a drive and no more media cards! (More on that next.) A spare camera battery (or rechargeables) and charger are handy indeed.

Storage

Photography, and even more, videography can use a lot of storage space; multiple media cards are good: better a few small ones or one really big one. A large media card may never need to be removed. Having 3 or 4 smaller ones decreases the chance of a failure or loss meaning you lose everything.

Copy or move your pictures/movies to your laptop daily, or if you have a netbook with a small drive, get a portable USB drive. Small 2.5” external drives are pretty cheap, may be more durable than the physically larger 3.5” drives and are a lot smaller and lighter. A 320gb drive is around $100, which is probably money well spent for any traveler who takes a lot of pictures. Make sure to get one that is USB powered; why deal with yet another power cord!

If you don’t want to deal with transferring files, get a bunch of media cards and some decent cases. Enough media cards, and you can just swap out cards and go through everything when you get home.

If you are thinking about buying some of the devices, I personally suggest choosing cameras and devices that all support the same format card if possible; the convenience of having a dSLR, camcorder and laptop that ALL support the same media card is huge.

DVD Players

Standalone dvd players have become less common as laptops have become a staple of the modern “techy”, but they are still around. Don’t forget the cords and/or batteries for these too. If you DO use a laptop for watching dvds (or let the kids use one) consider copying the dvd’s you want to the laptop’s drive if you have the room; hard drives use a LOT less battery power than dvd drives! Virtual drive imaging software lets you load up a “fake” dvd drive with an image of the disk stored on the hard drive if needed.

MP3 Players

Most MP3 players can charge through a usb cord, and the same cord will often fit cameras and portable hard drives. Bring what you need and make SURE you have it. If you think you will be transferring music while away, bring whatever is needed for that.

Electronics Bag

A single, separate bag for your electronic devices may make it easier to keep control of all the cords, plugs, cards and batteries you need when traveling. Considering the cost of these devices, it may also minimize the risk of theft or loss although it DOES mean that if a theft occurs you are likely to lose everything. I suggest getting one that is padded and sturdy, and then keeping it with you at ALL times, of course!

Gearing up: Charging your devices

by

If you are staying fairly close to home (not visiting a foreign nation) then the main thing you need to do is to remember all your chargers! Or pick up one of those devices with multiple output voltages/connectors. They are expensive but if you do a lot of traveling, one may be worth the money.

If you are going abroad, voltages and plugs may be an issue. Check what is used at your destination and get whatever you need for plug adapters! Fortunately, most electronic chargers nowadays work with the two most commonly used electricity “formats”: 120 volt, single phase AC (alternating current) and 230 volt single phase AC. Check yours before you try it though. Some devices only work on one input voltage, and some still have a physical switch for changing between the two!

One piece of advice I have should be read at your own risk; having multiple devices does not mean you need plug adapters for every one. A simple 3-way plug adapter should allow 3 devices to be plugged in with one plug adapter without problems. Be careful not to overload it however, and check it the first few times you try it to see how warm its getting. Hot is bad. (I am a welder and often use a 230 volt welding machine with standard extension cords.)

Check your chargers, get the plug adapters you need (and any voltage adapters if required) and don’t forget anything! Best bet to not forget: lay out all your devices on a table or bed and plug the chargers into them when you pack.

Gearing up: An electronics perspective on travel

by

This is the first post in a series about gearing up for travel by new contributor, Douglas Getgood.

The world has gotten smaller in many ways thanks to modern technology; cars bring towns that were days away 100 years ago within just a few hours of (mostly) reliable transportation. A trip to a foreign nation an ocean away could have been months or even years in the past; now it is just a few hours on a plane.

Electronics bring the world even closer without leaving our homes. People around the world can join online communities and chat with folks they may never see  and yet still become close. But this series of posts isn’t about chatting in forums, blogs or private messages;  it is about deciding on our electronic needs while traveling.  Being “connected” makes it possible to stay in close touch with those at home even if home is half a world away.

Priorities for travel equipment vary, but a few things will be common priorities for most of use —  internet connectivity and photography at a minimum. There are other common electronics to consider as well including cell phones, dvd players, music players, video camera and extra storage for most of these devices…

A lot of stuff to carry, and charging all these electronic toys adds weight and complexity. I know a little about some of these issues because I am going on a trip to Africa in the near future and have put some thought into just what I’ll need. This is a question which is fairly serious: travel in the wilds of Africa is generally strictly limited to specific weights and a choice may have to be made between clothes and toys!

Let’s start with Internet Connectivity

How to Connect:

The Internet is just about everywhere using wireless or “mobile broadband,” but that does NOT mean it is always accessible; standards vary somewhat for  cell phones (wireless computer modems are just “non-talking” cell phones) and open, non-secured hotspots are rare in most areas now. Consider where you are going and just how critical a constant connection to the world is;  it is possible (or nearly so) but may be expensive! The same consideration applies to cell phones, of course, as they use the same frequencies and equipment.

I have chosen to go the cheap route. The places I will be all have internet access so at night I will be able to do just about anything I need: email, administer a web server, brag about my trip…. err, I mean stay in touch with folks elsewhere. I checked into getting a cell connection for the trip, and for about half my trip it is possible, but extremely expensive, and to cover as much as possible, I might need to connect to two different frequencies increasing cost even more.

For travel in a single nation, or to areas where the same cell frequencies are in use as where you live, this is less of an issue, obviously. Especially if you connect using a tethered cell phone.

Connect with phone? Computer?

Having an internet connection is fine and dandy, but there is also a question of what are you connecting WITH. Smartphones are enough for some folks. Laptops are the largest segment of the computer market now, and just about every techno-family has at least one. Netbooks are the fastest growing segment of the computer market and may be a good choice with a few caveats: netbooks have weak processors and most have little storage space as well as no internal cd/dvd drive.

They can be great traveling companions though; mine is an HP Mini 1010 with an upgraded drive, battery and memory. It is small and light, has 64 gigabytes of storage and lasts 5+ hours between charges when being used. Compared to my last laptop which was hard pressed to stay running for 2 hours, for my needs, it is almost perfect. Netbooks are NOT desktop replacements though, and they are not suitable for heavy-duty computing tasks.

But they are cheap and handy.  Hint: if you are considering a netbook, dual-core netbooks should be out soon and will probably be worth waiting for. Much stronger.

With the Internet, cell phones and a connected device covered, in my next post, we’ll switch to the single most common electronic piece to consider when traveling: chargers!

Africa Planning: the travel medicine clinic

by

Kruger National Park Going on Safari is unlike any other vacation you will ever plan. Apart from the clothing recommendations and luggage restrictions, which we will most definitely cover in upcoming posts, there are the medical requirements. Because no matter where you go in Africa, you will be going to a developing nation. Even South Africa and Botswana in the South, which are prosperous nations and where we will be spending most of our time, are subject to diseases that do not widely  exist or have been mostly eradicated in the populous Western nations.

Which called for my first ever visit to the travel medicine clinic at my local hospital.Your primary care physician will not have the necessary information to help you or access to all the vaccinations you might need.  She will however be able to give you a referral to a travel medicine clinic. Tip: DO NOT forget to get the official referral if your health plan requires it. Some or all of your costs may be covered, but they will not be if you don’t get the referral in advance. You can also find travel medicine clinics  online, but I was quite happy with the clinic my doctor referred.

Men Sewing

Tip: Make sure you have your shot record and your itinerary with you when you go the the clinic. I remembered to ask my doctor about my last tetanus shot, saving me one pin prick, but couldn’t remember whether I’d had the measles as a child. So I had to call my mom from the doctor’s office.

Consensus was that I had indeed had the measles, and my bouts with chicken pox (legendary) and mumps were well remembered.

At the clinic, the doctor or nurse practitioner will review your itinerary against the Center for Disease Control recommendations for US citizens, and advise you given your age, susceptibility and general health. NOTHING is required by the US, although some vaccinations may be required by the country you are visiting. Most things are strongly recommended and a few, like rabies, are optional. I decided to do the optional rabies vaccination because we live in a fairly rural area and  I have the dogs. In some cases, the order in which you are visiting countries will be relevant, which is why the clinic needs the day by day itinerary, not just the list of countries you plan to visit.

This is serious shit, people.

Tip: You may need multiple visits to the clinic. Make your first appointment six weeks to a month before your trip.

On my first visit last week, I got  three shots — hepatitis A/B, meningitis and a polio booster. I was also prescribed an oral vaccine for typhoid (more about that in a minute) and had to make a series of appointments for the rabies vaccine (3 appointments exactly seven days apart) and a second hepatitis shot. I also got a prescription for malaria medicine to be taken before, during and after the trip and a precautionary antibiotic in case of diarrhea that doesn’t respond to OTC medicine like Imodium.

A word about the typhoid vaccine. There are two options, a shot or an oral live vaccine called Vivotif. I opted for the oral med, as it had a longer duration, lasting for about 5 years. This proved to be a mixed blessing. There are four pills, to be taken in the morning every other day at least a week before departure. THE PILLS MUST BE REFRIGERATED. So far so good. Except our fridge died, unbeknownst to us, and the pills were at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours.

Were the pills still good? I had taken the first one Thursday morning before we realized that the fridge had been on the fritz, possibly for a day or two. Why did it take so long to realize that the fridge was fraked? The freezer was fine and the fridge light still worked. The butter in the door was soft but we initially attributed that to folks not shutting the door firmly.

If you are doing the math, that meant I had 48 hours to figure out whether the pills were still active or even safe to take if inactive. There was no information in the product insert that answered this specific question.

Just in case they were still good, we stored them in our travel fridge and I called the travel clinic Thursday afternoon. Closed. Left a message. Didn’t get a call back on Friday morning. Called again after we got back from the vet. They told me that the call had been referred to the nurses’ line, and I should hear sometime that day.

I did. Shortly before 5pm, and the nurse did not know the answer. She suggested I contact the manufacturer directly. By the time I tracked down the number on the Internet — it was NOT printed on the insert — it was after 5pm and their offices were, you guessed it, closed. I sent an email just in case someone checked it one last time before the weekend, but no such luck.

By this time,  I knew I was SOL for getting a definitive answer before Monday, and had to make a decision about taking the pill on Saturday. The nurse had been a little leery about taking it, in case I had to retake the whole dose again. Would that be too much medicine, active or not, in my body? Would there be any harmful effects if the vaccine had gone bad? Too many unanswered questions, so I decided to stop the sequence and start over.

Naturally of course, I got a reply to my email first thing Monday morning:

Vivotif can be left out of the refrigerator for up to 24 hours as long as it out of direct sunlight and under 80 degrees.

In other words, my pills were still good, but it didn’t matter because they were useless to me. I replied, very nicely, to the gentleman at the company that it would have been nice if this information were in the insert or at least on the website, as I now would have to start over with a new package anyway.  I was irritated but not over the top angry because our fridge is under extended warranty, which pays up to $250 for spoiled food. We didn’t have much food, so I figured the cost of the replacement medicine would be covered.

Turns out the drug manufacturer has a free replacement program — I’m guessing this is not the first time something like this has happened. So all’s well that ends well. When I go get my first rabies vaccination next week, I’ll pick up the replacement Vivotif and start again. I’ve got time before I leave on September 11th.

Moral of this story? Don’t wait until the last minute to make your appointment at the travel clinic. You need time to get the necessary shots and handle any mishaps like mine with the Vivotif.

Oh, and I hope the manufacturer Crucell Berna reads this post and puts that additional information about Vivotif storage on the website or the insert. Sure, people will now be able to find it here, but I am not a doctor and don’t play one on the Internet. It’s much much better for the information to come directly from the company.

—

Added 11 August

Some additional precautions:

  • Drink only bottled, boiled or treated water.
  • Brush teeth with mouthwash or bottled water. Rinse toothbrush with same.
  • Use Purell or other antibacterial handwash. Carry a small bottle with you.
  • Use insect repellent with DEET. Apply sunscreen first, wait 20 minutes, then apply insect repellent.

Copyright 2009-2018. All Rights Reserved. Photos copyright Susan Getgood unless otherwise noted.