edumacate me re techmology

[ethereal]

Hi All. Believe it or not this is the first time I have ever started a thread.
We are planning a 3 month overseas trip and I am mentally packing. Last time (sans kids) we had no money, a 30 y.o.slr camera and a lonley planet guide book and a guitar. Now I am thinking digital camera, handycam, mp3 player, some kind of mobile phone that works in europe, laptop, internet/email access.... is there some kind of device that replaces all of the above? I had bit of a look but it confuses me. Any sugestions from my well travelled and technologically up to date somersoftians much appreciated.

Louise

 

[Strannik]

You can buy a PDA which will replace all of the above and then setup roaming on it so it works overseas (although it's expensive).

But i suggest taking separate devices, will be more comfortable.

 

[wish-ga]

My 1st thought is: more stuff = more to get taken. Leaving it in accommodation leaves you open to theft. Or you have to babysit stuff attention-wise at airports on trains etc (kids prolly take all your attention already).

Maybe internet cafes are the go instead of travelling with all the technology? Or take a series of jump drives to download the images so you don't store them all on the camera (jump drive is more portable and relatively inexpensive). If you have to go to an internet cafe to download stuff you might be vulnerable to keeping lots on your camera.

I have a friend who is a great amatuer photographer. He travels with his laptop and downloads/culls images each evening. No kids. So very different type of travel. Will you be able to use the laptop at night since you have kids you might be taken up doing other things?

Enjoy your holli!

 

[AlmostBob]

INternet Cafe = identity theft
You use their pc through their keylogger through their wire & their router to login to your webmail service.
They are you, they have your passwords and can read all the mail you have, they can identify themselves to your bank, or credit card, if you have subscribed to online updates.

The switch device we put in to give the tenants access 16port switch with wireless router, does full logging by default, I had to turn it OFF to stop it logging everything they do. some filtering is applied to protect our network

2GB SD card = 1500 5Mp images $28.00 safer idea buy 3 or four if you intend more than 1500 pics in this holiday

(In one property we supply 100MB cable & wireless internet, cable tv, phone, heat, lights, water, beds bedding dishwashers microwaves pots pans plates towels everything)

 

[ethereal]

Thanks for your replies so far, all very good points.

We need the laptop because my husband (graphic designer) will have to do some work with it while we are away. I would like to know how we can use it to connect to the internet regularly for work emails, shares and banking etc. Also, the kids can watch their favourite movies at 'rest time'.

Wish-ga, we will have plenty of down time at night as the kids, who will be 3 and 5, need to go to be quite early and have an afternoon rest leaving us stuck minding them so should have no trouble finding time for downloading the days photos and a bit of work etc.

I will google PDA and roaming and see what I can find. Like Wish-ga said, it seems like such a lot of gadgets to take and take care of. Last time we looked like a pair of dirty hippies with nothing worth taking so we had no problems. Little did anyone know we actually had $5k US cash around our waists..

Louise

 

[Skiddy]

Ethereal,

I travel a lot and I take a portable hard drive in a DIV X case. What this means is I can put a heap of movies on my hard drive and hook it up to a hotel's TV and watch my movies instead of paying for MOD. Might help you with your kids in the evenings

 

[Strannik]

The switch device we put in to give the tenants access 16port switch with wireless router, does full logging by default, I had to turn it OFF to stop it logging everything they do.

That's some funky router. Most just log the addresses where you connect, that's the first time i hear about the one that logs transmitted data. What brand and model is it if you don't mind me asking?

 

[AlmostBob]

Its a

D-Link Dss 16+WE with firmware updates off the DLink web site, made for the 'North American' (We sue the landlord if the tenant does something) model
could not understand why I was getting 15-20 LARGE emails of 'log full' data every day, why the drive on the pc I have in the basement of the building was filling up so fast

 

[Strannik]

I couldn't find anything about logging. Frankly speaking i doubt that it logs the data, it would require too much memory. Think about it, average browsing session is about 25MB-100mb for one person
Multiply that by 16 ports and you need quite a lot of space for the log.

 

[AlmostBob]

I couldn't find anything about logging. Frankly speaking i doubt that it logs the data, it would require too much memory. Think about it, average browsing session is about 25MB-100mb for one person
Multiply that by 16 ports and you need quite a lot of space for the log.

It'd been filling a 40GB drive daily, then sending emails about it,until turned off, mirrored all data transfers to the admin account.

 

[wish-ga]

Identity theft! ohh-ah, good point. I stand corrected.
Shows how much I know!

*Adjusts Luddite membership badge*

 

[DavidMc]

My iPhone is great for travel.

MP3 player, phone, organiser, maps and most other things you'd use a laptop for (checking websites and webmail). It's also got a crappy camera, although I've also got a Canon IXUS with a big memory card. I'm sure many other fully PDA/Phones have these functions.

 

[wylie]

I too am a Luddite regarding tech stuff, but friends who run their own business (and needed to keep in touch with their staff and their son back home) took a Blackberry with them and apparently it did all they needed.

Not sure just what it DOES do, but have you looked at them?

 

[Sim]

For securing valuables while on the road, have a look at PacSafe: http://www.pacsafe.com/

Most of their gear is available from your usual local travel gear stores - although I ended up buying most of my gear from http://www.gogogear.com.au/

For our recent 6 week backpacking trip to South America we bought:

TravelSafe 100 - ideal for passports, spare cash, travel documents, mp3 players, etc ... chained to something solid in the room when we went out.

DaySafe 100 - great travel day pack - slashproof and tamper-proof zippers and acts as a secure storage container if you decide to go out without it - chain it to something solid in the room. Alternatively, remove the secure storage container and take the day pack on its own (for carrying non-valuable items). Large enough to fit a 15" Laptop plus a Canon 40D DSLR with three lenses - and very comfortable to carry as a day-pack (provided you don't carry 10kg of gear in it like I did - my main backpack with all my clothing and other gear was only 17kg )

MetroSafe 200 - fantastic shoulder bag - large enough for a small travel guide and maps, 600ml bottle of water, compact umbrella, wallets, passports, mobile phones and a compact digital camera! Adjustable strap meant that either my wife or I could carry it. Slashproof and tamper-proof zippers. This never left our side - if we only took one bag when we went out, it was this one.

ProSafe 310 - mini combination lock is great for all those bags you want to lock - compact, lightweight and sturdy. We ended up buying 6 of these and were very happy with them. Weight was important to us since we were backpacking - most locks are much heavier, and the smaller ones seem too flimsy. Note - not TSA approved, so not recommended for flights to/from the US.

As for technology - most tri-band GSM phones will work in Europe (you may need to contact your carrier to enable global roaming). Watch out for costs though - you will pay for inbound calls as well as outbound and costs increase rapidly. Voicemail can also be problematic - make sure you research this and set stuff up BEFORE you leave the country (too late once you're gone).

WiFi is pretty easy to get in most locations these days - especially tourist spots. We stayed in backpacker hostels in South America and I deliberately booked places which advertised free WiFi - ironically only had trouble in the larger cities - everywhere else worked without problems. Just for reference - Santiago airport has some of the fastest free WiFi around !!!

VoIP is a great alternative to expensive mobile phone calls.