Equipment

It is a hassle to travel with pepper spray. You are not allowed to have it in your carry-on or to take it into many countries. However, flashlights are rarely considered contraband and can be bright enough to temporarily disorient an attacker while you run away.

Creative Commons picture by gadl.

If you plan on camping in an area with bears, or other almost-as-tough-as-chuck-norris animals, pepper spray can be a nice “just in case” tool. It can also be used for self defense when you don’t trust all the humans around you. That said, it is illegal in places like Canada, Belgum, Hong Kong, an many others. Even in locales where it is legal, it can be a bad travel companion.

The solution: flashlights. Airport security usually doesn’t care about them and they can be bright enough to temporarily disorient an assailant. Read the rest of this entry »

The Lay of The Land

Creative Commons picture by CarbonNYC.
The majority of modern GPS devices are quite fancy. Their displays are big enough to let to you count the rays from Janet Jackson’s sunburst jewelry. They have databases that contain information about every major road on the continent. Some of them even have an internet connection so you can easily find the nearest waffle house next time you stroll through Tulsa. These $500 devices have a clearly defined niche right on your car’s dash. However, much like coral and tropical frogs if you take them very far out of their niche, they die. These devices can not survive long without a car’s steady supply of electricity.

On the other end of the GPS spectrum are devices designed for hikers. They are often about the size of a late ’90s cell phone and intended for use far from power outlets. Several are even waterproof, can last over 15 hours with only two AA batteries, and cost only 100 dollars. Unfortunately they bring with them a lot fewer creature comforts. The displays are often black and…kind of grayish. They are allergic to internet connections, and their maps are rarely very detailed and sometimes nonexistent.

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Here are some ultra-portable laptops presently on the market. They are cheap, love to travel, and allow you to actually type things rather than having to laboriously write an e-mail with your thumbs alone. Even better, this recent wave of “let’s make our computers cheap and just big enough for a keyboard” seems to be just beginning.

All these computers have wifi cards. I think they might get striped of their “netbook” title and expelled from the kingdom if they didn’t. That is just wild speculation though, as I don’t know of any company that has dared to release a netbook without built in wifi.

Asus eee PC 701 - around $320 on ebay

This was the computer that is thought to have started the recent ultra portable laptop craze. Sure there were previous really small laptops, including the OLPC’s innovative XO. However, this model was was designed with your normal internet-addicted consumer in mind.

One thing that rightly earned it some attention was it’s software. This software allows the computer to boot in 15 seconds and is incredibly easy to use. Turns out, that is just what people wanted.

Creative Commons picture by roland.
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A computer can make traveling a little easier. Not only does it let you easily keep in touch with friends and family back home, but it also allow you to quickly make reservations and do research. It would be a perfect travel accessory if only laptops weren’t normally so expensive and annoying to lug around. Luckily the present vogue thing for computer manufacturers is to build tiny, cheap, and highly portable laptops. Here is a quick run down of what you need to know to score yourself a good one.

These new wee hunks of computing plastic tend to share an emphasis on internet use and a small form factor (generally about 2lbs and roughly the size of a hardback book). They pretty much all have wifi cards. Depending on the model you can also get one with a webcam and microphone built in so that you can easily video chat (or even record videos) from the road.

As you might expect, not all ittsy bittsy laptops are created equal. Here are things you will want to look at before purchasing:

Price

I don’t want to spend a lot of money on these things. I figure others are like me. Netbook prices range from $200-$600.

Keyboard ease of use

Having a “condensed” keyboard is pretty common with these ultra-portable laptops. If you plan on using the keyboard at some point, make sure it isn’t so small that it hurts your hands.

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The panama hat has become a worldwide symbol of relaxed tropical vacations. It can be an excellent way to keep the sun off your face. However, beware that in some parts of the world (for example, near me while I am writing this article) wearing a panama hat can result in being challenged to a dance off.

Creative Commons picture by Kevin Hutchinson.

The panama hat is a fedora-like straw hat, often made in white. Supposedly the really good ones can be folded up without sustaining any damage. However, trying to collapse them has damaged every panama hat that I have ever had.

In a cruel trick of naming, the panama hat actually originated from Ecuador. People in Ecuador wove them and shipped them to the rest of the world via panama. Simply because panama was a way point on the hat’s journey, the hat was named the “panama hat.”

Once it was discovered that the hat could make almost anybody look relaxed they really took off. [Note: These hats do not have the same effect on dogs. It just makes dogs look more tense and awkward.]

The association of this hat with warm Latin locals also has it’s detractions. It is important to be aware that when people see you in this hat they expect you to be a good dancer. It just goes with the style. That can lead to high-risk dance offs and people of the opposite gender throwing themselves at you - helpless to your suave moves.