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Cybercafè Travel Kit?
Xthlc asks: "I've been traveling in Europe this summer, and wanted to share photos and a journal with my friends and family as I went along. A laptop was out of the question, since I'm backpacking in some areas where the risk of loss is too great. So I'm limited to cybercafès. I thought I had everything I needed: a digital camera, a USB CF card reader, a universal AC adapter to recharge the camera, and a MovableType installation back home. However, I'm discovering that, in fact, there were a lot of things I forgot: a software CD with drivers and image editing programs, a cybercafè directory that lists things like prices and features, and a dictionary that has the Catalonian word for 'download'. So, for those experienced readers who weblog: what's your ultimate cybercafè survival kit? If you actually travel with a laptop, how do you deal with overseas connectivity? Also, where the heck do you find time to actually SEE stuff instead of just writing about it in your weblog?"
Shouldn't your question be, how can I write in my weblog when I have so much to see? Personally, I'd call my vacation hell at the point when I become the travel channel narrator for my audience back home. Enjoy yourself, plus, if you keep your comments down to the bare peaks of the experience, your writing will be more concise, and more entertaining without the tedious details. No matter how interesting details seem when you're experiencing them, they are boring when watching someone else describe them. Its not what happened, but how you tell it of course. I've nearly fallen asleep during slide shows of african safaris.
Photos.
I went to Berlin last summer for two weeks and took my iBook along with me. More than anything else it turned out to be deadweight that I almost never used. I wrote one letter on it, which I burned to a CD to send at an internet cafe. Mostly, I was too busy *doing stuff* to be reflecting on anything. Visiting museums, eating at cafes, exploring the city--the time for writing about the journey is *afterwards*. The entire thing was burned into my memory so well I can still remember what I did each day of the trip, and I was able to make a pretty good set of web pages afterwards for family and friends to look at. You can spend your time in Europe however you want, but I hope (for your sake) that your memories of Europe are focused more on eating croissants at little streetside cafes than they are installing drivers on a PIII-500.