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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?"
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.