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Weblogging from Various Ends of the Earth?
J. Lawless asks: "My friend and I will both be travelling to remote portions of the globe next fall -- he in a pan-Australasian motorcycle trip and I on a trip into Italy. We both have the same problem: how to get content (text and photos) onto the Internet given that our only lifeline to it will be through random Internet Cafes? It would seem that some sort of PDA to be able to do text entry and image integration would be best, but then what? Most, if not all, cybercafes take a dim view of dropping software on their box for access. For added difficulty points, Dave will be spending much of his trip without reliable electricity hookup, so how to keep the mess running?"
Who can live without reading your blog while you are on vacation?!!
Your ego and blogshare can barely stand it!
Why don't you spend your time there learning, enjoying, experiencing. Leave the updates until you get home. I mean really, are people voting on what you do next during your trip?!
A lot of blog software will let you post via email. Get a palm with a modem and email in your updates.
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
You could try, you know, not using the internet for the time that you're on vacation.
Of course, for every American venturing outside God's own country, everything is an adventure. Italians, do they have computers or even refrigerators? Australasia only uses flint and bongos for communication, right?
Best to take a shitload of bogrolls and Dr. Pepper cans with me, because over there they probably only have these aboriginal drinks, like larvae juice.
My advice: leave your electronics at home and discover the world through your eyes and ears, not a lens and a keyboard. Speak to people. Find out why they hate USians.
If you really can't help it, take an old, used Ibook and a compatible digital camera. Store Pics/Sounds/Files on an USB Keychain Ram-Plugin and use that to swap files between your Ibook and internetcafe's computers. You will see that extraUSians have computers too.
Sheesh..
Don't worry about real time updates. Really, it's just not that important. If your family wants to hear from you to know that you're alive, get a cheap calling card and give'm a ring.
;-)
For the purpose of keeping a journal (which is a very respectable thing to do on a trip like that), take your laptop and your digital camera and use it for dumping pictures and taking notes. No internet access. No email. No games. Do nothing on your laptop that you can do at home.
I recently took a trip through California. The laptop rules were simple: dump pictures onto it and jot down notes. That's all. And you know what -- I loved it. My wrists felt better, my head was less congested, and I spent enough time checking out things that I normally don't get to see. You know... a vacation...
Thanks for all who answered the question asked. The information is useful. Dave and I have generally ruled out laptops on a portability basis, but good ideas there as well.
As to the haters -- what question did I ask? What question did you answer? I generally detest the Internet and blogging for the same reasons you do. What can I do about it? Whine?
No. Make it better. I write, its what I do. Relax. Go find something you do well and do that, 'cause clearly lifestyle advice ain't your bag.
For the record, yes -- I do know how to enjoy myself quite well offline and have taken enough photos and jotted notes to suffer the inadequacy of those later: "WHERE is this now?" For my previous trips, I've enjoyed a leather journalette, but where's the challenge in that? Nowhere.
Vis noodlenose's suggestions that "COMPUTERS ARE EVERYWHERE" -- clearly you ain't been where I been, brother, and I'm glad I won't find you there next time I go.
For travel blogging, i assume you need to upload few interesting pics took on your way.
My suggestion is to buy one of Sony Cybershot models(Eg: Sony DSC-P92).
The advantage with this model, drivers are very small and easy to install.
And after installation it creates a USB harddisk(which has all your pics(.jpg format) in it), just Preview with IE and upload to your blog.(special photo extraction software is not required)
Install the drivers over internet and connect your camera to the usb port.
(Keep the drivers in your personal webspace or just search for sony cam drivers link)
Infact you can use this Camera for storing, other types(.txt/.mpg) of files in the storage medium.
Mostly useless stuffs for travellers:
PDA - Installing PDA Sync software on the Internet Cafe's machines might not be possible.(eg:WinCE/Palm Sync software are very big to download on low speed net connection.)
Notebook - Its good to carry if you are tourist, wont workout for a traveller. If you have enough cash, buying one of Sony Vaio slim models.
Enjoy your trip!!
Prabhakar
Nice conclusion. The poster you're responding to is a condescending jackass. Someone asks for help and he turns it into an opportunity to insult Americans. "USians"? What an idiot.
Keeping a travel journal is a long tradition among travelers from many cultures. Some of the greatest travelers of the 19th century mailed copies of journal entries back to correspondents at home. Making that journal available to ones family and friends in real time is something they would have appreciated. I can tell you from personal experience that parents definitely appreciate it.
I've used a mailing list instead of a website to keep family and friends up to date as I traveled. Even in places like Tibet, you'll occasionally come across machines with a Net connection and a browser that you can use to reach a web-based mail system. And, as someone else pointed out, these days you could post to a blog via email instead of using a mailing list. Getting your photos up there might need to wait until you get home, though. Lower tech is more reliable when traveling, even domestically.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."