Travel Accessories

[Martin Hash]

Casio Pathfinder 1500.jpg

I generally hesitate to recommend travel accoutrements, especially jewelry, but a watch can be justified, and a watch that does more than just tell time can b a form of entertainment. I know I was going to Africa, and though I have watches aplenty, it seemed appropriate to get one specific for the trip; one with a plastic band, alarm, illuminated face, and water resistant. After that though, the more froufrou, the better: altimeter, temperature, compass… Check, and the Casio Pathfinder 1500 even has phase of the moon, and tide tables. Learning how to use all the features, certainly after seeing the thick booklet, may seem daunting but when you are traveling, there is plenty of time to experiment, and even read dense instructions. However, once you are onboard, so-to-speak, pushing the Function button on your watch to check the heat or direction is its own reward. I never thought I would become so accustomed to Celsius and meters.

JVC GR850.JPG

Photographic equipment is similarly not something I feel comfortable recommending but I can now, after extensive use of my JVC GR850 video camera, with its small size, long battery capability, ease-of-use, and outright convenience. I was the only one recording video on a recent African overland tour, out of a group of 28 people who all used cameras or took no pictures, and I feel I am the only one who truly documented the essence of our adventure. Nothing is as effective for getting the mood across to an audience like a movie. And getting your movies edited and watch able has become simple too: the “Moviemaker” program that comes with Windows, connects via a cable to your camera, and automatically rewinds and digitizes every little vignette recorded when you pressed the camera’s Rec/Pause button, along with the date and time. This makes it simple to drag-and-drop a complete movie together, cut out the stuff you don’t want, add music, and save out to a movie file that you can then post to YouTube for your family and friends to watch. The whole process can be done in a motel room and your previous day’s experiences, in movie form, posted to the world via an Internet café.

iPhone on Plane.jpg

The final “must have” electronic travel accessory is the ultimate fusion of maturing technologies: a concept which has been fermenting for over two decades and has finally found physical expression in the 3G iPhone. There is nothing more reassuring than having an active cell phone carrier when you are traveling to unknown and unknowable locales like Mauritania, Western Sahara, and Mali, so just touching my iPhone soothed my soul. But the phone part of an iPhone is not only what recommends it – consider the whole package: I can hardly go a day without email, nor a week without Internet access. And the Apps: using the iPhone “Maps” app while traveling is a must. Also, a unit conversion app, Skype, compass, route logging, etc., etc., etc.