Fri 16 Nov 2007
Five Gadgets That I Want For My Round The World Trip
Posted by Paul Freeman under Equipment , Planning , TechnologyI love gadgets and as such part of the appeal of driving around the world as oppose to backpacking is not only can I carry all the gadgets I want, but the vehicle it’s self is essentially one big toy with loads of scope for tinkering.
Without really looking into the practicality of any of these, here are the first five gadgets that leap to my mind:
Solar Panels on the roof
Gadgets need power, and I don’t need to be burning fuel needlessly, but adding some solar panels to the roof should give me all the power I need - I plan on getting a solar powered backpack too, which has enough juice to power a laptop of PDA/GPS so a whole roof full should be perfectly achievable and useful. Obviously something that needs some research but I don’t see any problem with mounting solar panels on to the top of a camper van.
Satellite Phone and Internet
This is on my must have list, not only can I keep blogging from near enough anywhere in the world and work in the most remote locations on the earth, but it’s unbelievably cool. I’ve already done some initial research into roaming with the BGAN satellite internet connection.
Titanium Inka Pen
These compact pens look amazing and since I came across them on David Seah’s blog I’ve been very tempted to get one. The regular version will do for right away, but when it comes to traveling I’d like the idea of having something as rugged as possible, and the Titanium version of the Inka Pen looks perfect. The fact it can fit on a keyring so easy to carry around near enough anywhere without thinking about it, combined with the fact it can write nearly anywhere make for a really attractive looking pen.
Odd Essay Vehicle Mounted Cam
The idea of having a camera mounted on a car has been mulled around in conversations with friends for ages, so I can’t be sure who came up with it in the first place, I think it was more a general realization that it would be ace to have something rigged up to take a picture at regular intervals, and driving around the world makes this seem like the perfect time to set up some sort of time lapse capture.
GPS
Pretty much a no brainer. GPS is a must for traveling long distances in unknown places and I think driving around the world comes into that category. I’m using the MDA Vario III right now (A rebranded HTC TyTN II/Kaiser) and I’d probably expand that with an antenna mounted on the bus.
