In less than three months, Jen and I will be saying adios to New York, and heading out into unknown territory. Working on this blog from home has been quite simple, and I’ve been wondering lately what its going to be like to take this operation and make it mobile. After my recent purchase of an Acer laptop, I’ve realized that we already have the four crucial ingredients for blogging while traveling.
- Digital Camera. Not one of those expensive digital SLRs, but a nice high-end point and shoot. Both Jen and I have Canon PowerShots, 10 and 12 megapixels, respectively(her’s is a step better than mine). I was considering buying an SLR, but after taking close to a thousand quality pictures with our PowerShots, I think the money would be of better use in the travel fund.
- iPod Touch. The iPod touch works great as a pocket-sized laptop, with a built-in WiFi, giving it the ability to check email, hit up twitter and find local business and weather reports. It’s not particularly good to write blog posts with, however it does have a nice little WordPress app that can be useful to write up a draft or make small edits.
- Laptop. Jen and I are both bringing our laptops. The original plan was for Jen to just bring hers, since I didn’t own one, but recent developments have caused me to require a laptop, and since I own one now, we decided that two is better than one on the road. The weight may or may not become bothersome, but if something happens to one laptop, we will have the other as a back-up.
- Moleskine Notebooks. These are hands-down the most durable writing notebooks I’ve ever seen. I own a lot of them, and I’m sure I’m going to stock up on some extras before the trip. Leather-bound, thought-capturing perfection is the name of the game with Moleskine. I have a pocket-sized that I take with me wherever I go (you never know when you’ll get an idea) and I have a journal and standard sized. Much better than the spiral-bound you had in school.
Aside from clothing, toiletries and guidebooks, these four things will be vital to our success on the road.
The big question looming now, is: How will we find time for the blogging while we’re out there?
The answer, I’m sure, will reveal itself. Now, my question to you: What are some of your blogging essentials from the backpack?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Definitely laptop is important
Camera is a must for us. It’s also useful for taking notes (by taking pictures of object names and descriptions).
External hard drive, because we have too much photo files.
Small wireless mouse, because organizing photo and blog related activity is much faster using a mouse than touch pad for me.
Notepad is a good idea to have, especially if opportunity to turn on laptop is rare (like when we were in campervan for 2 weeks, laptop battery charge is precious)
I agree you guys need to bring a laptop each. I can’t imagine have to share laptop with Ryan
My Moleskine and iPod are my two most important gadgets. Though I need the laptop as well, I use it less and less.
I tried using the Wordpress app for a while, but it wasn’t really useful. It was usually easier to just use the website for updating. But there are a TON of other apps which you’ll probably find useful for blogging on the road. Obviously Twitter and Facebook, but I like to share a lot of news stories as well, so you can find things like that to keep you active on Twitter. And the notepad app is great for quickly jotting down thoughts, quotes, ideas.
I use my iPod more often than my Moleskine these days. Not really sure how I feel about that.
Don’t forget to bring extra pens! I’ve lost so many and go through them too quickly!
Nice list! I can’t imagine traveling without a lap top, it makes traveling so much easier! What type of lap tops are you bringing?
We found that bringing a 15 inch lap top was bulky and heavy, so we gave it away and since then we’ve only been using 8 and 10 inch lap tops. That solves the weight problem for us!
@Adam- I was thinking about mentioning pens! I thought they would be easy to find anywhere, however I plan on bringing at least a dozen for the trip. Better keep them in a plastic bag incase one breaks.
@Dina- It’s nice having two separate laptops. I never really thought about a wireless mouse. BTW, we both picked up some flash drives a couple weeks ago.
@Sofia- I’m bringing an Acer Aspire. It’s actually a little large for a laptop, it has a wide monitor (widescreen dimensions). Hopefully it won’t be too much of a weight problem.
Great post! We have a laptop and an iPod touch so we can both get online when needed. Flash drives are a must if you plan on taking lots of pics. We even sent back DVDs to family as extra backup in case something happened to our electronics. Don’t forget to get those plug adapters for different outlets. Also the cheapest item we bought and have used the most is a simple power strip so we can charge everything at the same time using just one plug!!
Ahhh so much fun – have a blast! Our year long RTW is ending in a month!
@Manali & Terry – Oh man, I forgot about plug adapters! Thanks for the reminder. I believe most places aren’t compatible with US plugs.