Geeky Travel Kit

A few people have been asking me what kit I use, cameras, phone etc so I decided to write up a bit of a post about what I use and why.

The first of my new additions to my electronics bag is my Guide 10 Solar charger and AA battery pack from Goal Zero . I read everything I can about this kit before I purchased it from Amazon. I have done a few home tests with it and found that while it is small it is indeed powerful. Folded it is smaller than my iPad and without the batteries it is lighter. I can charge my iPhone twice on a the fully charged battery pack. See the numerous videos on Goal Zeros site - I got 2 full charges out of the batteries. I will note that it says it can charge an iPad too, I found it is not powerful enough to deliver 'fast charge' but it does slowly trickle charge draining the battery pack for about 25% extra on the iPad.

The second is the little Spot Connect GPS / Satellite communicator . I got it because on the recent trip to Vanuatu it was hard to pass communications back to my family and friends to say we had arrived safely etc, along with we were there during a cyclone - its passed but made me think what would happen if comms went down. The other reason was next year we are planning on either going to South America or Burma - I don't want to be left without being able to tell my family where we are and that we are ok. The added benefit of being able to send the 'SOS' signal if something goes wrong.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/ipad-2/specs.html
I don't take a laptop when I travel any more, like most people I travel with my iPad 2, loaded up with music and movies it runs longer than my phone does for longer plane trips. Additionally when I add the SD Card reader attachment I can empty the my Nikon AW100 allowing me to view, edit and upload our pics along the way. My camera is the same one we took snorkelling in Vanuatu - worked a charm under water.

My last little toy I add to my bag is my Wifi Pocket especially If we are camping - I can put the pocket wifi up high.