Live and learn

I alluded earlier to all of the mistakes I made in planning and preparing for this trip. Little did I know that some of the worst mistakes wouldn´t show up until I was on the road.

#1 - I should not have listened to those who said it is a bad idea to carry a laptop when doing an RTW. While it is easy to find Internet cafes, the variations in quality of equipment, speed of connection, operating systems, software and keyboards (not to mention using sites in Spanish) makes keeping a blog, with or without photos, a genuine challenge. The situation is made all the more worse by the noise level in most of the cafes. It intrigues me -- okay, it drives me nuts -- that many places with otherwise decent equipment and connections have both a TV and a radio on at the same time! If I had my laptop I could work on my photos and my blog and then upload everything by using the connection at an Internet cafe. Also, I could add music and other media to my iPod. (Little did I realize when I was uploading all of my CD´s to my Mac and then my iPod that I would lose everything if I switched to a PC -- a fact that was buried on page 63 of the little handbook!) Finally, I was surprised to find that movie theatres are few and far between here in Ecuador (and won´t be much better the further away I get). It would be nice to be able to buy and watch some of the very cheap DVD´s available on every block. I am at a loss as to how to correct this mistake without spending a bundle on shipping and import fees to get my Mac or a similar bundle to buy a Mac somewhere on the road.

#2 - I should not have listened to the advise to not use rechargeable batteries. I can´t remember the argument against but, in my experience, it is absolutely wrong. In one week I went through four high-power batteries made especially for digital cameras. At that rate I would go broke real fast, not to mention the bad effect discarded batteries have on the environment, nor the reality that it can be a signifant problem in many places to get good quality batteries that aren´t on their last leg. It took $72 to correct this mistake with the purchase of a dual recharger, eight AA´s and four AAA´s.

#3 - I did not realize what a pain it would be to always listen to my iPod with ear phones, even though the ones I have were a lovely gift of high-end Shure´s. When I have a private room it is nice to listen to music while getting dressed or reading. I solved this problem with lovely, compact Altec speakers ($118). When the speakers are in use they also recharge the iPod.

#4 - I should have purchased my wonderful digital camera (Canon Power Shot A710IS with 7.1 megapixels and 6X optical zoom) months not days before leaving. Learning to use the camera on the road and with different computers and software has caused me to spend unnecessary hours (and dollars) trying to get my photos from my camera to my Flickr account. That said, I LOVE this wonderful camera. It is such a treat to be able to take all of the photos I want, erase the bad ones, edit the ones that need it and then store as many as I want for free (as long as my home phone and DSL connection are active).

#5 - I should have spent more money on my first travel guide. I chose Rough Guide South America as I didn´t want to carry lots of books for the countries I plan to visit here. BAD decision. I didn´t realize how bad until I happened to see a copy of Footprint´s South America edition. If you are planning any travel to an unknown or relatively exotic country I hope you´ll seek out the Footprint editions. It´s an English imprint and may be hard to find in stores but it´s well worth seeking out. They list numerous suggestions for lodging and food in every price range in almost every place worth visiting, along with detailed descriptions of how to get to/from these places and what to see and do while there.

#6 - I should not have spent $80 to buy an attachment for my iPod that can record sound. This is one of the things I most enjoy about travel and was delighted when I found this great little object. Problem is, without my own computer (see #1) it is essentially useless. Not only is it a battery hog, the title of the entries cannot be changed from date and time to something more useful.

#7 - I should not have laughed at travelers who listed an LED light that fits on the head like a miners lamp as an essential piece of equipment. Not only is it a great lamp to read by, especially in shared rooms where one wants to minimize the impact of the light to one´s dorm mates, or where the room light switch is far away from one´s bed, it is also useful in situations in which the electricity either fails or isn´t there to begin with. I was gifted with a nice ¨book lamp¨ from Brookstone but, unfortunately, it only illuminates part of the page and one has to constantly move it to get enough light. I was also gifted with a wonderful gadget that gives a strong LED light but it only stays on for a couple of minutes and I prefer to keep it for emergencies. This problem is solveable but not until I get to New Zealand.