Posted: 09/02/2014 | September 2nd, 2014
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I’m bringing on regular columnists for this website. On the first Tuesday of the month, Dave Dean from Too Many Adapters will be here giving you great tips and advice on travel tech and gear. His column starts this month.
Technology has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. At a time when home computers had less power than today’s wristwatches, my parents caved in to my incessant demands, dug into their savings, and bought me the latest and greatest in modern computing: a Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
This mighty beast had a rubber keyboard that worked when it felt like it and a full 16KB (yes, that’s kilobytes) of memory, and it loaded programs in mere minutes from a squealing cassette tape that sounded like the noise our cat made when my sister pulled his tail. Rather than a monitor, this marvel of electronics plugged into the television — meaning there was an argument at 6 p.m. every night when my parents wanted to watch the news and I had just one more level of Manic Miner to complete.
With the Internet still well over a decade away and imported games in New Zealand costing far more than my monthly allowance, I’d buy computer magazines and spend the next several days typing in the code, line by line, for terrible text-based adventures.
Yes, I was a geek from a very young age.
Moving to London after graduation, I went into IT and for the next 15 years tried to combine work with an increasing travel addiction, swapping briefcases for backpacks and fancy suits for flip-flops every couple of years.
Three years ago I decided to ditch my office job for good and co-founded Too Many Adapters. I realized that although there were thousands of sites talking about either technology or travel, none were dedicated to talking about both. That needed to change, and I’ve been writing about the subject ever since. The site has since become the leading technology resource for travelers, with hundreds of articles helping many thousands of readers choose and use the best travel gear for their trip (I even published a tech guide for digital nomads earlier this year).
Technology has advanced greatly from when I first hit the road. When I’d packed my oversized bag the day before leaving for London, the only electronics in it were a small film camera and a fake Walkman to play my collection of bad mix tapes. These days I’ve somehow accumulated a laptop, smartphone, tablet, digital camera, GoPro, portable hard drive, and Kindle, as well as a bag full of chargers and cables to go with them. Whether that’s progress is debatable, but there’s no doubt that tech now plays an important role in the lives of many travelers.
Dealing with technology isn’t always straightforward. Gear and apps that work perfectly before you leave often fail quickly in a world of dust, rain, bumpy bus rides, and slow Internet. Security is also a big concern — for the physical equipment you carry, the personal information it contains, and yourself when it’s obvious that you have gear worth a few thousand dollars in your bag. Many travel insurance policies don’t fully cover your electronics, or cost a small fortune if they do.
Choosing the right tech for your travels, and using it safely and effectively, can make the difference between an easier, more enjoyable trip and a miserable, expensive one. That’s where I come in.
On the first Tuesday of every month, I’ll be covering every aspect of travel tech — the best gear for the job and how to use it, picking the right apps and websites, preventing disasters, staying connected, and much more — with a focus on saving you time, money and hassles on your travels.
I’ll be bringing you real-world reviews of the products I talk about — I’ve been living out of a backpack full time since 2011, and deal with that reality every day. If the gear I use can’t stand up to the beating I give it, I won’t be recommending it to you. When the apps and sites I test are hard to use, don’t work in certain countries, or can’t handle you moving every few days, you’ll know about it. If warranties are invalid after you leave home or impractical without a mailing address, I’ll be mentioning that, too.
When it comes to travel tech there’s just no replacement for practical experience — the glossiest brochure and fanciest features don’t mean much when your phone stops working hundreds of miles from the nearest repair center, or your online banking locks you out because you shifted cities once too often.
Technology is one of those subjects that always generates lots of questions. You’re welcome to leave them in the comments of each article or over on the forums. I’m more than happy to answer them.
Ultimately, my aim is to help you use technology to get the most out of your trip, without it getting in the way of your travel experience. I’m so excited to share my two loves — travel and tech — with you. Let’s make it happen.
Dave runs Too Many Adapters, a site devoted to technology for travelers. A geek as long as he can remember, he worked in IT for 15 years. Now based out of a backpack long term, Dave writes about travel and tech from anywhere with half-decent Internet and a great view. You can also find him talking about the life of a long-term traveller at What’s Dave Doing?
Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks
Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.
Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:
- World Nomads (for everyone below 70)
- Insure My Trip (for those over 70)
- Medjet (for additional repatriation coverage)
Need to book your trip?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. The are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.
Oliver
The traveling we do know will be the memories that a keeps me warm during the winters at home (Sweden) so it’s very important for me to document the world around me. We are currently traveling for an indefinite time and there are many things you realize about storage for your photos, importance of a GoPro and which apps will help you out along your trip. I can strongly recommend the new Foursquare app for example. It has locations in places where neither Apple or Google can provide great results (Central America atm).
Dave
Good tip on FourSquare, Oliver — thanks. Certain crowd-sourced apps are better in some parts of the world than others, for sure – I use Yelp a lot when I’m in the US, for instance, but it’s hopeless in (eg) Southeast Asia.
It’s always worth doing a bit of research when you’re hitting a new part of the world to find out which apps and sites the locals and expats are using for food/drink/attraction tips, as it’s probably not the one you’re used to back home.
Silvia
Love the flashback to pre-Internet days, haha. Sounds like some exciting articles will be coming up on here!
Dave
Heh, I do miss those pre-internet days occasionally … but only occasionally. 😉
J Munro
Perfect. This is exactly what I look for in articles about digital nomads. Most articles seem to be about the location and how nice it is (when I can look at a travel site for that) and I’m much more interested in the tech side of things or even if the place has many internet cafes to work from.
Looking forward to reading your stuff!
Nina
Thanks Dave. Looking forward to your tips and such. I have my camera, phone, mini speaker and laptop. I’m doing pretty well! I had thought about getting a Kindle just for traveling lighter. Books take up room. But I LOVE thumbing through pages. Hmmm… Traveler problems! :-p
Dave
I agree, I love the feel of a book, and being able to swap it out at a hostel or guesthouse when I’m done. Kindles just aren’t the same in that regard — but the weight’s a big deal (especially if you travel with one or more guidebooks as well as general reading material), as is finding English language books at all in some parts of the world. I resisted getting an e-reader for a long time, but in the end, I’m glad that I did!
Francois
I agree with you but technology must be used a few, otherwise you can spend a whole stay on your smartphone for instance 🙂
Dave
Agreed. Having the tech doesn’t mean it needs to be used 24/7, or indeed at all. It’s really important to give yourself the chance to experience your destination without having notifications buzzing away in your pocket every few seconds. I like having my phone with me when I explore so I can pull up a map or camera if I want to… but I’ll often ignore it for hours even then. Tech is a useful tool, but it’s just a tool.
Sylvia
What a perfect addition to a travel site! Thank you, Matt and Dave.
But, Dave, we’re travellers; you’re killing us with those gorgeous pictures. Any chance you can imbed or label them so we can see where they were taken?
Dave
More than happy to share the locations of those shots! In order from top to bottom, they were:
In a town square in Zagreb, Croatia.
On a beach in Koh Yao Noi, Thailand.
On a hill overlooking Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Working on the sun lounger in Hoi An, Vietnam
Exploring Pamukkale, Turkey
All five places are well worth visiting, by the way! 🙂
Adrian Barker
I’m intending doing a bit of travelling in the next few months and have been researching for a while. I came across Matt’s site and I’m keen to follow in some of his footsteps. One of the things I’ve been checking out is exactly what you are going to be writing about, so good timing. My plans are just piles of notes and have altered almost daily so nothing is set in stone but destinations aside I’m addicted to my Ipad and keen to have the right tech worth carrying. S America, NZ & Aus and SE Asia are favourite ATM.
I’ll be doing this with a different slant on backpacking to you guys as I’m in my fifties.
Looking forward to reading your articles.
Tim Wei
Great post Dave. I read this after your recent post about why technology makes travel worse! Interesting contrast. I definitely feel like it makes travel better. I spent a year in Germany for work and all the times I was sightseeing I was able to skype which my now fiancée which made the experience much better!!