Viewing Category: Travel
2011 Aug 08
In the past year I’ve been on three trips that required flying and I’ve been packing lighter and lighter. So far, it’s been great. In the past, I’ve taken probably too many clothes, and too many gadgets. Besides the practical aspects of not having to carry as much stuff (space and weight), it has also freed me up to enjoy the vacation more. I spend less time worrying about what lens to put on the camera (since I haven’t got any) and more time just snapping a photo which is “good enough” and then enjoying the scene using my eyes and ears.
Camera gear: This is the big one for me. Although I took a lot of photos using my big dSLR, it put a damper on my traveling experience. If I bring my dSLR around, then I feel I have to bring at least four lenses too! This adds up in space and weight (and shoulder pain). Plus, these items are not just things that I could throw in the suitcase and unpack at the destination, but stuff that I have to carry with me at all times. Did I mention shoulder pain earlier? Now I have slimmed down my photo equipment to just my point-and-shoot Panasonic camera and my cellphone. The Panasonic is small enough to wear around my neck or thrown in a pocket. It’s also waterproof and shockproof, so I have less worry about breaking it. I guess it lightens the burden on my mind as well! I may go back to carrying a larger camera in the future (my eyes are on the Sony A77), but for now I am enjoying the P&S.
Clothes: I’ve also really cut down the amount of clothes I take. Basically it’s one pair of shoes, sandals, a pair of jeans (and/or khakis), synthetic boxer briefs (they pack smaller than cotton), a couple pairs of synthetic socks, synthetic shorts, a light jacket,boardshorts if I am going swimming, and a few shirts. I really like the synthetic clothing because you can basically just wash them in a sink (or the shower) and by the next morning they will be dry or close to dry. No need to pack one for each day! In the winter, I bring a heavy jacket, gloves, and a scarf, but if I throw in a synthetic long-sleeve tshirt and synthetic long underwear (both pack super-small) I find that I can handle winter in Japan with ease. The synthetic base layers are so important. They keep you warm in the winter, but also cool and dry in the summer. (I wear them under my riding gear when I ride my motorcycle) Plus, these layers can be washed in the evening and will be ready in the morning.
Computers: On the computer front, I now use the Dell Inspiron 11z, which is thin and light and I also have a Microsoft Arc Mouse which folds flat. I don’t actually need the mouse but it’s so small it doesn’t really make much of a difference. I carry both of these in my shouder bag. The charger is relatively slim as well. It also helps that the battery still holds a good charge so I don’t have the mental burden of worrying if I have enough juice to do anything (like write this blog post!). Although I have my charger in the bag, not having to break it out every time I wan to use the laptop is nice!
Other Stuff: I bring my Kindle with me too. It is so light and hardly takes up any space. I’ve got a large variety of books I can choose from, and don’t need to worry about battery life since it seems to last forever. Even though paperbacks are light, most of the ones I have are still too thick.
All of my clothes and toiletries can easily fit in a rolling carry-on bag with space to spare. I can pretty much go for any amount of time with this setup. A couple of caveats here, however. I realize that being a guy has it’s advantages to packing light since we are happy with towel drying our hair and using whatever shampoo (or soap!) is available. No make-up bag to bring either. And since I am a married dude with kids, I feel less of a need (or none at all) to dress-to-impress. As long as what I wear isn’t an embarrassment, it’s good enough. (My windbreaker comes close to crossing the line, soliciting a couple “Members Only” comments on the last trip)
Another thing that packing light does to make my traveling more enjoyable is that I spend a lot less time worrying about my own things (since I haven’t got much) and more time making sure the kids and wife have all the things they need. I guess it’s a form of being selfless? Who knows, but I do like it, and I do get fulfillment out of caring for my family. Hooray for traveling light!
2011 Mar 22
This past weekend we went camping at Pedernales Falls State Park. We’ve visited here a few times, but never stayed overnight. The park ranger asked if it was our first time there, and since it was, she assigned us to campsite #8. She said it was a nice one but if we didn’t like it we could select another site. Well, campsite #8 was great! In fact, most of the sites looked really nice. Each one had an electric hook-up if you needed it, a fire-ring, water faucet, picnic table, and open area for a tent. Our campsite had an open area underneath the trees, so we pitched our ”castle” back there.
After a lunch of submarine sandwiches and chips, we headed to the falls for some fishing. Of course I had forgotten the nightcrawlers back home, so we had to use some cheese as bait. While we didn’t catch any fish, we had fun climbing around the rocks and dipping our feet in the water. After that we decided to head to the wading/swimming area to cool off. The weather, by the way, was perfect: light clouds and a temp of 80°F. The water was nice and cool, but not too cold. The kids splashed around a bunch, and I had fun making underwater videos.
When we returned to the campsite, we started up the fire and made a great dinner of gyu-don (beef bowl). Cooking rice at the campsite was pretty new to me but is really easy if you have the right cooking pot. We also enjoyed some wine in small containers. They looked like large juice-boxes and were so convenient for discreet consumption at the campsite. After a dessert of smores we retired to the tent and slept well.
The next day we went back to the falls for some more hiking and fishing. We walked up-river and found a lot of cool little fishing holes but unfortunately we were unsuccessful landing any fish, although Mariko had something big on her line at one time. We left the park at about 2pm and headed home, tired but happy. Pedernales Falls is not the most popular state park, but I have to say it was one of the better campsites and had some fun activities. It’s not far from Austin and would make a nice daytrip as well. We will surely come back!
You can check out some more video that I took over at Pedernales Falls at my YouTube Channel, or see more pictures at my Flickr set.
2009 Nov 28
I posted several photos from a short trip we took recently. Have a look at the flickr set, why don’t you?
2009 Feb 15
My second favorite genre of books has to be travel essays. I even love to read tourist guidebooks from Frommers and Lonely Planet. I guess it’s the part of my personality that some people descibe as wanderlust. At this point in my life, my real-life traveling is mainly family vacations and doing stuff with the kids. But I always used to love traveling on my own, even if that meant going to a bookstore across town, or taking the train to somewhere I hadn’t been before. Usually I’d just have my camera and cd player with me.
Nowadays I have to travel vicariously through others, and their travel essays. One of my favorite books so far is Jupiter’s Travels, where Ted Simon rides his Triumph motorcycle around the world. It’s an interesting trip, and lots of fun. I’ve also read Vroom With a View by Peter Moore (thx for the recommendattion Nina) where he rides his Vespa around Italy. And continuing with moto-adventures, I read Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. Good stuff!
I’ve read several books about traveling in Japan, like the The Roads to Sata by Alan Booth. It’s fun to relive my time in Japan by reading similar experiences that others have had. It really makes me look to the future when the kids are a little older and we can have more adventurous travels again.
I’ve recently joined the Travel Literature group over at Goodreads.com, and look forward to getting some recommendations as to some more good books. Of course, money is tight, so I’ll check the local library as well, and the used bookshops too. Maybe even try out a book-trading site like Bookmooch.com. Except I don’t like to let my books go. But I am learning to live “lighter” and not keep as much stuff as I used to, so I really should give Bookmooch a try.
2009 Feb 07
Went down to New Braunfels to meet my uncle and cousin to do a little fishing. We caught only one trout and three perch, but it was lots of fun. Must do it again soon! Fishing is so fun.
2008 Nov 07
I was just playing with Google Maps on my G1, and I asked for directions from my present location (Austin, TX) to my brother’s house in Honolulu. Google Maps came back with a route which has a distance of 5185.1 miles and an estimated drive of 376 hours and 54 minutes. I scrolled through the directions to see how it figured to span the ocean, and it recommends kayaking across the Pacific from Seattle:
- Turn left to stay on NE Northlake Way. 1.0 mi
- Kayak across the Pacific Ocean Entering Hawaii 2765.4 mi
- Slight right at Turtle Bay Hilton .1 mi
I better start now if I want to make it by Xmas!
2008 Aug 03
One of the great things about visiting California is all the great food there is to eat. Both my mom n dad’s cooking at home, plus the awesome Japanese restaurants around SoCal make certain that I will gain a few pounds. In fact, this past vacation, I gained about 2kg. (our scale is metric). It’s sort of a tradition that when we arrive, my mom has several submarine sandwiches + a big bowl of potato or macaroni salad waiting for us, plus my favorite chips, plain Lays potato chips. This trip is a bit different since I don’t eath beef, chicken or pork anymore. The sandwiches this time were basil, tomato, red onion, feta cheese, olive oil, and a couple other secret ingredients and they were awesome! I had maybe 2 1/2 sandwiches this time. The good food kept on coming throughout our visit, including an oyster pot pie, baked scallops, clam pasta, marinated shrimp, bruschetta, bagels and lox, oysters in wine sauce, and then the big dinner was a Jamaican feast of jerk chicken, jerk pork, rice & peas, plantain, and giant curry crab legs. Those were so amazing!!! I did eat a little meat this trip, a tiny piece of char-siu in my ramen, two dodger dogs, and a little piece of Jerk pork. Oh, and a homemade burger on the last night. I love home-cooking!
2008 Apr 16
I’ve been pretty busy lately, these past two days I have been at the Hyatt downtown taking photos for a User Group for work. On Sunday, however, we went out to Fredericksburg and visited Wild Seed Farms. they have a nice butterfly house, and lots and lots of flowers to take photos of. It’s a great place to try out a new lens! (Unfortunately, I was just using my old lenses) Anyways, here’s a pic, and you can see a few more on my Flickr photostream.
2008 Jan 14
I decided not to bring my little GPS unit to Japan because I figured it wouldn’t be very useful since I don’t have any map data on it. Plus I could travel lighter because I wouldn’t have to bring extra batteries and charger. But now I regret that, since it would have been good to save the track data and look at it in Google Earth. For instance, I would have loved to check out the route our bus took up to the resort in Kanazawa. Oh well, next time I will remember!
Page 1 of 3 pages 1 2 3 >
