1. Laptop: Yes, this blog is possible in part because I bought the very tiny, very expensive, and truly wonderful Sony Vaio VGN-TXN15P from Circuit City in Natick, Massachusetts. It weighs just over 2 pounds, measures something like 8” x 10” x 1”, and easily fits into my bike bags. It has a single Intel Centrino processor so it is not the fastest machine on the street, but it comfortably handles the applications I use (Explorer, Word, and my camera software primarily) and it is loaded with connectivity options that make internet access in all kinds of situations a real breeze. I have walked into hotels in Tunisia and picked up the internet wirelessly, and I have reconfigured plug-in connections with a minimum of dumb fumbling in many internet cafes since. I generally plug my own computer into internet café wires to simplify transfer to the blog of my photos and essays, which I typically prepare ahead of time. I back-up all my stuff on SD cards but SD slots have not been available. I get 3-4 hours out of the battery, which isn’t exactly awesome but has proved sufficient so far. I originally considered a smaller and much more durable unit with 11 hours of battery life made for the US military, but it didn’t support SD cards and it didn’t have a CD drive, both of which I considered vital. I wanted the machine to be useful after as well as during the trip (assuming it survives!). The machine resides in a padded carrying case Polly and I found at The Container Store in Natick, Massachusetts.
2. Solar Collector: An important criterion for all of my electronic devices was that they run on AA batteries: easy to carry, easy to replace, easy to find everywhere. Some devices like the laptop were only available with proprietary batteries however, and for them I purchased a solar collector over the internet from Real Goods/Gaiam in Colorado. It rolls up into a 4” diameter, 15” long tube and delivers a charge...slowly. I haven’t used the collector yet because the trip has evolved into something much less remote than what I had originally conceived, but may yet do so in Niger.
3. Camera 1: I originally thought this trip would make a great video, and found a tiny Samsung video camera with additional remote I could bolt onto my bike helmet. It also takes stills and plays music I have stored on an SD card. I discovered, however, that finding video content of any interest is incredibly difficult, that MPEGs are of limited quality, and that taking videos really isolates you from what you are capturing. It is very difficult to both engage in an activity and film it at the same time. I ended up talking to some professional film people and taking a lot of Very Boring Video before recognizing that the blog would be my medium, and stills the preferred visualization. What I have done with the video camera is photograph bicycle rides through some of the cities and towns I have spent some time in, to communicate something of the flavor of these places in a way that stills cannot. I’m not sure these efforts have been that successful.
4. Camera 2: I bought a 6.0 Megapixel Canon Powershot S3 IS with 12x optical zoom, manual focus option, image stabilization, and very handy and flexible display frame that allows me to take pictures without having to squint through a viewfinder. This is very handy when you want to take pictures surreptitiously of the customs post between Tunisia and Algeria, or when you want to talk to someone and take their picture as well. The software that came with the camera is loaded on my laptop, and it allows me to easily download the photographs, rename them with the date, correct images if required, and stitch together multiple frames. The camera runs on (4) AA lithium batteries and stores everything on the 2 Gigabyte SD cards I brought with me as back-up. After 6 weeks of travel, I just filled up my first SD card. I was originally concerned that 6.0 megapixels would be insufficient, but the leap to 10 megapixels meant investing in an SLR camera which was much bulkier and much more expensive, and I had to admit finally that I was not a professional photographer but a guy on a bike: weight and size triumphed over whether National Geographic would ever come calling. You see the results on the blog (though I’m obviously only showing you the few decent shots and not the reams of dreck). The hardest part, frankly, has been keeping the lenses clean while traveling through so much dust and dirt: any camera would have presented the same problem. My many, many thanks to John (you should have come with me!) Kaplan-Earle, a really talented professional photographer in Concord, Massachusetts, for sharing with me his thoughts on technology and for hooking me up with the good (and patient!) people at Calumet, a photographic equipment outfit in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
5. Satellite Phone: Polly called up WGBH/Channel 2 in Boston and they said they send their people out with the Iridium 9505A: the smallest and easiest phone on the market with a satellite network spanning the entire globe. The unit costs between $1500 and $1800 (making it the most expensive unit on the market as well) and I found calling rates ranging from $1.00 to $1.30 depending on the service provider. 28 years ago, a postcard every three months was all my parents got, to their extreme discomfort (sorry mom!). I’m a husband and father (and son!) this time around, and daily calls are imperative. Weighed this way, the cost in dollars is meaningless. I purchased a data kit with the phone and it allows me to access the internet over the phone. I tried this in Tunisia and discovered this was painfully slow, with lots of dropped connectivity. I have relied instead on hotel and internet café access so far, though this has sometimes meant a few days between blog updates. I hope the audience is patient. One alternative was to buy a BGAN portable satellite dish. They cost about $2400 and are a bit bigger and heavier, but supposedly give great internet access and presumably, internet phone service. Size and weight proved decisive in my case, however. I have heard but cannot verify that the Iridium network, including 12 satellites orbiting the earth, may be suffering financial problems and may even be taken off the air (I need another month, people): if so, my sincere condolences to the investors. Ouch!
6. GPS: I mapped my original route using Google Earth, purchasing the $25 upgrade from the free version to allow me the mapping function. Google Earth resolution was sufficient to recognize all of the paved portions of my route (though I naturally wasn’t concerned about navigating those) and most of the dirt pistes. I also culled waypoints from an excellent book on the Sahara by an Englishman named Chris Scott, who has traveled extensively by motorcycle throughout the desert. Sometimes I had to map a variety of possible routes where the pistes were hard to recognize. The software that came with the GPS unit, along with a little computer routine I downloaded via the internet, allowed me to translate my Google Earth maps into routes recognizable by the GPS device. I purchased a Magellan Explorist 210 from REI in Natick, Massachusetts (Yes, I spent a LOT of money in Natick, Massachusetts) because of its small size, because it runs on AA batteries and because it stored the right number of routes and waypoints per route for my application. The device also serves as my watch. I was originally very interested in a very small GPS device made by Garmin especially for cycling, but it was designed more for training and less for really long trips like this one. Because Tunisia nixed my passage south, and because Algeria required a guide, I may not use the GPS device at all on this trip. I brought paper maps and Google Earth printouts as backup.
7. Transformers: Travelling presents two problems for electronic equipment: plug configuration and voltage. Brookstone solved both with a fairly elegant little unit that offers 4 different plug shapes and either 110V or 220V input. I also bought a transformer with a cigarette lighter plug from Kensington allowing me to recharge my laptop and other electronics from a car. That unit also comes with every possible wall plug configuration, and with the special Sony adaptor serves as a backup to my regular laptop plug.
8. Bicycle Computer: A bicycle computer would have allowed me to track my speed and distance traveled more easily than a GPS device, but I decided not to buy one at all. I figured the GPS device would be good enough, and I kept thinking of that trip 28 years ago with almost no electronic equipment at all…enough was enough.
9. Ziplock Bags: Everything but the laptop and solar collector resides in one: so far, so good.

written by  roel krabbendam on February 3, 2007 from Tamanrasset, Algeria
from the travel blog: Harmattan
Send a Compliment

---

Good morning,

First, I am very sorry for disturbing you with my requests about Tamanrasset.

I found by chance your e-mail address on the internet blog site (http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?CommentID=3959)

I do not who you are, so I am trying to write in English (not easy, I am French). Please tell me if you speak French.

I would to introduce myself: my name is Michel; I live in France at Toulouse, 42 years old, engineer at Airbus France company.

I would like to manage a trip and visit Tamanrasset, so I need some information’s to prepare it.

(I have a little experience of the desert in the south of Morocco (Tafilalet, Draa…)

- I would like to travel in February or March.

- I found a return-ticket Toulouse-Alger-Tamanrasset at Air Algeria worth 500 euros. It is correct?

- Do you know somebody in Tamarasset to help and guide me around this place?

- Do you know a place to sleep (hotel, other…)?

- What I need about the formality papers? (I have a passport of course)

- For the medical?

- Do you have some recommendations?

- Are there festivals? Horses rates? Others interesting local people activities?

Tank you very much for your answers.

Best regards.

Michel

written by  Michel on January 19, 2008

---

Michel: un bon guide a Tamenrasset:
Abjau Intalla (tinakachker@yahoo.fr)
He is honest and sincere: un bon homme.
Dit lui "salut" pour moi s'il vous plait!
Cheers,
Roel

written by  roel krabbendam on March 7, 2008

comment on this...