A Grand Tour |
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Carla
King's Gear
and Gadgets |
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With today's informative and interactive websites, and gadgets that keep you connected to the road system and hotel reservation services, the chance that you'll get lost is less than ever. Here are some of really useful services and products... and if you miss getting lost, maybe you can program-in a bit of serendipity.
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If
you're going be driving in Europe you've gotta take a look
at the Via Michelin website. It lets you input any European
starting and ending point and will give you detailed directions
plus traveling times. I used it to find out how to get
from the Marseille Airport to the agency who had the keys
to our villa in Le Lavandou this past summer and it was
right on. They also have online maps, travel information,
weather, and other stuff you'll want to know about your
destination. All in all, a wonderful tool for planning
your European tour. 
CNET
has just reviewed this hot new unit, the Garmin iQue 3600
Palm-based organizer with an integrated Global Positioning
System (GPS) receiver. They say that "Though the device
lacks some of the software found on high-end Palm handhelds
and could have better battery life, the iQue proved itself
an all-around capable PDA and a top-notch copilot. Read
more about it on the websites below.
I
just discovered that Apple's teensy new iPods come with
up to a 40GB hard drive. That's more hard drive than I
have on my home computer! So I can use the iPod as an entertainment
system and for traveling data storage. Think about it--just
plug the USB or firewire (super fast!) connector into any
computer to transfer data: music, photos, documents, your
address book...or just copy all the data that lives on
your computer hard drive at home. Built-in features let
you maintain contacts, calendar, and to-do lists. It's
got a notes reader that lets you download text-based information
and read it on its (tiny) screen. And it has a sleep timer
so you can fall asleep to your music, or wake you up with
it. This is the third generation design, and Apple's really
got the interface, connectors, and ease-of-use fine tuned.
It weighs less than 2 compact discs, and even many cell
phones. Auto-Sync lets you synchronize your music and data
effortlessly, without having to tweak settings each time
you transfer files between your iPod and your PC. Just
plug the iPod into your computer, and your music syncs
automatically.
If
you use AA batteries like I do, you probably go through
dozens of them when you travel. I bought a couple of
sets of Ni-MH batteries to power my digital camera, tape
recorder, and other devices, and I'm really happy with
the extended performance they give me, plus I don't have
to feel guilty about adding dozens of toxic batteries to
our landfill. The Sunpak PicturesPlus overnight charger
will charge four Ni-MH or Ni_CD batteries overnight, and
is a compact rectangle great for packing.
The
most popular PDA keyboard because it's pretty sturdy and
it folds into a neat little rectangle not much bigger than
a Pocket PC.