The whole web travel journal thing...

Internet access is not always easy to come by when you're on the road, especially when you're visiting lots of different places, or travelling on a limited budget. I took the option of taking very little technology with me, and seeking out internet terminals on an as needed basis. Internet terminals are not as common place as one would expect in the States. Virtually even decent sized city has one or more Kinkos which always offer a high speed connection and are open 24 hours, but they're a little pricey - I paid between US$10-12/hr at Kinkos in places like LA, Boston, and Philadelphia. In New York, the standard Kinkos rate was US$18/hr, and I was even quoted US$25/hr at a Kinkos located within a classy hotel lobby in Chicago. In some cities, I came across little owner-operated internet cafes where you could sit on a couch, and surf the web on older computer with a slower internet connection for about US$8/hr. The best place that I found was a business called Copy Cat in San Francisco which had a fast connection, and newish machines for only US$2.50 for every 30 minutes.


Of course the real trick for saving money is to seek out free internet terminals at public libraries and universities. While I didn't take the public library option, I did make estensive use of the computer facilities at several of the b-schools I visited. Most of my longer weblog entries were composed in the libraries and foyers of the b-schools after my visits there.


Blogger also made the process of producing a weblog on the road very easy. I didn't have to do any programming or difficult HTML coding. Everything was maintained via a web browser. On my next big trip (hopefully Europe in 2002), I'd like to bring some technology with me so that I can keep my weblog updated from anywhere (wireless, wireless, wireless, yadda, yadda, yadda), but I don't want to have to lug around a laptop computer.


Stuart Loh, a technology hungry BIT student, is currently on the road with 3 others friends doing a 2.5 month tour of the world. They're maintaining a very impressive travel journey at travel.fissure.org. Prior to leaving Australia, Stu did a heap of programming with PHP on a mySQL back-end, so that all four of them could updated the site on the road using just a web browser application and SMS messages. Despite all the planning, and investment in application infrastructure upfront, their fundamental problem has been establishing connectivity.


Anyway, must go and collect my photos...