Tech Trail – Weapons for the road

Five days to departure and, my, did we heave a huge sigh of relief this afternoon. Our solar lamps were finally cleared through Customs and delivered to our doorstep at 15:45hrs, just in the nick of time for our trip.
In my mind, the blue lamps look like dots of light, yet I envision the future, when we will have connected so many villages (with lamps and solar panels) that the collective scenery will look more like islands and oceans of light.

Now that our team and products are in place, we need to concentrate on choosing the right tech equipment for the road. This can make the difference between a seemingly frivolous trip and one that captures/documents the essence of ‘Grassroot Nigeria’.

Here are some of the stuff we intend to pack into our mobile tech toolbox:

Mobile USB modem – check. Let’s hope it will support video, audio and data. We’ll know soon enough, and will be happy to share the highs and the lows.

Laptop – check. My ACER Aspire 6920 finally conked out after letting me down one time too often. I’d be wary of the ACER brand henceforth. I’ve tried HP in the past and it’s not been too bad an experience, but this tme, we’re hitting the road with a DELL, packed with just enough bells and whistles.

Camera – check. Again, it’s an ACER that does still shots and videos. It’s served me well over the months, and fingers crossed that our loving relationship will not cease. Otherwise, Dave’s got a backup Sony, and is bringing along a tripod.

Mobile phones – check. In Nigeria, you’ve got to be with 2-3 networks at a time because you never know which one will work. We will be giving live updates on which network works best – or not at all – in every village we visit. Of course, we’ve got the ubiquitous Blackberry on board.

Debit & credit cards – you don’t want to be carrying along unnecessary amounts of cash, so these plastic alternatives will serve us well. And who knows, we might need to live on credit some of the time.

Blank CDs/DVDs/Flash disk – check. There’ll be lots of backing up and transferring to do.

Digital Music – check. Try listening to Julio Iglesias, the music master himself. Whether you understand what he says or not, your troubles will def melt away (at least for a while). I’ve got him stored on my laptop, removable media and phone.

Anne