JUN
21

laptop_and_mobile.jpgFlashpacking

When roaming the world with a backpack on, it does not mean you have to leave behind technology, and that is the premise of a new type of backpacker: the flashpacker.

Flashpacking is backpacking, but you bring your tech gear along with you. Cell phones, digital cameras, laptops, they all help to provide a way of recording your experiences and enabling you to learn about the culture around you and communicate in places where you may feel a little cut off.

A survey completed earlier this year by 2,561 visitors to the Hostelworld.com website found that 21% of them travel with a laptop, 54% with an MP3 player, 83% with a mobile phone and 86% with a digital camera.

"We've just put in a brand new Internet cafe, we got Sky (satellite TV), we've got chip readers for photo cameras, we've got video cameras so you can watch a person on the other side of the world — these guys know how it all works and we've got to provide it," said Auckland Central Backpackers' manager Campbell Shepherd.

With hostels now offering more ways to connect through multiple electrical outlets and Internet access to accommodate gadgets, with the low rates of around $29 a night for a bed, a Manhattan hostel could be a template for many others the world over.

"Just because you can afford a cellphone and a laptop doesn't mean you can afford a $350-a-night room in Manhattan," he said.

'Flashpacking?' Don't forget you still need room for extra socks [USA Today]

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JAN
06

toothbrush.jpgTravel Bag: The Million-Germ-Eliminating Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer

A cross-continental flight on your favourite discount airline is like a massive coordinated assault on your immune system. I inevitably get sick half the time I make a long-hual flight. The last thing we need at the end of an exhausting, germ-filled travel journey is to stick a ratty, bacteria-laden toothbrush in our mouths. Introducing the Million-Germ-Eliminating Toothbrush Sanitzer. I'm not sure what's more concerning, the fact that one million germs could be secretly sand-bagging my oral hygiene, or that eliminating one million germs may not actually represent 100% germ kill. Either way, frightening!

"This compact device from VIOlight uses proven germicidal UV technology (the same kind trusted to sanitize hospital instruments) to eliminate up to 99% of the millions of germs that can accumulate on your toothbrush, including streptococcus and listeria."
The Million-Germ-Eliminating Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer [Hammacher Schlemmer]
via [PopGadget]

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