Techno Travel

There has been lots of discussion on Kindle and eBooks in general. Besides the obvious use for reference books by the IT industry, in particular IT consultants that work onsite a lot, there is another use for eBooks and gadgets.

Geek Travel.

Travel is an obvious target. Many people take the opportunity to take 6+ months off and travel the world. Guide books are heavy, bulky objects. There is a rich trade in swapping books at the natural convergence points around the world. Some people plan very carefully and take the required pages with them. But if you've only got specific pages and you want to wander off your trail you're up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Why not then take all of your books, and some for countries that you might not actually have a plan, with you on your eBook Reader. Something like Kindle, iLiad or Sony Reader.

Go get your travel books from Rough Guide, Travelfish or search through Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree project.

While you're packing throw in your Nokia N810. use the GPS to mark the co-ordinates of the places that you visit so you can add it to Google Maps when you get home. Take some photos with the camera and add the photos with location to Flickr or Google Earth. Take the time to create a cache so your friends can find the exact place you stood/sat.

Don't forget your Symbian Series 60 smart phone! you'll want to run Waymarkr as you walk the streets so you can show your buddies the sights of where you've been. Now slip over to your Jaiku mobile app and add some updates to your travel micro blog.

Not done yet? OK pull the N810 off charge and get to the nearest WiFi hotspot, any Starbucks should do unless your in a city with MetroLan. Logged on? go to Facebook and add some notes to tell people where you've been, where you are and where you're planning on going.