I just renewed my domain name, which means that justinkoh.net is 5 or 6 years old! I can’t remember the exact year I register it though, since I had the domain name for some time before I installed WordPress to it.

Anyway, these few weeks were pretty crazy. I went to Japan for Fuji Xerox’s media tour, came back, closed the magazine, went to Bangkok for Intel’s event and I’ll be going to Singapore with Eileen, her parents and her aunty and uncle. I’ll also be going down to Singapore again next week for a product launch. I won’t call this a ‘jetsetting’ lifestyle but I reckon it’s pretty close to it.

Since I’ve been travelling so much, I guess I’ll write something about travelling, my way AKA the geek/gadget-freak way. I’ve written something like this for the magazine but it was some time back. Since I don’t usually repeat my stories, I’ll just write it here. This guide might not mean anything but I hope it’ll help a few of you guys out there.

Guide: Travelling the geek way

I won’t go into what kind of clothes you should pack or how many pieces of underwear you should bring. That’s common sense (and hygiene). I’ll be diving right into my forte – gadgets.

First rule about travelling – Less is more. You bring less things to your trips, you get more luggage space for your other things, and maybe souvenirs when you come back. However, in my case, you bring less unnecessary stuff means more lugguage space for gadgets.

Chargers and Adapters

So how do you bring less when it comes to gadgets? Well, most gadgets use the same type of chargers. You’ll be saving A LOT of luggauge space if you bring less chargers. Plenty of mobile phones use the micro USB charge lead these days. If you’re bringing more than one mobile phone, bring only one charger. Plan your usage.

A better solution is that if you’re bringing your netbook/laptop with you, forget the chargers. Bring just the data transfer cables. Most mobile phone charges over USB anyway. If you don’t bring a laptop, get one of these USB wall charge thingy. I got mine from Cadpase and it’s an awesome travel companion. It has two USB ports and is bundled with plenty of power ports, bring just the one you need and you’re done. One charger for all your USB powered device!

My trusty BenQ netbook

Cadpase wall USB charger with 2 USB ports

I used to have the APC Universal Plug Adapter that looks like this.

From this…

…to this!

Yes, it transforms!!! It’s one of the best I’ve used simply because it is small and I’ve never had any problems with the places I’ve visited. I got it as a door gift from an APC event but I lost it during my first trip to Japan. I mange to find an exact replica (AKA Chinese made) one from Deal Extreme and it is just as good. APC discontinued the product by eBay still has them.

My cina mali knock-off. Works just like the original. A lot cheaper too!

It’s even better if you can find something like this.

Jee Yee got this from an event and he gave it to me. It’s a combination of a travel adapter with a USB port. I’ve seen these for sale in Bangkok’s airport but they don’t come cheap. Maybe because they are branded.

The only cables I bring. microUSB, mini USB and Apple 30 pin connector

The next thing is something I’m pretty proud of. Most of the people I travel with are impressed that I have this figured out. It’s something that is so simple but no one thought of it. Bring a multi adapter like this.

I probably need a new one

Trust me, everyone I traveled with said that it’s the most brilliant idea and hit themselves on the head for not bringing one with them. Most hotels have only one plug point for guests to use. With this, you can have three!

If you can afford it, get a battery pack as well. I use the Energizer XPAL XP4001 and with it, my phones last for 3 to 4 days. I don’t usually use my phones a lot when I travel, which explains the superb battery life. Energizer has a solar version as well but I think it’s slightly more expensive.

I use this. Review unit lah…

GPS

I have no sense of directions at all, which is why I always have some sort of map with me. For tomorrow’s trip, I’ll be bringing the new Garmin nuvi 3790 with me. For those who doesn’t have a GPS, use your phone. Nokia has Ovi maps free for life. Preload the map of your destination into the phone and you’re ready to go.

Got this today. Review unit also…

Camera

I bring my Nikon D90 most of the time when I’m travelling and the only way to shrink that thing is to bring a smaller camera. I had no choice because most of the time I travel, I work. I had to bring a good camera along. However, for my recent Bangkok trip, I brought with me my Canon S90 and thankfully, the event was brightly lit, which means I got some good enough pictures for the magazine. I used my iPhone 4 to take some non work related pictures as well and it turned out great, complete with geotagging data!

My trusty travel companion

With regards to memory cards, I usually bring more than two with me. One for work and one for non work pictures. I have my netbook with me all the time and I always transfer the pictures before I go to sleep, just in case anything happens to the card.I don’t bring my camera chargers as well. The D90′s battery usually has enough juice to last me for the whole trip.

I sometimes bring a geotagging device with me as well (what do you call these things anyway?). I use a Sony GPS-CS1KA that I got from a Sony event. What it does is that the device will log down the coordinates of everywhere you’ve been through and when you transfer your pictures, it’ll sync the time and date from your picture’s EXIF data with its log, matching them to the location where you took the pictures. Pretty nifty eh?

Sony GPS geotagging thingamajig

Internet

I can’t live without the internet and luckily for me, all my junkets provide internet access. However, if the internet in your hotel is ridiculously expensive (it usually is), go with mobile internet. Check with Maxis, DiGi or Celcom. They have unlimited mobile internet services in certain countries. With that, you can use your internet when you’re out roaming around or tether it to your notebook to surf the net in your hotel room.

If you do pay for hotel internet, download Connectify, it lets you turn your laptop into a wireless hotspot for all your other wireless device. If you’re not planning to bring a laptop, get a pocket wireless access point. I’m looking at D-link’s DAP 1350 for my next purchase. Just connect the wireless access point to the Ethernet port and you have your own hotspot in the room. Be careful though, not all hotels allow this and it might not work in some hotels with some super secured network.

Looking at buying one

Oh yeah, bring an Ethernet cable with you as well. I use something like this. I got it from an event as well.

Compact and it works!

The reason is that some hotels charge for it! I can’t remember which country/hotel but I was asked to pay for an Ethernet cable and it’s some exorbitant price. I refused and I had no internet for the whole trip!

Remote controls

Some hotels don’t have their TV remote controls in the room. I guess most people steal them away. I got a universal TV remote control from lowyat.net a few years back and I recently got a new one from Dealextreme. They look like this.

The one on the left is still the best I’ve used. ALL TVs I tried worked with it! It’s still for sale in Dealextreme if you want to check it out. This is also the same one that Gizmodo used to prank some AV exhibition, which led them being labeled ‘unprofessional’.

The one on the right works just as the older one. It requires more steps (one extra step) to set up though. Get them if you can.

I’m not too sure what I missed but if you guys have anything to add, feel free to put it in the comments.

Until the next entry, adios!