Sorting out the “equipment”

Still in the “exploratory” phase and as such am looking at destinations – and have to admit the timeline tends to be lengthening each time – so many places to experience and so little time lol, what do we really need to know (or should it just be “she’ll be right mate” and keep the fingers crossed – ahhhh you didnt read that Ross , and working out the main “equipment” list – which at this stage for me are to be the laptop, camera and backpack. After a couple of hours searching, sourced leads to all of these on TradeMe and various expert sites.

The inital visa is the Veitnam one and after abit of research it seems that they are OK with a non-return-ticket arrival as long as you have plans to leave by land and evidence to back this up. Sounds good. Must give top marks to the local Wellington Embassy who returned my email question within a couple of hours. Well done!!!! When in V shouldnt be to much hassel to get a visa for China and then in China organising the Trans Mongolia visas. Spending abit of time in Mongolia living in a Yurt is starting to appeal as well hmmmmmmmmmm …….

SO TO THE EQUIPMENT…

As far as the laptop goes I have decided on an IBM ThinkPad cos of its  lightweight  and small footprint – also it gets several mentions from travellers as a reliable and rugged travel model. It will come with WiFi and a spare battery as backup AND a secondhand model goes for around the NZ$700 mark. (And yes they do have internet connections in Ulaanabbatar

The camera will be an 8 megapixel SLR Canon OE model. I hummed and haaad between 10 M and 8 but the consenses seems to be the extra cost is not really worth the cost of the upgrade. One of my ”income support” streams (that Im planning for) is to publish pics to the Internet and hopefully sell these online. The site I use is Findapic, which is a Kiwi site which does all the work of selling and delivering the pics, while paying a commission back to the photographer.

The last and probably the most important piece of equipment is the PACK. Again Ive decided size does matter here and it is better to have a good size pack that is half empty rather than a small pack that you cant fit all those left over beers in from the night before!! Mind you there are a few other important features that I have in mind as well…. must have two main compartments, good day pack, good rigging adjustment, side entry, rigging cover and of course — be the right colour!!! I do not want to be the prat seen wearing some bright-orange-saftey-taped pack in the latest mango/lime shade no matter how big it is, thank you .

“Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still.” — Lou Erickso

… and in the beginning there was an idea…

The idea had been kicked about a number of times, generally over a few beers, with the ideas growing exponentially with the number of beers consumed!!!  However, not until recently had the idea grown to much more than that - 

BUT NOW …….. We are all single guys (newly and otherwise) in our late 40′s, still good looking (so we are told!!) who are looking for adventure on the high road and to relive those youthful days of sun, sand and freedom that otherwise would become mere memories ….. yeah right!!

This BLOG is intended to be a record of the planning to fruition of the “idea”, the highs and lows of our travel adventures, the sights and sounds, the meetings and greetings and what ever else I can think of to blog on about – as well as a general newsletter to kith and kin to let you all know where we are and what we are up to   

The adventurers :  Tom Ross Robin David

“The meaning of LIFE??

L Live

I it

F for

E Experience”

Tom Connolly