Travel Tech Gadgets: digital scale

Showing posts with label digital scale. Show all posts

Apr 13, 2015

Cruise Travel: Gadgets and Accessories on our South America Trip

Cruise Travel: Gadgets and Accessories on our South America Trip

"Zip-it" The Sock with a Pocket - Secure Valuables When on the Go

Atitlan Leather Suede Leather Money Belt
When I first discovered a money belt, I thought it was genius idea. Though I was wondering what it would actually look and feel like. After some research online and amazon, I found this one. It looks great, quite stylish. The type of belt that I would wear on daily basis with a casual look. I ended up wearing it the entire trip. The zipper on the backside works well, though it is a very small compartment. You won't be able to fit ID or credit cards in there, but you would be able to fold and stuff some bills for quick access for tipping and such.

Eagle Creek Travel Gear Silk Undercover Money Belt
I was wearing this one most of our cruise on excursions. It is a great travel accessory to have with you. While it might not look like much, it is not a fashionable accessory, but very useful. It came in handy in countries where there are no coins given as change, just a whole lot of paper money. Instead of carrying a lot of the bills in my wallet, I placed some discreetly into my waist stash. Same for dollars, especially once we acquired some local currently, these were moved to the belt so that my wallet was not filled with them when paying for goods. This is especially helpful when looking to "negotiate" with local vendors for better prices.

Travalo Refillable Perfume Spray

Travalo Travel Sized Refillable Perfume Spray Dispenser
Yes, it is a perfume spray. However, it works just as well for cologne. I think it is a genius idea and travel accessory. Before I found out that this exists, I was wondering how I could transport my cologne without having to drag the entire bottle that also does not close very well and so usually leaks. Its not a huge problem when placed in a Ziploc bag and within my bag. My cloth just end up pre-perfumed. However, that is definitely not a desired effect. The Travalo dispenser is very easy to fill up. Just take off the cap off the perfume bottle and push the tip of it into the dispenser and the content will transfer over as much as needed. And then becomes a convenient travel sized spray

E-Scale Digital Luggage Scale

Orbsgo Precision Digital Luggage Scale w/ 110 Lb Capacity
We no longer take any trips without using and packing a luggage scale. This trip was no exception. We weighted our large suitcase many times to make sure it is up to airline's standards so we do not have to pay overage fees or have issues at the airport check-in. Well, on this trip, we still did. Since we did not realize before hand that this particular airline, LAN, was also very particular about the weight of carry-ons. At least the ticket agent we go was. The carry-ons were overweight, and we had to rearrange our belongings right there and then. Good thing my wife had a plan and was ready with a back up bag. Going forward we will be using our trusty luggage scales on carry-ons as well every time we fly.

Olympus TG-835 Tough Camera
We love this camera. We always have it with us no matter the adventure. With this camera we don't have to worry about it getting wet in the rain, so we can take pictures even if it is drizzling outside or we are on a boat. We also have with us at the pool for some great shots. And as it is also shock-proof from 5 feet, it can take some dings and keep on shooting. Panasonic Lumix is also freeze-proof to 14 degrees F, good thing for when we were sailing by Antarctica, and dust-proof.

Broken Sports Watch
We didn't start out taking along a broken watch. The sport watch we took was working OK in terms of showing time. However, when we were going through multiple time zones, we wanted to update the watch to those, and that is when we found the buttons on the watch stopped working. It was still a great gadget to have along since even if you don't want to, you have to keep track of time on a cruise. Either to get up for and catch a bus for the tour or meet up with your group or to make it to dinner, it good to have a time keeping piece. Will be looking for a replacement and will post what I found. If anyone have any recommendations, please let me know

Kindle Paperwhite 3G
My wife loaded up her new favorite series that she has been reading, which is 3 books, plus some others just in case. I also added on my book in case I get tired of watching movies and reading my magazine. All that on a small light easy to pack device. Kindles also have a very long battery life. So with full charge and average use it could last the full cruise without needing a recharge.

Earphones
There was no way I was going to be using the earphones provided on the airplane. Those are very cheaply made, nothing but plastic, with terrible sound, ear irritating devices. For the 12 hour flight that we had that won't do.

Sound-off: What do you think? Let us know below

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Sep 5, 2012

Fun in Dominican Sun

Last week we spent relaxing for the first time in quite awhile in the warm sunny Dominican Republic. While we have taken trips here and there, this was the first trip that we were down South and relaxing for most the vacation.

To get to DR, we flew on JetBlue, which has shuttle flights a couple of times a week into the southern resorts. The airport is less than half hour away. Better yet, JetBlue has a policy of first checked in bag flies free. If we really wanted to and really tried, we could have packed all of our stuff in the two carry-ons. However, we expected to have some more stuff with us on the way back as well as wanted less packing hassle.
The plane, while small, had good leg room. Surprising, since most of the other flights with larger airlines were with very tight quarters. Another thing that JetBlue has, that other do not, is included "unlimited" snacks and drinks.

At the resort, I expected tech gadgets, and mostly smartphones, as everyone has them now and are rarely separated. I was surprised by how many iPads there were. Folks were using them to take pictures and videos quite often. And to surf or look through pictures at lunch time.

Large part of the time on vacation we spent in the ocean. The water was great, clear to the bottom. And we actually had a beach. Quite contrary to our trip to Cancun a few years back where there was only about a foot of beach left after some storms. During every one of our swims we had along our newest travel gadget, Panasonic Lumix underwater camera. We fell in love with it after the first swim. It is easy to use and can be left on while swimming and be able to take a photo at any time. It was great during our snorkeling venture in the open ocean. The camera has all the features of a regular digital camera with great function in and under the water. See some of the water fun shots we have taken on the trip below. We got the camera together with a floating strap. It connects to the camera and hangs on your wrist. And if it does happen to slip off, the strap will just float on the surface keeping the camera within reach.

Another great feature of the camera, that made it like a swiss knife, was its time telling capability. We had a sports watch along with us for that purpose. A watch is also a great gadget to have with you on a trip. Even though it is not much used when at home with smartphones and so on, it comes in very handy in traveling. Unfortunately, we lost ours, rather I lost it, half way through our vacation. And it was at that time that we realized that the camera which we dragged just about everywhere around the resort, can also be used to tell time. It was awesome.

A smaller part of the vacation we spent lounging around. During that time we caught up on some reading. I had a magazine with me and my wife her Kindle. I monopolized the Kindle during our flight as I was reading one of the books from the Hunger Game trilogy. All three books were pre-loaded on the e-reader. My wife also had a few other books loaded as well. It is great that you can carry so many books in one small compact and light package. It saves so much luggage space and provides hours of entertainment. Kindle also came in very handy when I got a sunburn and had to wait around for all the lotions, to make my skin normal again, absorb :)
By the way, if anyone has some tips on either good sunscreen or technique for staying out in Caribbean sun without feeling the burn after, PLEASE Let Me Know

To keep our relaxation going even when it was time to head back, we packed with us our digital luggage scale. Good thing too, as the all-inclusive resort that we stayed in charged extra for weighing your bags before departure. That was only one of the reasons we were happy to have this gadget along. It is small, compact, and does not add much weight to the luggage. We were confident when giving our one bag for check-in with the souvenirs and damp clothing (we went swimming on our last day in the morning to enjoy the clear ocean one last time)

Packing it in: