If you're going on a year-long trip, inevitably that means you're going to bring some tech
along with you.
And this is what we brought!
Let's get really boring for a second and talk about socket adapters.
Nothing too sexy here but if you want cheap and light, pick up these kikkerland universal
travel adapters.
They work everywhere from Vietnam to Cyprus and only cost about $10 USD.
This Samsung NX2000 camera is more compact than your standard DSLR; it's friends to complete
photography noobs like us, and shot decent video.
That being said, we couldn't find a compatible external mic so audio sounded like it was captured
during a tornado.
This camera is on our do-not-recommend list.
This is the Samsung Telephoto Lens.
What were we thinking?
Between a drone, a GoPro, a digital camera, a battery pack, and water and snacks, we didn't
have any room left in our day bag for a telephoto lens.
Unless photography is really your thing, leave this at home.
Tripod.
It's a tripod!
I'm not sure what the real name for this is but I'm going to call it the timelapse Panoramic
Camera Mount.
Basically, it's a glorified egg-timer.
It can mount your camera, GoPro, or iPhone on.
You can then shoot a timelapse while you get a silky smooth rotation of the camera.
Headphone splitter: a must if you're traveling with some body else.
Also a great way to make friends on planes and trains.
Bring a cheap day bag or buy one abroad.
It should make it look like you're homeless.
Don't get something that let's everyone know you have a DSLR in your backpack.
Also- two straps.
More comfortable and less likely to get snatched.
We bought ourselves a new GoPro Hero4 Black on the road because our Hero 3 started acting
wonky.
We chose the Hero4 Black because the recording specks, mainly the resolution and frame rate,
are higher than that of the silver.
GoPro Chesty: I fought bringing this on the trip.
It's bulky, you look stupid wearing it, it's hot.
However, if you can suck it up it makes for great POV shots on motorcycles and scooters
as well as when you're hiking.
The only downside of this is, you gotta be the guy wearing the chesty.
This is one piece of tech we wish we had from the beginning of the trip.
If you haven't seen or used a gimbal before it's simply a device that stabelizes your
camera to keep your footage smooth.
No more shaky footage.
An external mic for your GoPro: exactly what it sounds like.
It's a small microphone that attaches to GoPro via mini USB.
The sound is eons better than the standard internal mic on the GoPro.
We also picked up some fuzzy wind screens to help eliminate wind noise.
The GoPro 3-way mount.
Bit of a dilemma here.
The GoPro branded 3-way mount is way too expensive at $60 or $70 USD.
On the plus side the mount is built tough and stood up to plenty of abuse.
On the plus plus side, there's a great knock-off version for less than $20 on Amazon.
GoPro Orange Floaty.
If you're using a GoPro in its waterproof case you might as well have the orange floaty
attached so when you inevitably drop it it's not gone forever.
Hey!
You already know what these are.
Bring a cheap pair.
They're gonna get destroyed or lost anyways.
This is a small USB battery pack because you know you're gonna run out of power.
This is a big USB battery pack because you know you're going to run out of power.
You're probably catching on that we really like external mics.
It's just that great video with shit audio makes me wanna cry.
Since we used Finney's iPhone6 as her other video camera we ended up splurging on this
$8 USD mic that goes right in your headphone jack.
If you want to be even thriftier, just rig a dead cat over the mic on your standard iPhone
ear buds to cut down on wind noise.
This trusty antiquity is out of contract which means I could get it unlocked.
What does unlocked mean?
That means I could pick up dirt cheap SIM cards all over the world so we had phone and
internet during our trip.
You don't get magic travel points for making things hard on yourself.
Bring an old unlocked smartphone with you.
Otterbox: I love trying to break my phone.
Though an Otterbox can be clunky it does offer great fall protection and makes it at least
a little bit water resistant for those unplanned rainstorms you will get caught in.
These were caught on eBay used.
Easily one of the best choices in tech we made for the trip.
Really light weight and powerful enough to edit video.
Yes, we edit video on laptops.
Yes, even the 4k stuff.
And yes, it can take a while to render.
These things were built to travel.
They go all nimbly-bimbly and can be bent around for a more comfortable movie-watching
experience on airplanes, buses, trains and in the back of campervans.
You can also use it in tablet mode with touch screen.
Not sold on touch screen laptops?
Neither was I until I used one.
The BestTek Power Inverter.
Yes, I lugged this thing around for almost a year on my back just so I could use it for
a two week road trip in Europe and then six weeks in New Zealand.
I stand by my decision.
We were able to charge a laptop, a drone battery, and two USB devices at the same time.
The thing was built to withstand abuse and we're still using it in our car back home
to run crock pots at football tailgates.
When you get more remote it becomes impossible to backup data to the cloud.
We chose to pick up a couple 2TB Harddrives.
These things were built tough enough to last a year getting bounced around, including two
tough months on the back of motorbikes in Vietnam.
Data storage is one place to not cheap-out.
Back in my day, when you wanted to travel the world with a drone, you took this huge-ass
one with you because you really didn't have a choice.
These days, there's more choices than ever!
I still love our Phantom 3 Pro, and it can be picked up for less than half of what I
originally paid.
Drone carrying bag: it's ugly as hell; I hate looking at it; but it also did a tremendously
great job of protecting our drone during its 10 months on the road.
It wasn't amazingly comfortable to hike in, but then again what drone bag is.
You're a better man than I if you're throwing 360's with a drone on your back.
We picked this iPad Mini up mid-trip when I realized that flying the drone using the
iPhone6 was a no-win situation.
Having a bigger screen to pilot from made a huge difference and certainly helped me
avoid some mid-air crashes with wires and seagulls.
I still managed to screw up some take-offs though, but that's on me.
Everyone wants to fly a drone but don't nobody want to learn about filters.
Don't blame you.
Talking camera filters is even worse than talking about electric socket adapters.
here's the deal though, no matter what drone you fly you're going to end up with over exposed
footage in bright conditions and instead of seeing someone floating on a raft in a tranquil
sea, you're going to see a ghost coming out of the water.
If you're getting a drone you need to pick up some filters.
So that's everything we brought with.
As you can see some stuff was pointless and we sent it home and you shouldn't buy it;
some stuff was invaluable; and some stuff we brought with because we're crazy.
And that's not even a very good outro, so, what else could we say?
Why am I sitting here?
I feel like I am not in this video!