Thorn Tree travel forum

UK Travel Insurance to cover Digital SLR and Laptop

Hi

I have searched on this subject and found a few pages of interest but am still struggling to find an insurer that will cover me for the following:

Single Trip for 3 months to Australia / New Zealand
Currently residing in the Uk, so insurance needs to be based from here
Need to cover £1700 Macbook Pro and £1200 worth of Digital SLR and Lens.

My home and contents policy does cover me for 'away from the home' loss and theft but only for a max of 30 days. Does anyone know of any specialist companies that will offer this, as all of the ones I can find only offer £200 - 300 max for 'valuables'

The only option I have found so far is to insure my laptop and camera using a specialist insurer here in the UK for 'worldwide' coverage but that is around £150 for each item.

Any ideas welcome, thanks.

Navman GPS new zealand maps

I live in Australia and am going to NZ for vacation. I have a navman gps device- does anyone know if i can buy new zealand maps to install in my gps?

Travel map widget for blogs?

I'm looking to add a travel map of my trip to my blog. Any suggestions for widgets out there that can do this?

Thanks!

wireless internet

I need some help setting up home wireless internet service.

I'm going to be moving in with someone soon who has cable internet service, connecting via a cat5 cable to her PC-based laptop.

I am a mac user and we've tried but found we can't simply plug her cat5 cable into my laptop and connect to the internet. I assume this is because she is a PC and I'm a mac.

I tried to go to radio shack and best buy and ask what equipment or setup we might need for both of us to be able to connect to the internet and the salespeople were completely clueless ("so....you want a splitter?"---I don't know. Is that what I want? If I knew I wouldn't be asking you.)

So. What do I need for both of us to use the internet at her place? Is there a splitter that would allow both a mac and a pc to be on the internet at the same time? If we need a wireless router, is there any particular features... more »

Australian iPhone - how can I get prepaid SIM and data pack for it in US?

***Cross-posted from USA Branch***

I took my iPhone with me on our trip to Hawaii in June this year, Although AT&T has a monopoly on iPhones in the states, this is not the case in Australia where all wireless providers offer them. Anyway, mine is unlocked from any network, and it was my understanding prior to the trip that T-Mobile could sell me a 'prepaid' SIM and also a data pack called 'Sidekick' for my iPhone while in Hawaii. Turns out not so simple...

I went to a T-Mobile store on Maui and the guy there explained that my phone probably would not work with one of their SIMs as it would need to have been unlocked in a particular way to work with T-Mobile. He put one of their SIMs in it anyway as a test and sure enough it did not work. We're coming to Alaska via Hawaii for 3.5 weeks in June 2010 and it would be handy to solve this problem for that trip, if in fact it can be ... more »

Camera for my travels Fuji S1500 or Lumix FS15

Heading off to Ethiopia for a few months, am looking for a good camera to take with me. I've narrowed it down to the above two and was wondering if anyone has any comments on either or could suggest a better option.

My budget is around £130 so i'm not expecting miracles but just want something easy to use that will take good panaromic and portrait photos.

Also the Fuji takes 4xAA batteries, whereas the Lumix has a Li-ion battery - is there any advantage/disadvantage of either apart from the cost of buying rechargable batteries and a charger?

Any help would be massively appreciated.

Cheers
Ian

Alternative energy

I know that Travel Tech might not be the right forum for this question, but y'all have a lot more activity than Responsible Travel so I hope you can forgive me for cross-posting.

I'm toying with setting up an off-the-grid backpacking lodge as sort of a home base for a trekking business. This lodge would actually be a one main hut with a couple of guest huts nearby. I would like to have energy at the main hut for backpackers and trekkers to power up their cameras, ipods, batteries, and computers, as well as possibly a few flourescent lights. Nothing too energy gouging . . . somewhere between 60 and 150 watts.

Seeing as how I would be off the grid, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should actually try to procure this energy? I suppose the easiest method would be to get a small, one gallon gas-powered generator, but the noise, hassle of getting gasoline, and turn-off ... more »

Mobile Phone

I am going away next year for 6 months to South America, New Zealand, Australia and Africa and not sure what to do about taking a phone! Is it best to take a mobile, rely on skype, get a pay and go or use a phone card??? I keep getting lots of conflicting options and am now a little confused!

Thanks

;0)