Traveling with Kindle and laptop

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leegil
leegil

Quick note on a purchase I'm gleeful about: my Kindle.
I bought one of the $139 jobbies--i.e. it connects with WiFi but not G3. I have perhaps 50 or 60 books on it, many I've gotten for free from Gutenberg.org, some of which I've paid about $10 for, and a bunch I've paid from $1 to $3 for.
I also travel with a laptop, on which I have the full set of LP for India (where I'm currently touring) in PDF form. So between these devices I'm able to travel with zero print books. I love it.
I was skeptical that I would really enjoy reading from a Kindle, but I find that I do. I don't miss the printed page. The only time I wish I had the print copy is when I'm in a restaurant and I want to visit the bathroom; I don't dare leave the Kindle on the table, and taking it along isn't hugely convenient--especially if it's an Indian toilet .

Amazon also lets you store PDFs on the Kindle, so I had them optimize the LP chapters for India. But make no mistake: this is a very clunky way to read a travel guide; even with their optimization, the formatting is often messy, and you lack the ability to skip around. Reading the electronic versions on my laptop is much more comfortable. (But for notations, etc., nothing beats the print copy.) And btw, my laptop is not a netbook. I actually bought a netbook before this trip, but found that it was too slow and the screen too small to do the computer work I like to do while traveling; so I returned it. I would think that reading the LP PDFs on a netbook would be far too tedious.
But oh, do I love my Kindle.
Travel on.
Lee

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go_2
go_2

The only time I wish I had the print copy is when I'm in a restaurant and I want to visit the bathroom; I don't dare leave the Kindle on the table, and taking it along isn't hugely convenient--especially if it's an Indian toilet.

Easy enough - do you know someone with a sewing machine?

Buy a piece of strong cloth (maybe polyester shower curtaining?) in a dark colour, plus a piece of 'batting' (poly wadding) and run up a bag to fit, two-sided with the wadding inside, and with a long handle that goes round your neck and leaves the bag part at about waist level or wherever is comfortable.
Strengthen the handle by making it of three layers of fabric (i.e. cutting it 3x as wide as you need it, then folding over 2x) then machine-sew several straight lines down the whole length. Make it long enough to go all the way down the sides of the bag and stitch it firmly in place.to ensure it's secure and undroppable.

I made one for my netbook, adjusting the handle to go inside my day-bag, and it works very well.

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aphrodite1
aphrodite1

Yeah!
I got the same Kindle as you just before my current trip. It's absolutely the best thing I have ever bought. It's the backpacker's dream come true. All that weight in the pack all gone. I used to carry 7or 8 books to read aside from guidebooks. Now I have 32 for the weight of a smallish paperback.
Thankyou Amazon for an amazing invention!

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zosu
zosu

glad to read your comments. I am contemplating getting one. Is recharging it an issue at all?

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leegil
leegil
  1. Thanks for the tip, go_2. I already carry it in a mesh bag with a drawstring, so I could just attach an extension to it. But part of my point was it's a drag to have to worry about the security of it--as contrasted with just laying a book down on the table and walking off.
  2. Recharging is virtually a non-issue. I've been on the road for 3 months now, and have recharged it only four times, I think. Nothing approaching what I have to do to keep my mobile phone and my iPod Touch juiced up. It's also like a laptop, in that it accepts 110 thru 240v.
    Lee
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wanderinwilco
wanderinwilco

Is it possible to download books while "on the road"? I ask because I tried to buy the PC variant but discovered that, as Sudan is sanctioned, I was blocked.

Dave

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leegil
leegil

Dave, I can download books any time my Kindle can find a WiFi connection. But since I travel with my laptop also, my most common method is to download them to my Kindle for PC application on the laptop, then with Windows Explorer transfer them to the Kindle, using the USB connection.
How does Sudan being sanctioned play out in your Internet usage?
Lee

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wanderinwilco
wanderinwilco

Thanks for that info, Lee! We have certain websites blocked as being "un-Islamic" but many American or American-sponsored companies are part of the sanction ban. Thus, while I can use my credit card online to book flights on Egyptair, Air Asia and such, BMI and Opodo won't touch me. Similarly travel agencies in Thailand and companies like Ebay and Amazon consider me "tainted".......lol!

Dave

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go_2
go_2

Dave - I wonder if downloading one of the programs that gets round the site-blocking that occurs in China would help? Try looking in the search function for "great firewall of China".

Have to admit I didn't download one before I went, as I didn't expect the innocuous sites I used to be blocked there. But some were, and I wished I had.
I don't know if such a program would be available to download while within Sudan itself - but you never know.

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wanderinwilco
wanderinwilco

Thanks, good try, unfortunately the Great Firewall has been taken offline - a win for censorship?

Dave

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