> > I know there are a few Aussies here, so I hope you don't mind if I > pick your brains for a moment. >
I was born in Melbourne! Came back to the UK before my first birthday though. > I'm going to be in Australia this coming May for work, and I'm taking > some time after that's done to do some traveling. The work stuff is in > Melbourne, and then I'll have lots of time on my own to do whatever I > want until my flight home takes off two weeks later from Sydney. > Sounds like a great trip [...] > > P.S.: This is my first time doing any sort of solo, low-cost traveling > like this, so any general traveling tips would be immensely > appreciated. I've done quite a lot of this over the years, in Europe, Africa and India. My best advice is 1. Travel light 2. Be adaptable 3. Don't travel every day I try to keep the luggage down to one small bag - no more than 45l capacity, and a small camera bag. The most effective for me has been a Pelican 1550 case with an Eagle Creek heavy duty strap, and a Domke F2 camera bag. The Pelican is secure so the expensive stuff can stay in there, locked in a hotel room during the day, goes safely on top of buses, but it is also good for checking through airports with the cameras in, while you carry the minimum of clothing in the F2. The F2 of course is your everyday shooting bag. You don't need many clothes. The rule of 3 holds good for t-shirts and smalls. You only need 2 pairs of trousers, at most; one pair of shoes and one pair of flip-flips. And last, but far from least, a good towel and ample supplies of cleft sticks. Make an outline plan, so you have an idea of the places you want to go, and the things you want to see and photograph, but accept that you won't be able to stick to it because there are so many factors beyond your control. But treat this as part of the enjoyment, not as a problem, otherwise you'll spend the time gnashing your teeth in frustration. I like to spend at least 2 or 3 nights in each place so I'm not wasting too much time waiting in bus and train stations, and dealing with the logistics of packing, unpacking, finding accommodation, schlepping stuff around. You have to accept that you can't see everything or go everywhere. Hope this helps. Enjoy. Ibn Battuta -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
