My wife and I took 4 months off to travel around southeast asia (Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand), and had a great time. Managing to stay just connected enough to read and keep up with goings-on back home, and disconnected enough to not worry about our eMail gave us a great change of perspective and energy about coming back to San Francisco, ready to go build something.
Favourite travel tips:
- Kindle's International Roaming plan is $5/wk for subscriptions, so you can get your NYTimes, FT, Economist, etc. while on the go... even in places w/o paved roads and ATM's
- The Kindle is also great generally because you can be less diligent about charging it, and read it anywhere from the beach to an airport lounge without any eyestrain... It also beats a stack of books (but an iPad would do so as well).
- Taking Pepto Bismol prophylactically changes the PH of your stomach, making you much less likely to suffer from food-borne illnesses. That said, the effects become detrimental to your body as a whole after a few weeks, so we slowly weaned ourselves off of it, to give our immune system a chance to slowly adjust to the local flora/fauna.
- An unlocked iPhone is your best friend... whether it's for maps to find your way, a travel guide for a city, downloading a podcast to teach you the local phrases you need, finding/booking a hotel, or making that Skype call back home.
Ick! That'll give you all sorts of unpleasant side-effects - it's much better to eat raw garlic or raw onions every morning. You'll adjust to the local organisms better and you won't get sick at all.
To each his own on taking electronics/phones/etc... When I go backpacking I prefer to take the "no itinerary" approach, leaving technology at home so I'm not in the Western Bubble wherever I go.
Favourite travel tips: - Kindle's International Roaming plan is $5/wk for subscriptions, so you can get your NYTimes, FT, Economist, etc. while on the go... even in places w/o paved roads and ATM's
- The Kindle is also great generally because you can be less diligent about charging it, and read it anywhere from the beach to an airport lounge without any eyestrain... It also beats a stack of books (but an iPad would do so as well).
- Taking Pepto Bismol prophylactically changes the PH of your stomach, making you much less likely to suffer from food-borne illnesses. That said, the effects become detrimental to your body as a whole after a few weeks, so we slowly weaned ourselves off of it, to give our immune system a chance to slowly adjust to the local flora/fauna.
- An unlocked iPhone is your best friend... whether it's for maps to find your way, a travel guide for a city, downloading a podcast to teach you the local phrases you need, finding/booking a hotel, or making that Skype call back home.