You know you have a good hobby when it requires you to buy toys for your toys. Last year, I bought my hobby (digital photography) a trip to Paris. It was a blast, and I got some incredible pictures. As far as vacations go, it was pretty stressful though. The French are snobby about their language, and I only speak just enough of it to get by. I also had their mass transportation to worry about, and their funny electricity that's different from ours. That boiled down to some serious sacrifices when it came to packing. Anything I took with me, I had to lug all through the city on the train to get it to my hotel.
This year, what with the economy and all, I'm keeping it a little closer to home. I'll be spending a week in San Diego at the end of March. I'm super excited - San Diego has a high concentration of things I want to photograph. I'm even MORE excited about some of the other aspects though. They speak English, their electricity doesn't require a converter, and it's not an insane prospect to rent a car there. Translation - far fewer sacrifices must be made when it comes time to pack for this trip.
Here's the part with the new toy for my camera. When I went to France, what I really wanted was a photo backpack to serve as my carry-on item. I'd heard tales of pickpockets in Paris though, and backpacks are a huge easy pocket to pick. I made do with a shoulder bag that I wore like a messenger bag across my body. In preparation for San Diego, I started doing research on camera bags again, and look what I found - a photo backpack that solves the pickpocket problem rather neatly. This is the "Whickey and Cox" bag, made by Crumpler.
All the zippers for the main compartment are on the BACK of the bag, making it a much more difficult target for thieves to get into. This thing is so sturdily constructed, I almost feel guilty taking it to a mundane place like San Diego. I feel like it's expecting to go somewhere with a monsoon season or armored tanks or something.
(Those orange bits underneath are some of the configurable dividers from the inside of the bag. I needed something to help prop it up.) The very best part is the inside though - check out all the padding!
The part on the floor holds <gasp> a laptop! I'll be able to upload my images every night and burn them to a CD, so I won't always have the nagging fear of memory card failure in the back of my head. And, my hotel has free wi-fi, so I'll be able to update the blog! The main compartment is completely configurable with velcro dividers, and will hold my camera and all my other gadgetry. Just imagine - I'll be able to take the charger for the camera battery with me this time! It's the simple things...