Suggestion on how to Organize Pics on Travel? - SBB Digital Scrapbooking Forums | Scrapbook-Bytes

Betty E · #1 (**permalink**) 10-30-2005

I just got my vacation request approved!

I had to wait 3 months before my manager would approve it!

29 days with a tour group. Its a good 4.5 months away but I've started my scrapbook for it! It is a 8x8 album and I plan to have 14 introduction sections of the countries we are visiting. There will also be a eps for each day so I can insert the pamphlets I pickup, notes and flashcard of photos for the day. Since our tours start early in the day to late in the afternoon, I don't know if the business centers in the hotel will still be open so I can send my photos home so I'm trying to get as many flashcards as I can.

This is the first time I'm going on such a long vacation all digital. In the past, I only took a notebook to take notes and write down my thoughts. But I find that when I'm on travel, I lose track of my days and I always forget to change the date on my camera (until midway and then I spend a lot of time trying to match photos with journaling once I got home. Even then I still get some of it wrong....my co-worker and I visited Turkey for 17 days and after I put my travelogue together, she pointed out 2 photos that I thought were taken in Ephesus were actually taken somewhere else. For Turkey I shot approx 58 - 36exp rolls of film, after a while all the ruins looked the same - at least on film they did...lol!

Any suggestions of how to better organize my pics? Ideally, I would like to take my laptop so I can clear my flashcards but it weighs 10lbs and with my luck, I'll probably break it and lose all of my photos. I'm still thinking about the Wolverine product that someone had posted to DL my flashcards but since it doesn't show me my pics I'm uncomfortable about deleted my flashcard without really knowing the pics have transferred and are readable.

DH thinks I'm making this too complicated. He thinks I should just number my flashcards, take a blank sheet of paper and write what event we are participating in that day and take a picture of it and not bring home any pamphlets. DH thinks I'm sick to start my album already but it took me almost 2 years to put my Turkey travelogue and that's with the help of my co-worker. I want to get it done within a couple of months after we return.

I really enjoyed reading my co-worker's grandmother's travelogue and I hope my nephews will feel the same about mines.

Thank you in advance!

shelleyrae · #2 (**permalink**) 10-30-2005

Welll the best thing about digital and dates for travelling is that the date the photo is taken is embedded in the photo file so you will know when it was actually taken - allowing for time zones of course. Just right click on any photo and choose Properties ann then the advanced tab.

If you have the funds then an external storage source or portable CD burner would be a great idea - and probably more cost effective. Something like the Nikon CoolWalker which you can both view and copy your photos on and has 30GB storage ( do a search at amazon.com for price and similar products), Epson and half a dozen other companies make similar products.
Portable burners have a similar price - again at amazon search for "portable burner" for product listings but they have no way to view the photos if its important that you can do that.

HTH

Betty E · #3 (**permalink**) 10-31-2005

Thanks Shelleyrae!

This is exactly what I'm looking for! I originally wanted to shoot all my photos in RAW format but when I started to add up the number of CF I would need to do this, I decided to against it but with these portable viewers that can store up to 80gigs, it would be possible and much more economical and it gives me the comfort of knowing they actually transferred over before I delete a CF.

Thanks again.

twitchingpink · #4 (**permalink**) 10-31-2005

G'day Gals,
Back in March/April we when to Europe for just over a month - mainly to visit family anyway we brought a digital wallet also known as a storage device with 10gigs are it was a life saver, we took over 4,000 shots and still a few gigs to spare. We picked ours up for about $200 Australian, this was before you could get the viewable digital wallets....I wonder if the new apple ipod with the photos has a plugin you could use????

Pesto126 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-31-2005

Yeah.. if you want to shoot RAW.. then having a portable backup system is a must. Just please please be aware.. these devices are HD's and can be easily damaged during travel. HD's can be erased by the aiport xrays... they can be damaged through rough handling.. and they can be stolen.

Would hate to see you lose all that data.. my advice is either be extremely careful with one of these HD based machines.. or try to buy a CD writer that you can hook your PC up too.. The CD's are not prone to xray's and can easily be carried.

But.. the portable HD idea is a good one.. just remember to keep it with you while travelling and treat it gently.. that's a lot of pictures to lose! Good Luck!

Betty E · #6 (**permalink**) 10-31-2005

Twitchingpink, thanks for recommendation! I'm going to check out the digital wallet.

Pesto126, I didn't know HD can be erased by airport xrays! I've allowed my DSLR go through them in Turkey thinking that I this was much easier than having to carry a film bag. Do you think I should continue using a film bag?

Ideally, I wanted to take a laptop but I'm afraid that it would be more of a burden not only because of its weight but because it would wave a flag easy target. Usually in tour groups, we change hotels every 2 days....gentle? I don't think the porters knows the meaning of that word...lol!

I'm going to have to give it some more thought. Hopefully if the portable viewer fits into my x-ray bag, there would be enough cushion to protect it. Otherwise, I may go back to my original plan of getting a lot of CF cards. I would hate to lose my photos!

Thanks for all of your input!

Pesto126 · #7 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005

The xray machine employs some magnets.. that's why they ask you to take it out and they look at by hand. DSLR is just fine.. no HD there.. cf cards without microdrives are ok too.. but watch out for the microdrives!

lisahoo · #8 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005

I know this is sort of a low-tech tip and a bit of a tangent for what you all are talking about -- but it always helped me...

I try to remember to take photos of signs (road signs, "welcome to" signs, the front of our hotel, pics of tour guides or drivers we especially enjoyed, etc.) They can make nifty titles for pages, and can act as a sort of 'bookmark' when I'm trying to piece together the who-what-where-when of the trip.

And I think a notebook is a must-have whenever you visit someplace really new and different from your everyday life -- whether you have your camera at all! My husband & I both wrote notes in our travel notebook on our Honeymoon in Hawaii -- there was just so much to see and the cultural traditions were so rich, we wanted to remember as much detail as possible.

While I agree with your husband not to overdo it with brochures (they can add up to a lot of junk!), a few manila envelopes (label one for each country or region?) can be a big help to keep your carryon tidy. You can pack away info on the places you've already seen and just carry what you need for the current or next destination.