Incredibly Beautiful Natural Seascapes and Landscapes

Travel Gear

Travel Gear of David Foote (Travel Writer)

Energizer USB charger - small compact USB charger useful for charging batteries directly from a laptop when there is no socket to be found.
Energizer compact wall charger - small footprint battery charger for 2A and 3A batteries, does the trick without taking up too much space.

TeckLite - underwater flashlight - R.O.X
Approximately 1K. Virtually indestructible and waterproof to 1000 ft. This is a decent all around flash light for above and below water. Runs off 2 triple AAA batteries ( I use the rechargeable Energizers) (top notch versatile gadget)

Mag Lite - 1K pesos. True Value hardware
Innove Flash Light - available in Camping supply store in Park Square

Camel unbottle - R.O.X
Easier to carry than a water bottle, and with greater capacity, the Camel unbottle can be used with any backpack. Even better when used with bags that are bladder ready (like the detachable bag from the north face double track), the unbottle can hold up to 3 liters of fluid. Useful on long hikes and hot days. Special coating keeps your drinks from tasting like plastic (need to try this out to see if this true), and Camel's patented screw top makes it easy to both fill and clean the bag.

Revo polarized sunglasses - unavailable in the Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Singapore carries Revo's in Sunglass Hut's available in most major malls, and at the Changai Airport. These revos are pricy but great on the eyes. They actually feel more comfortable than any other shades that I have tried. Unlike Oakleys (which are in the same price range) Revo tinting doesn't peel, EVER, and the glass just feels better than the plastic Oakley lenses. Revo styling won't compete with Rayban aviators (both are owned by the same company) for the style set, and aren't meant to. Revo's are performance shades for discerning customers who wear sunglasses for what they do more than how they look.

NorthFace Double Track 28 - Available at North Face outlets in Glorietta or Power Plant. Large convertible roller bag that can also be carried as a backpack with hip strap. Comes with a detachable day bag that is bladder ready, with ports for IPOD, cell phone and other gadgets. The day pack is a very comfortable all around bag in its own right. The large aluminum handle, and larger than normal roller wheels provide a sturdy feel even when carrying heavy loads. Only con with this bag is the relatively high standalone weight of 7K (need to confirm this).

Tempurpedic travel Pillow - One of the best all around travel pillows. Made of tempurpedic signature dense memory foam, this pillow provides firm but comfortable neck support on the plane, in the car, sitting around , and can be used on top of a normal pillow for additional neck support as an alternative for those of us addicted to using Swedish style neck pillows. The previous tempurpedic model used a solid ushaped section of foam which was likely to rip in two, and did for me. The newer model comes with a durable thick cloth covering with the foam divided into two sections, fixing the previous issue.. Available at Tempurpedic in Shangrila Mall Edsa, or Tempurpedic store in High street.

Ex-Officio underwear - Singapore Travel Planet or here at amazon (not available in PH to the best of my knowledge)
Great, if somewhat pricey underwear made from quick dry material. Can be washed and dried within 3 hours, allowing you to pack a few at a time and wash as you go to travel light.

Victronix Automatic travel umbrella - Available at luggage store on Glorietta 4. somehwat pricey as umbrella's go, but compact durable umbrella with push button expanding, AND retracting feature. Now if they could just figure out a way to make these things wrap themselves up and retract into their sheaths automatically.

Feel Free Waterproof duffle - Available for 1.5K from ROX. Designed for kayaking, this medium sized waterproof duffle is great for porting around expensive electronic gear on banca's, canoe's and most other forms of flimsy water craft. Uses the Rollover style to close the bag and provides buoyancy for up to X (need to know how many pounds) . If your bag falls overboard, the duffle will keep the contents dry floating atop the water. Comfortable shoulder strap and stylish looks make this a cool all around bag when in and around the water.

Rubber Ducky - Available at (Stlyle X? near ROX and in PowerPlant level 2). Cool over the shoulder waterproof bag, good for keeping small sized water phobic accessories dry.

Lowe Compu Rover AW- Simply amazing gadget bag has a camera compartment that can hold a camera body and up to 5 lenses. Also sports a large padded laptop compartment that can hold a 17" laptop, with space left over to hold dozens of other gadets as well as several special purpose compartments to keep things organized. Includes a compartment to hold memory cards, a fold out mount for tripods, and Lowe's patented built in waterproof rain jacket to cover the entire sack. The large padded shoulder straps and hip straps allow you to carry 20-30K loads with similar load bearing comfort to top of the line camping backpacks.

Nikon D300 - simply one of the best digital SLR cameras that money can buy. Takes fantastic pictures, instant auto-focus, great non-grainy night shots at 1600 ISO, 51 focus points for easy image composition, Live view that allows you to preview white balance settings, intuitive menu's to provide rapid access to a slew of features,, and a host of other features that make it easy to shoot like a pro.

18-200mm Lens - In singapore they call this the holiday lens because of the verstatility of shots possible without switching lenses. (I picked mine up from Lord's Camera shop in Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road) This lens provides an incredible range from wide angle to telephoto with built in VR (vibration reduction), and easy manual override for auto-focus. This is the kind of lens that you can slap on your camera body and leave for the duration of the trip without having to switch lenses.

Polarized Lens Filter - nice to have along to cut glare on bright days, and around the water.
UV Filer - must have basic filter for a layer of protection on the main lens.

Sony SR-11 - One of the best consumer grade camcorders in the market today. Built in image stabilization, facial recognition, and plenty of other behind the scenes intelligence makes shooting high quality HD video a breeze. The built in 60 gig hard drive can hold up to 8 hours of HD video shot at the highest quality. The SR-11, also accepts memory stick storage for additional removable data storage. Can shoot reasonable quality photo's at 10 Mega Pixels. When used with a memory stick you can shoot photo's and video simultaneously, otherwise you'll have to pause one for the other. The built in 5.1 channel surround sound mic does a great job of capturing audio. The zoom mic feature can focus the mic along with the camcorder zoom to focus audio pick up on far away subjects. Most of the controls are touch screen using the LCD viewfinder, which sports a 192K pixel display for high fidelity view and playback. Controls are easy to navigate, with relatively few options due to the signiifcant automation built into the system. This is largely a point and shoot device with few manual configuration options available.

Sony Tripod - Despite the good image stabilization of the SR-11, shooting great video will usually require a tripod to prevent distracting shake from hand held shots. I use the Hanycam tripod for both video and photo shooting (with the D300) to consolidate gear. The Handycam tripod comes with an external zoom cam handle that makes it easy to swivel the cam corder and zoom in and out to capture the scene.

Ipod Video Black - 80 gigs. Yeah I know there are fancier ipods for the taking now (link to the touch). The largest capacity touch maxes out at 30 gigs, and the upgraded classic isn't quite worth the upgrade for the 160 gig storage. I'm holding out for a 60-80 gig touch before I switch over. If I didn't already have an Ipod I would probably buy the 160 gig classic. Music, videos, and backup storage solution in one. Great workhorse device that always makes it into one of my packs.

PSP - Great all around portable game and video gadget. Better for watching video's than the ipod video, with a good selection of games to go. If you're a PC or Xbox gamer the PSP is really your only choice for a hand held gaming device. Very well put together gaming gadget with high quality sound and video. My only gripe is the Sony proprietary memory format which Sony inflicts on its customers with every Sony consumer electronics product. I've converted mine (read hacked) so that I can load my games on 8 gig memory cards. No way I would lug around a few dozen UMD's with me. Yeah I know its not exactly legal, but I've bought the games and forcing users to carry bulky CD type devices on an portable gaming device is just silly.

Citizen Echo Series Dive watch - Good all around watch from the board room to the coral reefs, this nearly indestructible ultra-green tech watch is solar and waterproof to 300M with a scratch resistant crystal. An analog watch with digital guts includes chronograph, timers, and alarms that sound above and below water, as well as the classic divers rotating bevel. I've had mine attached to my wrist for nearly 10 years following me from mountain tops to sea depths, and can count the times that I have actually removed the watch on one hand. This solar powered watch never requires winding or batteries, and according the makers can keep its charge for nearly a year in complete darkness, which thankfully I haven't had the misfortune to put to the test. (Superstar versatile gadget) . Citizen doesn't have the same Cache as Tag Heur. But I always chose substance over style. Citizen makes great watches. Solar is cool, and batteries are bad. 10 years later there are still few alternatives that I would look to. Seiko's kinetic watches are also cool, but not as stylish for my taste.

Sony MX-11 bluetooth headset - Rechargeable neckalce style bluetooth headset allows for handsfree conversation on most bluetooth enabled cell phones. I spend far too much time talking on cell phones, to not use head set. I can't seem to keep the over the ear types for longer than a week. I just lose them. The necklace type is the only option that works for me. Bluetooth headesets are also a must if you use skype on your cell phone, since skype usually channels sound through the cell speaker phone instead of the usual handset. Headsets fix this and actually make skype usable on the Cell. The sound quality and battery life is excellent on this head set. The sound isolating in the ear style of the headset doesn't work as well for a a headset as it does for headphones. The sound isolation works too well and blocks the sound of my own voice, which sounds unnatural. I usually have to pull the ear buds out a bit to reduce the isolation effect. Sony would have been better off copying the bose head phone style ear buds for this one. Also annoying is the rechargeable stand for the headset. There is no way to recarge the headset without carying along a fairly bulky plastic stand (attach photo) which uses one of Sony's completely non standard power adapter types. Not traveler friendly. There aren't a lot of good alternatives out for this type of head set, so I'll be sticking with these for a while.

Skype Mobile - Whether near a free wifi hub (link) or when using unlimited 3G, skype for mobile is a great way to stay in touch on the cheap. Best when used with a bluetooth headset. (link)

No-name sling bag - I carry this one with me wherever I go. I bought it from the Chutuchak weekend market in Thailand and can't tell if it's a knock off or an original. This comfortable durable bag is just large enough to hold a psp, ipod, cell phone and wallet. With compartments for head phones, and zippered hidden compartments for money, cards and other valuables. Must have super lite travel bag that allows you to keep junk out of your pockets, save your back, and protect your valuables.

Packsafe cable lock - nifty little combination cable lock, allows you to lock a couple bags together, making it awkward to impossible for would be thief's to walk away with your belongings.