NateCreates.com

Just a short update on the status of the second live journal from the road…it’s now live, and can be visited at www.pnca.com/blogs/.

For anyone preparing to travel with electronics, the first thing to get is a converter. And the more paraphernalia involved with establishing your new electronic base when you arrive at your overseas destination, the more secure you feel in your ability handle any current regardless of the wattage.

There’s always a sense of dread when you plug in for the first time - especially when you’re not an electrician and you have $1500 in electronics at the end of the plug. But I was feeling pretty confident with my notebook plugged in, and the AC light engaged.

Then the smell of burning plastic.

I recalled a similar smell in Eastern Europe last year. It never amounted to much then so I chose to ignore it this time. But after five minutes and the melting plastic smell only getting worse, not to mention the fact that the converter was hot-to-touch, I figured I should probably take a closer look. I was also vaguely aware that my wife would soon appear from the bathroom, and be wondering what THAT smell was.

Pulling the converter from the plug revealed a steady stream of smoke. Later, a Google search revealed this was probably not a good thing (read “Stay Safe” courtesy of wikitravel.org ).

While I’m out an expensive converter, what knowledge this experience did impart, was that I didn’t need the converter in the first place. Luckily I had a enough juice left to do a few searches, and learned that the the AC adapter already acts as a converter of sorts, and as long as the “brick” indicates the correct range (120-240V) you should be safe.

Save the converter for the hair dryer.

A Tourist’s Quest for Universal Postures

Nothing screams tourist like two people animated over a discordant five-fold city map on a busy street corner. It’s a scene as common in Portland (where I’m the one who gets to laugh), as in Budapest (where unfortunately, I’m not laughing). To avoid this scene, every pre-trip planning session has involved some thought on ways to reduce this scenario.

One way to avoid this scene is through Universal Postures. By Universal Postures, I’m speaking of postures, where without the aid of all props, the engaged posture would still be recoginized. For example, the posture of holding a hot latte while standing at a bus stop, with the, ‘I’ve got a Starbucks’ sip. This would belong to the Business People set of Universal Postures. And tourists have their own unique set.

Tourist postures, like the peering over a map, or the skyward pointing toward some distant landmark, are the sort of thing that attracts the attention of pickpockets and sneers from the locals. They’re the postures you want to avoid.

Thanks to the viral spread of white ear buds, there’s a more accepted Universal Posture that can combat this. It’s the ‘I’m Scanning My iPod Playlist’ posture.

Using a combination of Notes files (simple text files) placed on your iPod and the occasional reference photo snapped from Google Earth (for maps) or other pics from guidebooks, you can effectively have access to a wealth of tourist assistance. From step by step directions, to local language phrases, landmark photos, maps and emergency info, you have easy access to anything you might normally have to pull out a map for, or flip frantically through a guidebook to find. Or worse, trying to engage a local in your lost cause.

People that know me know I’ve never been big into travel. Slowly I’ve been convinced to expand my physical borders - last year was my first trip to Europe - and now I’m headed back again, this time to Barcelona, Spain. Still, the prospect of wandering museums, shops and other tourist attractions never garners my enthusiasm. So it’s been six months since I agreed to join my wife for a college course in Spain, and all this time she’s been a bit irked that I’ve been less than enthusiastic.

That’s all changed. Now I’m anxious, edgy and can’t wait to write the first post of my new assignment…yes, that’s it…I’m excited to travel so I can write posts. The PNCA coordinator of the course asked my wife if we’d be interested in journaling our experience in Barcelona for the school. Of course she said yes. (Look for the first one on March 19.)

For the next few weeks I’ll be keeping two blogs going - one for the school, and one right here. The PNCA blog will feature all the fun stuff - places seen, people met, things done. This allows my own blog to offer up stuff my fellow designers and clients find interesting - for example how travel and place can inspire design.

Should be lots of fun.