Testing E-mail Posting

We’re furiously trying to get ready for our trip to Ethiopia next week. While I’m quite the tech-addict in my day-to-day life, I’m not a very good techie when I travel. I didn’t get a cell phone until 2006 and while I bring my laptop when I travel, I use it primarily for watching movies on the plane.

For our trip to Ethiopia I think I’ll be even less of a techie. Our laptop has no battery life left, so it’s useless on the plane (plus I’m not sure 3 hours of movie for 18 hours of flying justifies the extra baggage). My iPod battery is also toast, so it’s useless (though I think Abby’s may be good). On the plus side, we are delivering a laptop to the care center, so we might be able to use it en route. Which might work out really nice. Something tells me we won’t have time to watch movies on the flight home.

Cell phone costs are also outrageous. In-coming and out-going phone calls while we’re in Ethiopia are $3.49 per minute, which includes letting it go to voicemail. Yikes. We’ll probably just bring our cell phone for emergencies and to use when we get back to the States. We’ve had several options recommended for cheaper calling, and we’ll probably do a local calling card. Fortunately phone calls home won’t be that important since Lexi spends most phone conversations waving at the phone and yelling into the receiver.

Text messages and cell phone pics are also pricey. 50 cents for each text message and $1.30 to send a photo. I had hoped I might be able to do some limited Twitter updates while we travel (limited since text typing on that little number pad takes me forever), but I’m not sure the 50 cents is worth it for more than an update or two.

So my techie addiction will be limited to a borrowed laptop for half the trip, a neutered phone and my camera. The guest house does have a computer, but we have to share it (so no writing lengthy updates) and I’m told the connection is pretty slow and finicky (so blog updates, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook are probably all out). On the plus side, if you’re reading this then I figured out how to blog via e-mail.

I guess that means I should add a pen and paper to the packing list.

Update: Though I have the e-mail updating working pretty well and I even figured out you can include links, the line spacing is all whacked. WordPress seems to stick in line breaks all over the place. Don’t know what to do about that, other than fix it the next time I can sign into WordPress.

2 thoughts on “Testing E-mail Posting”

  1. Pen & paper are already on the list. And if I bring my iPod, it’s loaded with my music so you may want a plan B for that.

  2. On some airlines a standard power adapter you use for your car will plug in under your seat. Try http://www.seatguru.com to see if you will have power adapters.

    As for blogging and such, we would write them off-line, save them to a flash drive then use one central computer to post and such. All that to say, it may be worth bringing a laptop (with a power adapter of course).

    As for phones, the cheapest way is to get people in the states to call you on a local line. You can get a local SIM for your cell phone for about 10 cent/minute when receiving calls. Try phoneshark.com for cheap international calling rates for people in the US calling back.

    Hope God blesses your trip and your new little one.

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