Monday 2 July 2012

Lapland - Summer Hike 2012 - Mac in a Sac

There are very few times in my travels when I don't take my MacBook with me. I've carried that thing pretty much everywhere since I got it almost 4 years ago and it has never let me down - well almost never.

Once on the way back from Ireland, stuck for some hours in an airport in central Europe, it wouldn't boot and presented me with a question mark at start-up. With all my pictures backed up to a separate hard drive I wasn't that worried, but still I got that sinking feeling when it wasn't behaving normally. Fortunately the problem was simply a connection between the hard drive and the motherboard and didn't cost more than a few euros to repair.

In a few weeks time I'll be off to Lapland with a couple of friends fell walking on the border between Finland and Norway. As we will be carrying everything we need for over a week and we'll have no access to electricity the idea of bringing a Laptop of any description is out of the question.

So the only Mac I will have with me is a Mac in a Sac - a light weight raincoat that fits in a small package on the side of my backpack. These things are really lightweight. The last one I had for over 10 years and has only recently started to let the water in. Looking around some outdoor sport retailers in Helsinki today I found the price difference to be quite amazing. The prices in town were incredibly high so I checked the local outlet close to my home when I got back, picking up the very same item for 35% less than in the city.

I'm not that adverse to spending money but I see no point in wasting it. In the next couple of weeks before I leave for Lapland, I'll be going through my packing list to show you some of the essential items you will need for just over a week in the wilderness. It can be cold and it can be wet, but one thing you can be sure of is plenty of light.

The photographs I take will be taken on three different devices. I'm relying heavily on large memory cards and good batteries. As the iPhone is one of these devices I have another trick up my sleeve which I will tell you about later. The iPhone is not really known for long battery life - and I really do want to use it - so we need to have another alternative. 



I'll also be trying out a few new products and a couple of older ones which I'll tell you about in the next post. From now until the last week of July I'll be taking you through some of the preparation for a week walking in the northern deserts of Finland and Norway starting on 16th July and ending on the 23rd. I hope you'll join me.

3 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Great Tarja - keep your eyes peeled for updates. Most of this will happen before and after the hike - as I can imagine there will be very few opportunities to update it while we are in the desert.

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