The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain is an essential travel read. It is a deeply refreshing antidote to political correctness, written by a master of insight and humor who was also one of the greatest 19th Century American travel writers. He's been called the first "ugly American." There's a great Dover paperback for about $10 with all the original illustrations.
With Satellite TV, email and the Internet, it is no longer necessary to stop traveling, ever. Even at home, we can be on the move virtually and constantly as we exchange email with new associates in countries we've visited, interact with them personally via social networking applications such as Facebook Youtube and MySpace, research destinations and resources on the Internet, and follow day to day events in far-away places, learn about foreign cinema and develop our language skills via satellite TV. Nothing can ever replace actual travel, but with the communications tools of the wired global village we can study and plan far in advance and minimize time spent not being sure what to do next. Another great tool is Google Earth. Use it to zoom on the places you know in familiar cities and make greeting cards from blown-up satellite views of favorite neighborhoods.
Gadgets to tote while traveling are great, especially unlocked GSM phones, such as a Motorola Razr or Treo. With one of these, you can buy a phone SIM almost anywhere in the world and use it locally to stay in touch with travel companions, companies and friends among the natives. Then you can continue using the same phone as your regular mobile phone after you're back home. Just swap the SIMs! I'll never buy another locked mobile phone. it is only in the USA that a tip like this would be relevant. Everywhere else in the world, locked phones are almost unheard of. Our system in the US with all these phones that are locked into a single provider is reminiscent of the old days of land lines and leased installed phones. Fortunately, we're no longer obliged to buy into it if we choose a GSM network mobile service and buy an unlocked phone.
For me, the name of the game is Make Your Own. For MP3 audio I have an Edirol R-09 a shirt-pocket near studio-quality device that makes direct MP3 recordings with a pair of built-in stereo mikes. If I'm not the source of the audio I use the free Audacity program on my PC to record and convert to MP3. I travel with a Sony DSC-T7 miniature still/video camera. I've made a lot of videos with it, some of them fairly elaborate. When I want to save data from either of these devices, I take out the memory chip and download it to my somewhat dated Sony Vaio Notebook computer with a card reader; I carry the notebook and card reader with me at all times. For movies, I use the Creative M 30g, an amazing, amazing tool where I keep a rotating set of a dozen or so movies in foreign languages for the perfect travel entertainment. I usually convert and download these movies from DVDs bought on the street during my travels.
