Travel timing plus gear question

[cl_wood]

<p>We're considering a trip to London/Paris in either the beginning of Sept or Oct (a 9 day trip). My initial plan is to fly in to London from Tx on Friday night/Sat morning, take the Chunnel rail from London to Paris on Wednesday or Thursday, then return to Tx from Paris on Sunday/Monday. <br>

Which time period would be better? I'm hoping to miss the summer student crowds. I'd love to catch the leaves changing for fall but if October in London is going to be miserable raining, then maybe not. The only time I've visited these cities was in August - I was blessed with sunny days & lovely flowers. Are there still flowers blooming at the beginning of Sept? Would the leaves be changing the first week of Oct? Any recommendations would be welcome!<br>

Also, I'm trying to figure out a good system for backups. After almost losing a vacation's worth of photos due to a faulty 8gig card, I'm wondering what others do. I don't want to lug a big laptop around. I've considered getting an 32gig iPod touch or iPhone so I can back photos up to it at night. Has anyone had sucess with this?</p>

[matthew_newton]

<p>September is going to hit vacationers a lot more then October. I've only ever visited Lonon in May, getting hit with some of that infamous British rainy weather that I do love (seriously), though we had a few really nice days. Paris I visited over spring break with my parents well over a decade ago now when I was in high school and it was nice, though a little bleak and rainy then as well for about half the visit.<br>

If you are considering spending the money on an ipod touch or iphone just to do backups I'd consider a netbook and an external harddrive instead. That'll give you a better system for reviewing pictures if you want to as well as easily being able to backup to both the netbook and the harddrive. I'd probably consider that if traveling now as I wouldn't want to lug my wife's Toshiba laptop with its 14" screen (probably weighs 7lbs as well). The netbook + EHDD can probably be had for around $300-400 total. Though I don't think that would necessarily solve the issue of a bad card. Other option would be multiple memory cards and use each one for just 1 day of shooting.</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

Iso 100 film in your carry on bag.

[matthew_newton]

<p>It sounds like he is using digital, though w/ film I'd pack two cameras w/ one loaded with Fuji 400h and the other with Ilford XP2 super or 800z. It can be pretty dim in a lot of buildings.</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>I don't think film is going to help much with his 8gig card in use.</p>

[cl_wood]

<p>Yeah, I've pretty much gone full digital with a D70s. I still have my old film N80 that I could use for backup in theory but I'm trying to minimize the amount of stuff I'm carrying. <br>

I've put a lot of funds into a new computer gear, a new lens & a flash this year so I wasn't looking to spend alot on backup gear. I guess everyone here must carry their laptops or netbooks along.</p>

[joseph_smith3]

<p>I use a Hyperdrive as part of my backup plan for my digital images. I suggest you tripple backup your images. My usual plan is a Hyperdrive, a laptop and an external drive for the laptop. Why tripple? Anything can and will happen as you have found out.<br>

<a href="http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-Memory-Card-Backup-Device-s/119.htm">http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-Memory-Card-Backup-Device-s/119.htm</a><br>

As an internatiomnal photo traveler, please be aware that the carry on "rules of the air" may have changed since the Christmas 2009 terrorist incident or may be changing before your trip. Just be aware that there might be severe restrictions on what photo equipment you can carry on an airplane coming back to the US. </p>

<p>Joe Smith </p>

 

[cl_wood]

<p>Thanks, Joseph! The Hyper-drive looks like what I'm looking for - portable so I don't have to leave it in the hotel room & can use it to backup to small external drive (acheiving triple redundancy). The reason I was considering an iPhone for a similar device was so I could possibly backup to an online service while overseas. I appreciate the advice!</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>i just got back from two weeks in mexico city and cuba. i brought an asus netbook and backed up my files every night after a day's shooting. the hyperdrive does look neat and portable, but i must say a netbook doesnt add much weight and being able to view your pics on a 10.1" screen (plus load editing software) is nice, as is having wi-fi capabilities. my 160Gig netbook cost about as much as the 120Gig Hyperdrive.</p>