Mobile (while) travelling

Cool, my first week on the road. I am thinking how Richard Katz must have felt in the early 20ies (travelling around the world too ... some 90 years ago). Probably he was still on his first leg, crossing the Mediterranian Sea by ship enroute to Alexandria (Egypt). Seems I am ahead due to the introduction of civil aviation: Non-stopVienna - Bangkok took me about 10 hours to get a warm but wet welcome. However, the airborn form of mobility - after getting popular during the "jet-set" period in the late 60ies and 70ies - might also have had its peak in terms of the "liberty" of flying. I remember travelling 20 years ago on my first "around-the-world" ticket without much hassle hopping on a plane with little formalities at departures and arrivals. Today - beside security meassures - we rightfully are (made) aware on the environmental impact our desire for individual mobility causes.

En route. The first seven days of 365 blogging around-the-world in a new era of virtual mobility: being connected "anywhere, anytime". I may say already after one week that travelling in person changed tremendously. Whereas you are on the bus or train, having some small dish along a busy road in China Town, or stay at a simple guest house, people around you mostly "touch+sweep" on their mobile handhelds - be it to communicate with friends and family (mostly through Facebook/Chat and WhatsApp), or searching for information for the next destination of their journey on Google (including Google Maps). 20 years ago there were no mobile phone networks for communication and even internet was in its early stage for a broader public. Instead of my mobile phone I used a compact camera making slides to keep and share memorable moments at the end of my trip. I remember I had to stay at one place at least a week to get my slides developed or that I sent the undeveloped film roles of my trip back home. Well, sharing your journey with your loved ones anyway ment to be back home.

Still on mobility: It's ICT, stupid! Yes, I should have known better, looking back on my years in Mozambique @ conmoz and my growing understanding of the importance of ICT - and mobile internet access in particular - for local communities. I decided for my trip to rely on my old solid Nokia E61i (2007) and public internet cafes instead bringing along a mobile device based on latest hardware+software combinations (like Android featured smartphones, tablets or netbooks) supporting smoothly the rapidly growing world of web apps. Only one week into my long journey I might call myself "stubborn". While others access their downloaded apps with one touch, I struggle to get a WLan connection, not thinking about multi-tasking between geografical locations and linked information for the place I am looking for. Yes, I stayed in Bangkok and right now in Chian Mai, and some pupils on their way home from school and kids on their holidays in the night train were surfing the internet, watching movies and having conversations, while I was looking for a public internet cafe to check for my next place to stay. It really makes sense to invest in and use the latest mobile devices if you can afford it; it pays back!

Final words for today on mobility and Facebook. Beside writing my travel blogs in English and German, I use my Facebook account as communication platform in Portuguese to share my around-the-world experiences with friends and community in Mozambique. I maintain a page for conmoz (ICT related issues) and one for my journey around the globe: Viagando o globo em 365 dias. As mentioned above, internet cafes are my access points to write and upload content to my Facebook travel page: being mobile + connected with friends. It was of no little surprise when Facebook asked me on my first visit to an internet cafe in Bangkok to identify myself for access. Not just confirming my password, but requesting to identify friends of mine for proof: five friends! Not just their personal image, but a probably randsome selection of uploaded pics, often showing some content that even did not include the person her/himself. Off course, I failed to identify five of my "facebook friends" and was blocked to enter my own page. This game continued for some days and only due to some luck and smart handling of the multi-choice system I succeeded to get "accepted" to be myself ... probably till to the next internet cafe in another town, in another country. Eventually I did not experience this problems with Gmail, Yahoo or Blogger. Interesting, somehow I do feel some kind of deja-vu recalling my experiences (+20) on mobility + airtravel ;-)

 Never be too proud (stubborn) to change your mind

What is knowing without doing, theory without practice. And nothing better than an experience in real-life situation. Walking through the city searching for tablet computers like Samsung, Apple and Acer (all around 300 Euros up), my eyes ended up on a price tag: 2990 bhat (equivalent to 82 Euros). And next day it was mine, the ANDROpad TA06, somehow an Android OS plus a touch screen. I already love it : ) though no GPS, bluetooth, G3/SIM slot, but it allows me to browse the internet (including Google Maps), use Skype, view my pics from my Nokia E61i, and ... play ANGRY BIRDS! Heard a lot about, eventually don't like computer games, but played till the battery was low and my new pet shutted down.