by David McGuffin | Nov 23, 2012 | Essential Travel Resources
Charlotte and I are gearing up for a trip to Germany and Austria to visit a few European Christmas Markets. Traveling in the winter requires a little more thought in terms of packing, layering, and staying protected from the elements. However, with a little planning, one can pack light and efficiently while still being bundled and comfortable.
Before pulling all your winter clothes out of storage, here are some things to consider:
- Prepare for the “worst” weather.
- Remember that no matter how bad the weather gets, you’ll probably be out in it “touring.” You don’t want to travel halfway around the world just to stay in your hotel room when the weather turns bad.
- Daylight hours are much shorter. Darkness brings cooler temperatures, dampness, and a chill in the air.
- You’ll most likely run into some snow and ice. Depending on how recent the storm… roads, streets, and sideways may not be plowed. Plan to be flexible with your itinerary.
- A sunny day in the snow is just as bright as being at the beach. Don’t forget sunscreen and sunglasses.
- Layered clothing makes more “travel” sense. Use the “wrap and peel” method to adapt to changing temperatures.
- Don’t pack your heavy winter coat in your suitcase. Instead, wear it onto your flight and stow it in the overhead bin. This will save loads of space in your suitcase!
CHARLOTTE’S WINTER PACKING LIST
Address specific questions to: charlotte@davidmcguffin.com.
• One Heavy Winter Coat – hip length or longer;
• Gloves;
• Earmuffs;
• Several scarves for fashion and warmth;
• At least one hat;
• Small travel umbrella;
• Boots/shoes that are comfortable, well broken-in, and travel tested;
• Thermal socks;
• Five pairs of pants and/or jeans;
• Long-sleeved fashion tee shirts;
• Sweaters and Turtleneck shirts;
• “Cuddle-duds” (long underwear) from JC Penney;
• Underwear and bras for the trip’s duration.
DAVID’S WINTER PACKING LIST
Address specific questions to: david@davidmcguffin.com.
• Hip-length wool pea coat;
• Gloves;
• Earmuffs;
• Several scarves for fashion and warmth;
• At least one hat;
• Small travel umbrella;
• One pair water-proof Gortex boots that are comfortable, well broken-in, and travel tested;
• three pairs of light-weight, moisture-wicking socks;
• two pairs of pants and/or jeans;
• Four moisture-wicking long-sleeved tee shirts;
• Four long-sleeved cotton button-down shirts;
• Two lightweight cashmere sweaters;
• Four pairs of underwear;
• One pair of lightweight silk “long-johns.”
Even with these “massive” packing lists, we still manage to travel with a carry-on sized suitcase and one addition “personal” piece of luggage. I generally bring along my Exploring Europe drawstring backpack. Charlotte, on the other hand, adds a “Vera Bradley” duffle to her collection. Packing in this manner helps us remain “mobile” in the airports, on the planes, on the bus, on public transportation, and all over those cobbled streets and narrow staircases of Europe.
by David McGuffin | Sep 7, 2012 | Destinations, Essential Travel Resources, Photography
Dave Davis is a friend who has traveled on several tours with me. He is an avid photographer and always seems to come up with some good photos. Recently, he provided some handy hints on photography and archiving the digital images. In the next few day, Dave is going to share some of his hints.
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Now for a few other hints . . .
When taking a sequence of pictures that, for instance, a series of pictures scanning the horizon, I find it more natural to display the images arranged from left to right of how they exist.
When taking a wide angle picture and then various zoom or close up shots, I find it more natural to show the wide angle first and then zero in on the close ups.
When taking pictures of a type of object (flower, animal, sculpture work, streetscape scene, etc.) that occurs intermittently through the visited place, I find it better to re-organize the pictures to groups of the same type of object. Put all the streetscape images together, put all the flowers together, put all the dog pictures together, etc.
Then you might cull down the photo set for that visited place to the best handful of each type of shot. Three, four, five, or six is often okay, but soon the person you may be sharing your vacation pictures with is beginning to wonder if the dog pictures are ever going to end. (Now imagine being invited over to old George’s house to see his 400 random pictures of fall foliage along the Blue Ridge! Oh, I think I am feeling a little sick. I better go home!!)
There will be some exceptions, but most people will find these hints as a better way to create a good photo collection as their own keepsake, or to share with others.
-Dave Davis
by David McGuffin | Aug 31, 2012 | Destinations, Essential Travel Resources, Photography
Dave Davis is a friend who has traveled on several tours with me. He is an avid photographer and always seems to come up with some good photos. Recently, he provided some handy hints on photography and archiving the digital images. In the next few day, Dave is going to share some of his hints.
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One fall we traveled with another couple up the Blue Ridge Parkway. George had just bought a new camera as a gift for his wife. He quickly commandeered the camera for his own use and proceeded to take 5-10 shots of the view from EVERY pull off along the way! We would drive to the next overlook and George would jump out and start taking pictures – left or right, close-up or far away. Whatever caught his eye. This was back in the day of film cameras and he paid a pile of money to get the rolls developed. He was so excited to get the prints back but after looking at 10 or 15 pictures he realized he had made some major mistakes. What he had hoped would be a fine documentation of the great fall scenery along all the pull-offs on the Blue Ridge ended up being a collection of over 400 random pictures that all started to look alike. They, as a collection, became meaningless.
Digital cameras make the process of organizing your pictures quite easy and would have solved some of George’s mistakes. When one cuts away all the bells and whistles of digital cameras, their most basic functions are to take the picture, save the pictures and assign a number in the order in which it was taken.
Additionally, digital cameras are generally very easy and quick to download, only requiring hitting of a couple buttons or plugging them into your laptop, or another device. I try to download my pictures each evening and keep the digital copies in a separate file from that stored in the camera. At the same time, I usually do a quick editing job and delete unwanted pictures from the copy collection. Some cameras have the ability to organize on their memory chip. That is fine, but if your camera dies or goes missing during a trip, all the pictures you have taken might be lost.
When downloading my photos (or files) most systems allow you to “tag” or label the images/files. I simply use an “a” for the pictures taken the first day, “b” for the pictures taken on the second day, and so on. My individual photos will be then identified as “a001, a002, a003 . . .” Downloading usually only takes a minute or so to complete, and with it being done, I feel much better about having a remotely stored back up copy of my photos.
Usually, I wait until I return home to do the final organizing of my photo collection. Often it becomes a better collection if I re-arrange the order in which they appear. For instance, you might not take the introduction/identification picture of a visited place at the very beginning of the visit. Renaming the photo file is a very simple task on the computer. Just type in a new number/name and you are done! The renamed picture will automatically move into alphabetical/numerical order in the set.
-Dave Davis
Jump to Dave’s next article with more photo tips and tricks.
by David McGuffin | Aug 11, 2012 | Destinations, Essential Travel Resources, Photography
Dave Davis is a friend who has traveled on several tours with me. He is an avid photographer and always seems to come up with some good photos. Recently, he provided some handy hints on photography and archiving the digital images. In the next few day, Dave is going to share some of his hints.
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Aren’t photographs a terrific way to refresh your memory of people, places, events and things? And now with greater technology, it has never been so easy to produce a great photographic collection to memorialize a touring vacation. I am going to share a few approaches that I have developed over the years that might just help make your photo collection more valuable to you. It is really easy. Just let your photo collection tell the story.
I often start a collection with the photos showing the trip location/destination and primary people. Sometimes I use the tour brochure that led me to select the trip. Sometimes I use a map or a picture of the destination airport or famous landmark that identifies the place.
On a recent tour, I started my collection with a picture of David McGuffin, wearing his official tour shirt with bold letters displaying “IRELAND SCOTLAND” and with the backdrop being the Hogwarts Express viaduct memorialized in the Harry Potter stories. I followed that with a picture of myself, my wife and our niece in front of the rock formation at Giants Causeway, and that was followed by a map of Scotland. With just three pictures I have opened the story and set the stage.
From there my collections are pretty much day by day. I often take a picture of a map of where the day would be spent, and sometimes one of his handouts that told more of the location. It is so helpful to my aging brain cells to have the city names (or sites) pop out from the map and be further detailed in the handouts. Then the pictures follow through the day.
When we arrive at a city, cathedral, castle, or another site, I take pictures that identify the subject. It could just be the entrance sign or anything else that tells where we are at. Display boards at the site are often good to use for identification and more detailed information on what is being visited. Then it’s the fun shots of whatever there is to see, but the long-term important thing is that the picture collection itself will present where that pictures are taken.
I find that it adds to the collection to not limit myself to taking pictures of the special places visited but also the more seemingly mundane things. Take a picture of the bus, inside (with passengers) and outside with the driver. Take a picture of the motel front, lobby, and grounds. Take a picture of your room. Take a picture of the restaurant name, its inside, the food/drink as it is being presented, fellow diners from the tour and even the waiter. And you must take pictures of some the “unique” European bathrooms! I don’t know if it is legal to do so, but I have also taken pictures of the money used in different countries.
Following these tips will make your collection more meaningful to you and to anyone you share it with.
-Dave Davis
Jump to Dave’s second article: “Organizing Your Tour Photos”
by David McGuffin | Aug 6, 2012 | Destinations, Essential Travel Resources
I’ve dedicated the last seven days (about 70 hours) to improve the appearance and appeal of my web presence. I am a self-taught web builder, but over the years, I’ve picked up a lot relating to website design and content. So, now that I am at the end of my allocated time, I’ve decided to roll out the new web appearance a few pages at a time. So, if you get a chance, take a look at https://davidmcguffin.com and let me know what you think!
P.S. you may need to refresh your browser with CTL-F5.
-David
by David McGuffin | Mar 14, 2012 | Adventures in Tour Guiding, Essential Travel Resources
I am up at 4:00 a.m. this morning getting in the “mood” for travel. Later today, I will fly to Atlanta and onward to Rome, so I’ve got a long travel day ahead of me. Some years ago, I began the ritual of getting up extra early on travel days to help beat the jet lag the following day in Europe. For me, this seems to help, I sleep better on the flight over and am not quite so dazed my first day in Europe.
Saturday, my tour group arrives in Rome and we will make our way up through Tuscany, into Provence, and ultimately to Barcelona. A nice route connection the three countries. I’ll be blogging and posting on Facebook along the way, so keep up with me as the tour progresses.
I am doing some experimenting with my newly trimmed arsenal of electronic gadgets. I’ve got an iPad and my iPhone and that’s it! So, I’ll be learning along the way to use the new features and apps. It’s tough leaving my trusty Dell laptop sitting in my office, but it will also feel good carrying a lighter load.
Charlotte and I are gearing up for a trip to Germany and Austria to visit a few European Christmas Markets. Traveling in the winter requires a little more thought in terms of packing, layering, and staying protected from the elements. However, with a little planning, one can pack light and efficiently while still being bundled and comfortable.
