Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

I may be slightly premature in writing about my upcoming vacation, but since it has been about a year and a half since I have had any significant time off work, I am looking forward to it.

Since work commitments and monetary reasons prevent us from taking any major trips this year, we are just going to go to San Diego for a few days.

How is this bike related? It's not, exactly, but one of the secondary themes of this blog is getting around without a car. Since the S.O. doesn't really ride, I won't be taking a bike along on this trip, but we will be doing it entirely without a car. I am not averse to renting a car if needed, but this is a vacation, and driving to me is too much like work. Also, the S.O. doesn't drive, so I have the permanent job of designated driver when taking a car, and on vacation I like to sample the local pubs.

We have taken a semi-carfree vacation before. Several years ago, when visiting the S.O.'s family in Washington State, we stopped off in Portland on the way (having taken the train from L.A.), and didn't have a car while there. Once we got to Washington we did rent a car.

The last time we were in San Diego, we rented a car and drove there, but ended up leaving the car in the motel parking lot the entire time. San Diego is much more concentrated than Los Angeles, and is fairly easy to get around in without a vehicle.

So this time we decided to forego the automobile altogether and take the train there, using a combination of public transport and walking once we arrive.

Of course, every time I get ready for vacation, I need to shop around for vacation "gear". You would think that my vacation supplies from the last vacation would also suffice for this one, but of course not. I need to tailor all of my gadgets and gizmos to each vacation.

This year, my main obsession has been to find the perfect bag for carrying my camera gear with me. I often forego taking my good camera with me because of the difficulty of carrying it around. I end up taking my point and shoot which I can stick in my pocket, but the pictures just are not as good as with my DSLR.

And not just for vacation. I was also looking for something that would allow me to carry my better camera on my bike. I can't really carry it on a strap around my neck while riding, letting it swing wildly around, banging my handlebars and frame. I can't really put it in the milk crate on the Brown Cross Check either, as the extreme bouncing caused by the crater-like potholes in the roads is not really good for any electronic device.

After much online research, I decided on the Lowepro Slingshot 102. It is a sling style backpack with a stabilizer strap, so should work well on the bike without sliding around on my back. After I use it for a bit I will write a more thorough review of it.

I hope to get a lot of pictures on this vacation, and not being in a car will help me reach that end. A combination of train, walking, ferries and public transportation seems to work well in San Diego, so I hope to document that.

Since the vacation is still four weeks away, I am jumping the gun a bit with this post, but will revisit it as the time draws near.