If I were following my baseball playing son around today I would add a few things to my list that didn’t exist when he was playing travel ball.
GPS:
The first new thing would be a GPS. I have a Garmin Nuvi now that allows me to locate just about anything in a new town and takes the guess work out of finding the different ball parks, hotels, and restaurants. VERY easy to operate. You don’t even have to open up the instructions.
Lap top:
My current lap top is wireless and has a DVD burner. The one I carried when he was playing didn’t have a DVD burner. I would probably get an air card too for remote internet access where high speed is not available. HSBBW in the hotel is nice! You can also have a slide show of yesterday’s game if you take pictures!
Digital Still Camera:
A good quality Digital still camera is essential in my opinion. Baseball is difficult for me to photograph. For me to capture that special action shot I shoot a multiple exposure “burst”. Don’t over complicate yourself here. While I shoot a digital SLR with different lenses, many of the simpler digital cameras take great high definition photographs. If you’re new to digital photography seek advice.
Digital video camera (camcorder):
In the past everything video was basically the old bulky VHS and I even had to even wait until I got home to convert to VHS format. I went through the VHS, VHS-C, High -8, and the beginning stages of digital video during his “travel” years. That was a very frustrating experience. Today I have a 60GB hard drive Sony handycam and another Sony handycam that uses miniDV tapes. I would like to have more bells and whistles but it would be ovekill and both are very easy to operate, fit in a jacket pocket or purse and “dump” to DVD quite easily.
The items I touched on are high tech and are changing daily. Next spring it will be something new. You don’t have to have the “newest gimmicks” to have a rewarding travel experience. There are lots of things that we should consider doing or getting before we start out next spring and summer. Dads tend to focus on a few large items cameras and computers. Some moms are photographers too and easily out tech me but they also are expected to do the hard work of organizing everything from aspirins to extra buttons for the uniforms. I have asked a hundred times for my wife to dig into the big baseball bag she carries for eyeglass cleaner sunglasses, gum, and that always present smuggled bottle of water. Any suggestions?
Fungo
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