Gadgets

When you are going to your holiday and you are having a good time, I'm sure that you really want to capture that beautiful moment in your life. In that case, don't forget to take your camera !!

In my experience, I will disappointed if I can not catch the beautiful moment or a great view in my holiday trip. Moreover camera not only useful in your holiday but it also useful in your daily life. Nowadays you can find various kinds of camera (mostly digital camera) which range from pocket digital camera till professional camera (I post some example of digital camera).
You should choose which type of camera that suitable for you. If you are a professional photographer you will choose the professional camera, with great quality of lens, lot of features such as : viewfinder, autofocus, etc (you need some time to learn all these feature). But if you don't want to get headache then choose pocket camera, which (mostly) also equipped with features that almost the same with the professional camera (although the features are more better in professional camera).

Make sure that you have sufficient memory card in your digital camera and check the battery! You don't want to come into situation when you find beautiful moment or a great view then you're running out of memory or you don't have long life battery in your camera (low battery).
You can easily find in the market various memory card (from 64 MB till 1 GB or even more!!) that provide you more than enough space for your pictures. Make sure that you have memory card that compatible to your digital camera (some digital camera only compatible with particular memory card).

Video Camera/ digital camcorder

Mostly digital camera can be a video camera, but the capability of digital camera to record a video is not as good as real video camera. Video camera is one of the gadgets that you should consider to prepare when you are going to holiday. Nowadays video camera is become more sophisticated and equipped with the latest technology such as : HDMI output connector (gives you higher quality picture), auto white balance, image stabilizer, autofocus etc . You also can find digital camera feature in video camera, yes you can use your video camera as a digital camera. The video camera become more compact in size, and its make you easier to carry it when you traveling. Even though the size of the video camera is relatively small/compact but the video quality is quite good! It wont disappoint you. Sometimes when you watch the video record, you will have a special impression. If you want to record your holiday trip then you might consider to bring your video camera, anyway make sure you also have great battery (long life battery) and your video camera equipped with video light (and perhaps a flash-can be use when you switch your video camera to digital camera) to record a video in night mode.

The other gadgets that you need in your holiday is a map. You will need a map not only to get a direction, but also you can find many information about tourist attraction/places. You can buy a map in the bus station, or in the train station, even in the newspaper stall. There are various kind of maps range of simple map (usually the map only showing main street/road, major places of interest) to more detail and rich map which include places of interest, other informations such as local transportation, list of restaurants, hotels etc.
Nowadays, there are "digital map". You can find certain direction/destination easily because what you need is only to put your destination address and put your starting location. Then the map will show the direction. With the latest technology you can put this digital map into your cellphone!

If you are traveling with your car then probably you will need to have GPS (global positioning system-you can find the example of GPS in the left side of this section). There are many products in the market and these product generally have similar feature (navigation system). GPS has some advantages such as : you can get traffic information, you can put not only map of your region but you can have a map of other regions (for example : map or Europe, map of US, etc). My father, my mother, my uncle and their friends have an experience traveling across Europe by using car. At that time, they did not use the navigation system. Well they found trouble to find correct direction, but they said they still have a good time (although they little bit lost in their holiday). If you want to rent a car in your holiday it would be better if you also ask for navigation system, it will help you.

Recently you can find these gadgets (map, camera, video recorder) in one gadgets. There is certain cellphone that has feature such as camera and also digital map/navigation. In my last holiday I found several tourist who use this kind of cellphone. When I asked them about the cellphone, they all relatively have the same answer: yes to some extent the cellphone help them. The camera works pretty good (in case when you have a higher megapixel camera in your cellphone, or your cellphone have a good lens quality), but they little bit disappointed with the video recorder. They prefer to have a real digital camera and digi-camcorder.
Personally I prefer to bring my pocket digital camera. It more handy and practical than the professional camera (But sometimes I also want to use professional camera). About the map, to be honest I'm not really care about the map because I can buy the map when I arrive in my holiday destination. But I think digital map is more handy than "old-school" map.

Holiday - Italy

In my previous post, I told you about my holiday in Italy. Well, in this post I will tell you my experience in Italy and also holiday tips.

Rome
There are lot of interesting places in Rome. Make sure you have enough time to visit the tourist attractions in Rome. You can find lot of historical, cultural, architectural things in Rome, such as Coleseum, basillicas, temples, plaza. It's very fascinating. Moreover, you can go these interesting places quite easy. You can use public transportation such as subway (metro-underground train) or you can take the bus.
One place that you don't want to miss while you are in Rome is Coleseum (you can find the picture in the bottom of this section). It is a magnificent architectural and historical site in Rome. You also can find other interesting places near the Coleseum, such as : Arch of Constantine, The Roman Forum. You can take a tour inside the Coleseum. From Coleseum you can go to other tourist spots quite easy. You can go to Pantheon (I post the picture of Pantheon)
Another tourist spot is Vatican city. In Vatican you can go to the St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine chapel. If you go to Vatican make sure you come to this place early in the morning (9 am), because lot of people will go to Vatican and you will find long line to enter the basilica (especially in summer you will find very long line). Inside the Sistine chapel you will find one of great art masterpiece from Michaelangelo (The picture in the left side is "God Creates Adam). Anyway If you are lucky you will have a chance to see the pope !!.

Florence (Firenze)
Florence is known for Reinassance art masterpiece. You can find a lot of interesting and fascinating places in Florence. You can see Michaelangelo's famous sculpture : David and if you want to see more art masterpiece you can go to Uffizi (famous art gallery). Well, when I was in Florence I started my trip from Piazza del Duomo, then I went to famous bridge in Florence : Ponte Vecchio. It was famous, because it was the only bridge which is not bombed during World War II). In this bridge there are many jewelry shops. If you interested in jewelry then you have to go to Ponte Vecchio. In the bottom of this part you can see view of Florence in night. This picture was taken from the top of a hill near Florence.

Venice
I had a great time in Venice !! I spent 2 days in Venice and I'm quite satisfied. But, for your information : Venice is a very expensive city !! If you want to visit Venice I suggest to make a hotel/ hostel reservation outside Venice. The hotel/hostel price in Venice is expensive. When I was in Venice, I was stayed in nice hostel outside Venice. To go to Venice you can take a bus, its quite cheap. When I was in Venice, I bought a ticket for boat and bus (I forget the ticket price, but I guarantee you will not regret it). This ticket valid for 3 days, and you with this ticket you can use bus (from the main island to Venice), taxi boat (but not for gondola). Venice is very beautiful. First I take the taxi boat and I went through the Canal Grande, enjoyed the canal scene. I made a stop in Piazza San Marco. Then I walk along the city. Lot of shops (glass shop, mask shop, souvenir shop).


Beside Venice, you can go to other islands (it is very close-take about 20-40 minutes from Venice island) which are : Lido, Murano, Burano, and Torcello. I only went to Lido island. It was beatiful, it was not too crowded (compared to Venice). Lido has a beautiful beach. Lido is a small island you can take a tour around the island, and this island is perfect for you who want to relax. Murano island is famous for glass production, you can go to Glass Museum, see the glass blowing techniques. Burano is famous with lace. You can go to Lace museum. Torcello is a quite place, beatiful place.

Holiday : Try Italy !!

Last year I went to Italy. I went to Rome, Florence, Venice. Those cities are beautiful. Rome, has a lot of tourist spots. I went to Rome in October, so it was not too hot. But if you go to Rome in summer, wow..you have to prepare because it will be very hot !! I have my friend, who also went to Rome in summer, she said you must sure that your hotel/hostel equipped with air conditioner or at least you get a fan.

Even though it was in October, Rome still full of tourists. It was like in every street and each corner of the street you can find tourists.
I had a great time in Italy.
There are a few things that you must prepare when you traveling in Italy (actually it's a general guidance).

1. When you traveling in Rome or other cities in Italy, make sure you have a map. Hence, it will help you !! especially when you have a map with tourist information in it.
2. Make sure you have a place to stay in Italy. Make a reservation for a hotel or hostel, because it will lot easier if you come to Italy and you had a place to stay already. Don't forget to check hotel's/hostel's facilities. whether or not they provide you with breakfast, the hotel location, is it close to tourist spot or close to public facilities such as bus station, train station, restaurant, shopping places etc.
   
3. Watch out for your belongings !!
   
4. People in Italy, well they are not english speaking-people although some people are speaking english.