Geek Packing

If all goes well then as you read this I will be in Sorrento, on the coast of Italy. I will be lying on a sun lounger working through my book backlog as the delightful creature known as my partner swims in the azure ocean under a clear sky before we both go and feast on the finest cuisine the south of Italy can offer. We’re away for about a fortnight all in (we are flying from London so are visiting the city on the way out and back) so we had the fun and games of geek packing.

monitorWhat is geek packing I hear you cry? Well, it’s a solution to the simple problem of being a geek and going anywhere that isn’t your home. This ranges from a commute where geek packing can be just grabbing your DS to attending a LAN event which can mean a full move of your gaming rig. Holiday geek packing is unique though because there is a balance to be struck between what you want to pack and what you can legitimately get away with considering you’re going on holiday. You can’t exactly take your PS3 for example. So first up you have the actual act of travelling. Being geeks our attention span is such that a few hours in a plane can drive us crazy. Yes even participating in the marvel of going 645 mph through the skies on a feat of engineering can’t hold our attention. Luckily most airliners have finally realised that the DS won’t cause the plane to explode so best take that.  Can’t pack the charger just yet as that has to be used until the second we leave to make sure it’s fully juiced. Now we need travelling games, again a problem as only one game will cause boredom soon enough. So let’s say three carts, one of which is in the DS.

Now for the actual suitcase we can finish the DS packing by putting in a few more games, let’s say three more; in their boxes to protect them of course. Now don’t make the rookie mistake of saying to your partner that they don’t need their DS because you have yours. Multiplayer gaming may make the long warm nights fly in, so get them to pack theirs along with their games and their charger (after all, what if you both need to charge at the same time). Next up for physical things is your laptop. This little disaster prone piece of hardware can’t be trusted with baggage handlers, so keep that thing in its bag next to you at all times. The joys of digital delivery of products means that you can now pack twice as much as half of it is stored on a microchip. On your laptop choose the games you install wisely, whilst having Team Fortress 2 installed seems great you are relying on the place you are going to having WiFi suitable for gaming. Games that won’t tax the machine too much are preferable (warm weather + overheated laptop = problems) so a mix of easy running and older titles are key here. Football Manager 09 and Half Life 2 will do me nicely along with the ever present Peggle. To finish off the laptop we need DVDs. Nothing major, a few films and boxsets should do it.

plane-crash

Now on to alternative gaming, our final section. The joys of gaming is that it’s now on anything with a screen. So that mobile phone that will bankrupt you with roaming charges can now help scratch that gaming itch. Your Pacman and Frogger era games run well and will keep you going, if you have a fancier phone keep an eye out for more sophisticated games (iPhone in particular is growing as a gaming platform in its own right). Your iPod can run games as well and your casual game addiction can be well served here by playing Solitaire and Zuma on that bad boy. For the men reading, these casual games can help blow the time you’ll spend waiting for your female friend to finish washing her hair because water abroad doesn’t get it clean enough. Finally we’re back to the case for associated paraphernalia, being geeks we have great digital cameras so get those in along with five high capacity SD cards “just in case”. Chargers for those along with AA batteries, again, “just in case” along with chargers for phones. All these plugs need travel adapters… about five should do for those. Oh, camcorder and batteries and tapes and chargers. Better throw in another travel adapter for the camcorder. iPod dock to charge the iPod has to go in and best not forget gaming magazines to read when we’re out there! The joys of travelling with geeks.

Now how do I fit in my clothes?!


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4 responses to “Geek Packing”

  1. The Rook avatar
    The Rook

    Your bag sounds like a storeroom of an electronic shop. So many chargers, isn’t about tiime we had a universal charger. I have 4 charges for Gameboys and DSes.

    Enjoy your holiday between the gaming.

  2. Zoey avatar
    Zoey

    I had the same problem with my honeymoon. We came to the conclusion it just wasn’t socially acceptable to take a 360 on honeymoon…especially when we realised we’d fight over it so we’d have to take two…

  3. MarkuzR avatar
    MarkuzR

    I wouldn’t care to even consider how long I’ve been a slave to “geek packing” but I honestly assumed that most people would be in the same boat n terms of packing quandaries.

    My “hand luggage” generally consists of a Lowepro adventurer backpack with my Nikon D200 and five lenses, as well as my Vaio, various chargers, spare battery packs, spare flash cards and various cables.

    The “main bag” for this current trip to Berlin is considerably lighter than usual. I have XCom on my laptop as well as Solitaire and Trivial Pursuit on the iPod and that’s as far as it goes. There have been times when the hold baggage has been nothing but geek toys, and we’ve had to end up buying additional holdalls by the end of the break to cater for all the additional gadgetry and DVDs we’ve bought.

    We’re being VERY good this time though, having the cold and very little funds is helping with that though 🙂

  4. Michael avatar

    I am slightly embarrassed to say I’ve never really had this problem… because I’ve hardly travelled! And when I have, I’ve just needed a holdall – my trusty Umbro bag! ^_^

    The only geek packing I’ve done is my phone (for net access and music) and a charger. I learned that lesson sharpish! *laughs*

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