Technology

As I was starting out this morning I was thinking about how much the technology has changed since I've been taking these bicycle trips. I took as couple of trips in the mid-90s and there was no electronics. The camera was a disposable film camera, I didn't want to risk lugging around my Cannon 35mm. All phone calls were from pay phones, but you could get money from an ATM, if you could find a bank with one.

In 2002, for my cross country trip, I had set up a website that using library computers, I could log on and update using files on my 64 Megabyte thumb drive. Photos were still on film. My cross country site is still on line and posted at; http://coxintl.com/coast2coast.htm

In 2003, I did a "End to End" trip in the UK, from Lands End to John o'Groats Scotland and I upgraded to digital camera for the first time. The end to end site is located at: http://coxintl.com/end2end/index_end2end.htm

In 2011, I stared post my trips to an new thing called a "blog", that made the daily trip descriptions a bit easier  The 2011 trip blog is located at: http://spain2011-blog.blogspot.com/

In 2013, the trip was from Paris to Istanbul, along the path of the Orient Express, prompted me to get a Garmin GPS unit to help me with navigating the daily route. the 2013 trip blog is located at: http://orientexpresss2013.blogspot.com/

For this trip I've started to use the "RideWithGPS" smartphone verbal turn by turn directions. With the daily trip route on "RideWithGPS", you download the route to your phone using the "RideWithGPS" app and throw the phone into "airplane mode" to save on the data plan and to conserve power. For the rest of the day a little voice in your ear will be saying things like; "500 meters, turn left". Between the voice in your ear and the Garmin GPS maps on your handle bars, it gives you a great sense of where you are and if you miss a turn, the best way to get back on track.

There is one final technology that I just tried out yesterday, but it's jaw dropping. It's call Google Translate and it's a smartphone app. Point it at a sign or menu and it will translate to your specified language it will even translate a conversation, Star Trek universal translator here we come!!

Link to Photos

Happy Biking,

Brian Cox