Bike Jedi

This is a concern of mine, plus drawing extra attention on gear. I never use high end laptops, and usually never pay more than $200-$300 for them, and usually get great deals on them, but other folks looking at them might not know they are not that expensive and feel differently about them and/or me. In some places I am a very rich man, in others, I am a very poor man. I don't want to advertise to my comrades in poverty that I am more than I am or draw unnecessary attention to myself for glowing somewhere in the dark with a big laptop and possibly suggesting there is more value among me then there really is. I am already worried enough about drawing attention to my bike and keep everything simple, black, etc... as it is. Part of this, which I didn't bring up in the intro, is that I would also like to take precautionary measures for security and theft into account in my planning and designing around this. I am a minimalist for the most part, and try to make decisions and choices based on what is best, most practical, and most bang for the buck constantly. I am not flashy, don't need the latest and greatest stuff, and also need to be conscious of how I appear to others while traveling around, alone, often between stretches of places where help won't be close by, and I am a little white guy that will be screaming "tourist" to others, instead of "survivalist" or "explorer" or "runner." I have to be real at the same time and take all variables into consideration.


I also don't want to go into this thinking it's going to be all roses and as easy as other's experiences or tales around it. Often folks talk most about the glory of things, instead of all the difficulties or the little annoying things they discovered, dealt with, or quite often don't share. I would like to figure those things out now instead of in the back country of Montana, where Amazon is not getting me 2 day prime, the next town might be hundreds of miles away, and I am still dealing with the fear of sleeping in the woods of foreign places trying to sound like a brave big boy in a very complex world, alone, zipping along to the next change of scenery. I don't want to completely disconnect and being able to communicate effectively and utilize online resources to plan ahead constantly and still feel like I am plugged into some type of life is important to me. Plus keeping my mind engaged with educational and learning resources is important to me. I would like to get to a point where I am self sufficient and can handle anything alone for the most part, and I can. But not keeping my mind enganged through my current online activity is not something I am looking to do while touring. Just looking to take my current life on the road with me the best I can.



Why not use a bluetooth ear piece to make calls rather than hold a tablet up or not use it? If I was to get a tablet with built in cellular, which I am still thinking might be my best option, especially since you showed me that key board below, I would get a Bluetooth earbud and really only talk that way. You can answer calls, talk, even use voice commands to make the calls, dial, etc... It's one of the main reasons I am leaning that way the most. I don't use my phone a lot for calls anyway, the few I make, I can use earbuds. Texting would be the biggest loss this way. Having to pull out a tablet to handle all texts would be an issue, but I don't have to live by texting either. Email, what is there, and earbud will do for sufficient communication if I had to make it work.



Thanks for this. I am probably going to get one.



Ditto



I 100% agree. Keeping costs down, getting the most bang for your buck, middle of the road is fine for me in most cases, unless you can really justify it and the upgrade truly makes a difference. With Moore's law on technology today anyway, it's kind of silly to stay Cutting edge, when bleeding edge is so much more practical and affordable now for what we have to work with. You can get Iphone 8's at time of posting in the mid $300's, on a T-Mobile prepay for $40 a month, and have a computer system that is still state of the art, better than what they had on the original space shuttles to get to space, and do everything you need just fine. And that might be my best play still (or an Iphone 7 for even cheaper), and even carrying a cheap tablet with me for the other stuff. I am not set in my thinking about anything, and I agree with you about a premium setup.