Category: Equipment

Overall Update

We’re still alive!

Logistically things are going well. The van is holding up although is absolutely filthy. We managed to set up the EZ Pass toll for the northeastern states. This was a huge money saver. Hertz will forward you the toll costs, plus charges you $6 USD for every day you use a toll! The pass costs $20 and the actual toll charges are less. We had a bit of trouble setting it up because the car had previously been registered to a different transponder. EZ Pass refused to release the plates and Hertz said there was nothing we could do. Turns out it doesn’t matter which car is registered to the tag as long as it’s still a “passenger vehicle”. Once we got to Florida we bought a different transponder without issue.

We’ve managed to lose a few things along the way. A whole grocery bag with Ollie’s coat, our Nanopresso coffee machine and other stuff went missing in Appalachia. Hanika has been suffering through pots of Folger’s in the morning. Last week we lost my travel adapter that’s come around the world countless times through Africa, Turkey, Europe. 4 weeks with the family is all it took to get rid of it.

We’ve also managed to gain a lot of things! The van doors barely close every time we set off. We’ve got 2 massive bags that are carrying clothes we haven’t used yet. We’ve been blessed with excellent weather the whole way so haven’t needed jackets etc. I’m hoping they’ll come in use when we get to California!

The kids are travelling better than expected. Both seem happy enough to be sleeping in a new place every couple of nights. Ollie’s settled into his portacrib thanks to ACB! We’ve got the right balance of hours on the road when we drive. Late checkins are difficult to deal with but somewhat inevitable. Pensacola had a 5pm check in!

Our latest conundrum is what to do between Vegas and San Fransisco. We need to get over the mountains and I’d love to see Sequoia/Yosemite. Unfortunately it’ll be mid December and road closures are unpredictable. Plus some roads require tire chains which invalidate your rental car insurance. No doubt we’ll take the risk of we need to!

Verizon… FU

I’m hoping this is the most frustrating part of the trip.

Both Hanika and I have unlocked iPhone 8s, bought outright from JB Hifi. I’ve used my in Canada and Thailand with new SIM cards without issue. After a bit of research I figured Verizon would be the best carrier for us given their service coverage and store locations.

We cruised into Vermont and went to the closest Verizon store we could. I paid $120 USD to set up two prepaid plans WITHOUT having any credit on my account. They wouldn’t accept payment in store and told me to call their 1800 number to finish the process.

6 hours later I still couldn’t activate my phone. By this time we were in another town and after an hour they said it was sorted and I should be good. They gladly took another $100 USD. Cash only though because they wouldn’t accept my USD credit card because it was from Canada (on a prepaid!). By the time we got to Chester it was clear things were not working as they should. I spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon and Apple, both blaming each other. Our phones were certainly compatible with Verizon (CDMA and GSM).

The next day I called back and got an assurance, though it was made abundantly clear it wasn’t a promise, that my $100 credit would be reimbursed. As for the $120 set up fees I’d have to visit the chain of stores I went to originally (resellers not actually Verizon). They refused to give me a refund over the phone for some garbage reason.

I finally gave up and went to AT&T and sorted us both out within 25 minutes for a fraction of the cost! They had no issue taking my credit card in store.

Over 6 hours and $220 wasted! Travelling without a phone these days in nearly impossible. We don’t have paper maps anymore and our van doesn’t have a built in GPS. We relied on free wifi from the parking lots of restaurants to load up Google Maps and download offline maps and the next set of directions.

Lesson learnt: Verizon sucks.

Lumix FZ300 Camera

Neither of us are into photography. In fact, we haven’t owned a camera since we got married. As usual we turned to friends to offer their suggestions what camera we should buy.

The requirements were simple: good optical zoom, midrange price and point and shoot form. We settled on the Panasonic Limux FZ300. It fit the brief with a 60x zoom, $600 price and no fancy lenses.

I’ve had a chance to play with it before we started the trip. It seems feature packed, in that I have no idea what most of the buttons do!

I’ve been using a video series on YouTube by
Graham Houghton to learn how to setup and get the most out of the camera. Hopefully you’ll see some progress in the pictures throughout the trip!

Kid’s Gear

This is our first big trip with both kids. From the outset we knew that for everyone to have a good time the kids had to be comfortable and entertained.

Unfortunately the car seats we have in Australia are not approved for use in North America. We opted against renting car seats from the car rental companies. There would be no guarantee with regards to their quality and comfort. Instead, we reached out to friends for suggestions and decided on the Evenflo Triumph LX car seats for both children. They’re convertible which means Ollie can turn forward facing in the middle of the trip.

Next was the stroller. We had a great stroller in Australia but it’s ill suited for travelling. It’s a two piece beast that takes up half the boot. It’s a pain to put under a plane because it’s counted as oversize luggage. Hanika spent weeks researching which to get. We bought a Babyzen YoYo 6+. It’s one of the smallest strollers available. It folds down small enough to be considered carry on and fits in the overhead bin! It’s very light as well. Seb had his reservations because it’s only rated for 18kg and the storage underneath barely fits a nappy bag.

For keeping the kids entertained we don’t have much! Moose has a small Lenovo tablet paired with Moki noise limiting headphones which we bought for his first overseas plane ride. It’s loaded with games and videos to keep him entertained on the 15 hour transpacific flights. Ollie… well he’s a baby so we’ll figure it out as we go! Unfortunately Qantas no longer allows use of the Plane Pal. It’s an inflatable block that goes in front of a seat to allow children to lay down and sleep.

We’ll do in depth reviews of each piece as we use them on the trip.