So, when I spotted this Patagonia Arbor (26L) pack on sale a few months ago, I was intrigued. I have a lovely Deuter pack which is great for serious hiking (reviewed here), but on this trip we were also spending time in Temecula for a wedding, so I was looking for a pack that would work on pretty easy day hikes and as a casual bag. It was also to be my carry-on for the plane. The Arbor fit the bill.

The Arbor pack is deceptively large, while not being bulky or overwhelming. One of the things I like the most about it is the fact you can carry a lot, or a little, and it is equally comfortable/easy to carry. You know those bags that have to be completely full or they slide around or off your shoulders? Not this one. It carries a ton of stuff if you pack it to the brim.

The Arbor is not big on pockets, but we didn’t find this to be a problem. There is a nice, padded sleeve that I slid my Surface into. And two pockets on the rest of the pack–one that opens without opening the rest of the back in the front, and a second hidden pocket under the flap that is great for keys, wallets, etc. I particularly like this hidden pocket for use in the city/where you don’t want someone preening through your stuff without you noticing.

I did sometimes wish that the Arbor had an external water bottle carrier, but if you have a bottle with a carabiner, it will hang nicely from the many loops on the back of the pack. These loops are also super if you need to tie up a pair of shoes or stick a sweaty shirt through them for the hike down.

Now the Arbor is NOT a serious hiking pack. While you could rig up a bladder in there if you wanted to carry water, it does not have a chest strap and only has a very tiny waist belt. It’s shoulder straps are comfortable, but not particularly ergonomic. It doesn’t have a rain cover–one of the features I love most about my Deuter. It is a bit rain-resistant, but I wouldn’t test it out in a downpour. Lastly, if I had done one thing differently in the design, it would have been to reinforce the bottom of the pack.

The Arbor looks like it belongs wherever you are–it is not at all out of place in the city (in fact, I see people carrying them to work frequently in DC), because it is not all rigged out as a “technical” pack. And it’s pretty! I love my black pattern with green accents. Patagonia didn’t sacrifice pretty colors for material, though: it’s heavy duty ripstop nylon that will withstand a lot of wear and tear. The Arbor fits the bill as a useful day pack for a trip to a National Park, a hike through rock creek park, or even biking to a picnic with friends. It really is that multifunctional.

(Side note: If you frequently ask your husband to carry stuff for you, this pack is great as it is not at all “frilly”, and in neutral colors that won’t make my husband cringe. He also agreed it was comfortable to carry and a great size for day hiking or trudging through the airport).

Patagonia still has these packs in stock in super pretty new colors (here), and you can also find past season colors on sale on sites like Backcountry (here) and Moosejaw (here). (And, disclosure, #notsponsored).

I’ve had my ‘new’ camera for nearly two years at this point. When I travel, usually I put it in a neoprene case and toss it into my carry on bag (you can find these nifty pieces on Amazon, highly recommend). But as I started packing around multiple lenses too, I realized sometimes it would be nice to have an actual camera bag so I’m not digging around trying to locate the lens hood, filter, or lens.

But camera bags. I have a giant black one where I store all my gear when I’m not traveling (it was free with the camera), but I don’t really want to lug that thing around on a trip. First, it screams camera bag, which wounds my vanity (yes, yes it does) since I love having practical and stylish bags to travel. Second, it also makes me a bit nervous in places where I don’t need people to immediately know upon first glance that I have lots of camera gear. Third, it does not multi-task. I couldn’t take it out to dinner or make it work with a casual dress and pretend it was just a handbag.

Finally I stumbled upon ONA, which offers casual but very classic bag designs made specifically for cameras. But like many good things, these bags aren’t cheap. So excitingly, my travel-loving mother gifted me the ONA Bowery Bag for Christmas! I took it to Mauritius, the Seychelles, and Dubai to test it out.

Now, the real downside that I had to overcome in taking a camera bag is that I usually travel with a carry-on and a personal item. So the camera bag either has to fit into one of those, or act as my personal item. Since my toiletries are usually in my personal item, this is a bit tough with the Bowery bag that isn’t that big. Fortunately, the Bowery actually sat perfectly in the bottom of my personal item–which in this case, was a Vineyard Vines tote bag for the beach! If you want a camera bag that doubles as a personal item, I’d suggest that you probably opt for a slightly bigger ONA bag.

I chose a coated-canvas version, because I liked the classic and slightly rustic look. It is trimmed with leather and the strap is a really heavy duty smooth nylon.  The coated canvas is not waterproof, but it does give some water protection and in a downpour, you would have a few minutes to figure out where to put it/cover it/move it before your camera even started to be in danger. The inside of the Bowery is all lined with super soft, camera appropriate material. So no matter where you put your camera or lenses, you can be sure they are protected. There is also a removable, padded divider that you can use to separate the main compartment if you like.

The Bowery perfectly fits my camera (the SL1), as well as a 50-250mm lens and the kit lens I have on my camera right now. One of the reasons I like the Bowery is because I can stick my camera in with either lens (or one of my husband’s lenses) on it, and with just a tiny bit of reorganization, everything fits just fine. No more changing lenses just to store the camera.

When we missed our flight in Dubai, I didn’t feel like carrying my huge Vineyard Vines tote around the city, so I put our valuables and my camera in the Bowery to go sight-see in Dubai. It worked perfectly. It was small enough to not make my shoulder and back tired, and looked classic with jeans and a chambray shirt. It also has nice little pockets in the front that were perfect to stick a little bit of cash, our metro cards, and a little map. The buckle on the front both closes with a clasp mechanism, as well as also buckles closed so it is easy to get in and out of. It’s the perfect day-bag for a city outing or a day out on safari.

I’d highly recommend the Bowery if you are looking for a small camera bag that can double as a handbag for travel! You can find the ONA Bowery bag here. It also comes in nylon and leather.

But there comes a point (err…perhaps when someone else isn’t carrying your bag), that a proper day pack is in order for travel and hiking. So, as I gift, I asked for–and received–the Deuter ACT Trail 24 Pack, after someone on one of our trips had a Deuter pack that seemed to be both sleek looking and highly functional.

(Mine is slightly older than the current version, which you can find here).

Unsurprisingly (but I’m sure to my mother’s amusement), my first criteria in looking for a proper adult backpack was style. Sorry, but it had to look cool. I knew if I got a pack that I didn’t really like that I would always find an excuse not to use it. Second, it had to be functional. In particular, I wanted the waterproof cover already built in (because seriously, who remembers to bring a separate waterproof cover for their backpack)?

The Deuter Act Trail 24 Pack fit all of these characteristics. It is a 24L pack and weighs 1100 grams, which is about 2.4 pounds. It’s a great size for me, and I even used it to pack all my clothes for a quick 5 days in Europe.

Here are my favorite things about this bag:

Easy Zip Into Main Compartment

This means no more having to pull out every single thing in the bag to get to the thing in the bottom. You just unzip the side, and there you go. It actually unzips around the entire bottom. Brilliant!

Waterproof Cover

Handily tucked away in a small zip pouch at the bottom of the bag, it’s not only already built in, it’s easy to get out in a hurry and easy to store, too.

Pockets

Lots of pockets. In particular, I wanted somewhere easy to get to (but not too easy) to put valuables in that couldn’t be unzipped if I had the bag on my back in a group of people or a crowd.

CamelBak Compatible

While I’m not a huge CamelBak fan, it is nice to have the compatible bag that fits a bladder and a hose easily.

Packaway Waist Strap

This is one characteristic I didn’t see on many other bags–the waist strap actually tucks away back into the bag so that it doesn’t get in your way when you don’t need it. The waist straps are also made of a tough, durable coated material so they don’t get all sweaty and gross.

Airflow

In addition to all these things I just mentioned, the should straps are super comfortable, even when packed full/heavy. They also do not get sweaty very easily, and Deuter’s aircontact system really does keep your back pretty darn cool.

This backpack has already been to three continents, and is on its way to a third when we head to the Galapagos! It will be perfect to pack a change of shoes, raincoats, sunscreen, and camera gear for both DH and I. Plus, if we share a bag, then we also share carrying time! Even though I love the bag, I won’t complain about someone carrying it occasionally. Just embracing that little lazy streak…

So, just in case you are in the market for a new daypack for hiking or travel, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this Deuter bag (the REAL bag…not the fake Deuter bags you can find in Asia and elsewhere). It hasn’t had a hard life with me, but it’s exceptionally functional and held up very well thus far.

Because otherwise I just feel like a Debbie-downer.

We took British Airway’s new A380 from IAD-LHR and LHR-IAD. We were in economy both ways (World Traveller, in BA speak). We were on the upper deck on the way there and the lower deck on the way back.

Don’t get excited, the food still sucked. I mean, airline food just sucks. I’m convinced that economy class food is just never going to entice me unless I’m returning home from an appearance on Naked and Afraid. Which would never happen, since I have few (no?) marketable, survival skills.

Things I Liked

1. British Airways really has focused on their premium cabins. And by focused, I mean left very, very few rows of economy class seats. Why do I like this? It means less people on a very, very large plane. Less people = fewer lines for bathrooms, fewer germ-spewing warm bodies, and a crew that has less people to serve. There are literally 2 sections of economy (one on the upper deck, one on the lower) with maybe 13-15 rows in each. That’s it.

2. The entertainment. Is. Excellent. I mean, I sort of (but not really) wish that we had more time to watch more movies. Yes, I’m horrible at watching movies at home as I feel like I’m wasting my time, but in the air? But of course. It was easy to use, it worked, you could stop, fast forward, and rewind, and even better, you could use it all the way to landing (as long as you weren’t in a bulkhead seat). Good job British Airways.

Pleasant Lighting, Huge Screens

3. Power. All seats have USB power hubs. Thank goodness. And they all seem to work. Again, thank goodness. I don’t know why working power hubs always seem to be such a challenge.

4. Cubbies on the upper deck. In economy on the upper deck, window seats have cubbies on the side, resulting in huge arm rest areas and tons of extra space to spread out. I.e. I could lean over and sleep on the cubby and it was very comfortable.

5. Seat pitch. SEAT PITCH. Okay, so leg room still is pretty bad, but the seat pitch on these seats is so much better. And it makes such a huge difference. You actually feel like you are reclined, when you recline. I don’t know if it was the pitch or the seat, but I also didn’t get sore sitting like I do sometimes when I travel.

I’m 5’8, But This Leg Room is Bad.

What I Hated

You seriously feel like a giant, bouncing ball in slow motion on the ginormous A380. And for anyone with motion sickness, you can only guess how wonderful this is. While other planes seem to jerk around in turbulence, the A380 seems to have more of a floating motion. I’m guessing this is because it’s SO BIG. Even my husband, who does not have motion sickness issues, noticed how markedly awful it was. Our flight over was particularly bad, given the amount of turbulence, but you could still notice the weird, giant, bouncing ball motion on the way back even though the flight was smoother. Not a fan. And obviously the blame for this goes to Airbus, not British Airways.

Yes, this could have been amplified because we were in the back behind the wing, but all economy seats are in the back, behind the wing. It didn’t seem to be that noticeably different between the upper and lower decks.

I’m sure that most people find this relieving, that the little bumps are so much smoother. For me, it just feels vomit-inducing. Like, really vomit-inducing. So much that I left my motion sickness patch on for the flight into Dulles (and I rarely have issues on commercial flights).

While British Airways has redeemed itself in my eyes, I will be avoiding the A380 in the future, regardless of the airline. Much prefer the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Over the last few years, in my attempt to protect myself from the sun, I’ve acquired a few items of clothing I adore.  They keep me shaded without making me uncomfortably hot. They protect me from UV rays. Dare I say it, they are mostly fashionable too.  Win-win-win.

Without further adieu, here are my favorite five pieces of sun-protective clothing, fully tested in wonderfully sunny places and hot climates, where without copious amounts of sunscreen or gear, you’ll probably end up looking like a lobster.

 

This is from J.Crew because it was like $20 on sale, but Patagonia, Athleta, and a myriad of other companies make these now.  Get one. When you are snorkeling, the last thing you want to do is worry that your back is burning. I hate putting sunscreen on before swimming in the ocean as it just seems to wash off or smear everywhere, so I don’t bother when I wear one of these puppies. There are so many cool colors and patterns to choose from, including ones that match bathing suits.  Yup, they make men’s versions, too. This one is rated UPF-50 (similar still available here).  Field tested: Belize.

 

5. The Collared UPF Shirt 
This shirt is great when you are in need of something a bit crisper or more classic than a hoody, but still want it to be light and provide UPF protection. I have a (typically purple) shirt from Mountain Hardware, that weighs next to nothing. They still make a similar style here, which is UPF-30. Tons of other companies, including Patagonia and Ex Officio, make these as well.  I prefer the arms buttoned up, because it’s a bit more stylish, but remember to SPF where you are uncovered!  Bonus: mosquitoes have a hard time biting through this. Field tested: Egypt.

Shopping Tips: Yup, I have a lot of clothes, but I buy most things on sale.  I check sites like Sierra Trading Post, Amazon, Backcountry, and Moosejaw to find the best price on an item.  And I try to keep an eye out for things I want in advance, so I don’t end up being forced to purchase something at full price because I need it next week. I also try to wait for bi-annual sales at places like Athleta and Patagonia; J.Crew seems to offer frequent discounts, particularly when they are trying to offload summer items like rashguards. Good items should last at least a few years!  Try to choose colors and styles that you won’t tire of.  While some of these items are a bit pricey, like the collared UPF shirt (currently listed at $65), I got mine for close to $30, and it’s so much better (and healthier) than being sun-burnt.

]]> 73 http://www.travelingsaurus.com/2014/07/looking-for-an-underwater-point-shoot-a-review-of-the-fujifilm-finepix-xp200/ Mon, 07 Jul 2014 18:55:00 +0000 http://www.travelingsaurus.com/1/post/2014/07/looking-for-an-underwater-point-shoot-the-fujifilm-finepix-xp200-at-your-service.html I’ve asked Dear Husband (DH) to write a review about his (our? this remains unclear) underwater camera that we used for the first time when we went to Belize for our honeymoon. He gladly obliged, after some nagging.

We are “normal” picture takers–we like good photos, but we aren’t really into photography. We stumble along through trial, error, and some professional tips from friends and family. Yes, we know what aperture and shutter speed mean and do, can shoot on manual, and I’ve even started doing some basic editing (that took years), but that’s about the extent of our photographic wisdom. So if you are a photo-bug…you can probably stop reading, this post isn’t for you! But if you are a traveler looking into underwater cameras for fun shooting, read on.

My wife has asked me to write a review of the Fujifilm FinePix XP200 16MP Digital Camera, which was a combined present for my birthday/Christmas. Not sure why she thinks it’s “ours”, it’s definitely mine. I’m even good at sharing unlike someone else I know…

I have a December birthday and it seems people get worried that we are cheated out of gifts since it’s also Christmas-time, so I can get creative with my gift requests. My father-in-law, who actually is a really good photographer, suggested we look into this specific camera because of its affordability, good reputation, and general purpose use for underwater picture taking. So thanks to my parents, I got a sweet camera last December and managed to take some very cool pictures and videos of our snorkeling adventures in Belize.

When I requested the camera in December 2013, the cost was around $200 which was by far the lowest priced underwater camera with good Amazon reviews. However, I now see that the camera lists for over $350, which I think is a bit pricey for this type of camera.

The Basic Specs:
-5x optical zoom,
-full 1080p HD video at 60fps,
-great presets for underwater shooting,
-3 inch display on the back, and
-wifi to download picture to smartphone or tablet.

The Pros: First and foremost the camera is super easy to use. I know a lot of people that are photography buffs want to know about shutter speed and light sensitivity: if that is what you are after, you should have heeded our advice at the top of the post! But if you want something that you can set to underwater mode and just start taking pictures, boom, this is the one for you. Want to take a close up macro shot, set to macro and click away. I thought the presets worked amazingly for all the environments we were in. Sunny day at the beach? Put the beach mode on. Of course there are the other standard party, night time, flower, text, sunset, sport, 360 panorama, and landscape modes. There is also a 3D picture mode, but I have yet to really try that one.Another positive is that the camera is small and compact so you can put your hand through the wrist strap and swim around without worrying about having a bulky camera knocking about. The underwater picture quality is great, the battery life is also quite long. We would go out in the morning snorkel for about 1.5 hours, then go out again for another 2 hours of snorkeling in the afternoon and I still had over 2/3 battery life even though we took well over 160 pictures and some videos (plus reviewed and deleted bad ones throughout the day).

Perhaps most importantly: the camera appears to really be waterproof, with a great seal. NO problems there. There is a turn button that initiates the seal where the battery and memory card go. One word of advice: make sure you wipe the salt off after using it in salt water. I did notice that salt would accumulate around the rubber seal; if not cleaned, this could cause issues down the road.

The Cons: The biggest issue we had with the camera is that the display was not always bright enough to see underwater (especially when your mask gets a bit foggy which mine always seems to get) and especially when it is very sunny. However, since the camera usually takes such good quality pictures, as long as your aim was right, you got a clear shot of wherever you were pointing.

Another con was the 5x optical zoom. Obviously you can’t have a telescopic lens for higher optical zoom and maintain a waterproof single unit, but there are other devices out there with 8x and 11x zoom. However, those other devices can’t shoot video is 1080p and are usually made by less well-known manufacturers.

The only other major issue I had was that I could only use the wifi feature with my wife’s ipad and iphone. I have a Kindle Fire and there was no compatible app for me to use. I am not sure about compatibility to Android devices, but my guess is there should be a compatible app there to use. Additionally, while the battery life is generally good, what will eat up your battery is using the wifi mode to transfer pictures to you smartphone or tablet (30 pictures at a time, but does not transfer videos).

Lastly, the HD video at 60 fps is awesome, but what is not so awesome is that the video format is not readily viewable on my xbox, LG blue ray, or LG tv unless I get a micro HDMI cable to directly connect the camera to the TV. So I had to convert the videos to a different format which results in going from 60 fps to 30 fps, though the video quality is still fine.

The Bottom Line: For a $200 dollar camera, I would give it 4.5/5 stars. It is a great point and shoot camera, easy to use, convenient wifi picture transfer, but the display is not always bright enough and there are some minor annoyances with wifi picture transfer and lack of video playback compatibility. However, if I had to pay $350, I would look for a better camera with more bells and whistles or make sure I got this camera as a gift, as I did.

Cheers,
Jeff (DH)

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